Bears megaproject is all about greed

As a retired senior living in Arlington Heights who has just seen our property taxes go up nearly 50% with the latest assessment, I find the Bears’ request for “property tax certainty” laughable.

I have also concluded that the Bear’s moving to AH would be of no benefit to me, and would most likely result in endless inconvenience and potentially even greater tax burden. If the Bears really want to get support for a move to AH, why not do something meaningful to make it worth our while?

From the very start, I questioned why this endeavor needs to be a “megaproject.” There is plenty of land for the Bears to build their stadium and still have considerable acreage left over to perhaps do something worthwhile for the community. Have they considered gifting some of the land back to our village? Have they considered selling off the land not needed to support the stadium so that the tax burden can be borne by others and the need for “property tax certainty” becomes unnecessary?

In the end, I believe this is really all about greed. Many other NFL franchises have built stadiums that didn’t require an associated “megaproject.” While I commend the lawmakers’ recent decision to decline the Bears’ requested tax break, I don’t believe building a stadium under the guise of a Public Stadium Authority would provide AH residents with sufficient property tax certainty.

As far as I am concerned, the Bears can go elsewhere unless they can demonstrate a clear benefit to the residents of Arlington Heights.

John Roller

Arlington Heights