David Doig, general superintendent of the Chicago Park District, wrote quite a long letter to explain how it’s not the taxpayers footing the bill for Soldier Field (Voice of the people, April 28). If we are to believe his argument, we would have to believe that the hotel and motel taxes being used to fund the renovation would not have been used for anything at all if not for this project.
The city has asked the police to forego overtime pay because of the budget shortfall. Couldn’t some of the hotel taxes have alleviated that budget problem? Maybe the money could be going toward whatever it is that’s being funded by people having to pay to park in front of their own homes, or toward getting the cost of our vehicle stickers in line with those of surrounding communities.
Our Fire Department may be the only one in the country without bunker gear. Wouldn’t it be nice to use some of this money for the safety of those who serve us?
Our neighborhood libraries are laughed at by all suburbanites. The hotel taxes could be a big help toward bringing them up to par. Or how about just using it to make an all-out effort to get rid of our “Murder Capital USA” title?
From the taxpayers’ point of view, the Bears will have a nice place to play and we will continue to pay.
