Lightly Folded

Sorry. I didn’t in intend to include the political ad at the top of the Austin News piece.

Skip to content Austin Weekly News Donate POSTED INNEWS Rep. La Shawn Ford calls for state to sell White Sox property Ford is filing legislation for the sale, which he said could pay off debt and serve as a new source of property tax revenue by Jessica MordacqOctober 28, 2024 Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) The exterior of the MLB's Chicago White Sox's Guaranteed Rate Field. | Credit: Joseph Hendrickson/Adobe Stock La Shawn Ford, who represents the 8th District in the Illinois House of Representatives, is filing legislation to sell the state-owned property where the White Sox play on Chicago’s South Side. Though Guaranteed Rate Field isn’t in the 8th District — which encompasses part of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and the Forest Park suburb — Ford said selling this land would benefit more than just the South Side, allowing Illinois to pay off debt associated with the White Sox and receive revenue from property taxes, which the state doesn’t pay. The attempt to pass legislation comes after a recent report that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is open to selling the team. To sell state-owned property, Ford has to get authorization from the state by filing legislation, something he says must be done at some point if the state eventually wants to sell the land. “Whether we sell it today or not, we still need a bill to be passed to allow for the state to sell the land,” Ford said. “The state has a need for revenue,” he added. And the White Sox aren’t exactly a money-making team. The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority owns the land that Guaranteed Rate Field sits on. The group was created in 1987 as a way to fund the state’s professional sports teams and the construction or renovation of their stadiums, according to WGN TV. Guaranteed Rate Field has cost the government $200 million since 2010, South Side Weekly reported earlier this year. But the White Sox have only paid ISFA about $27 million back in that time. Even if the Sox stays at Guaranteed Rate Field, selling the land to a private developer would increase the amount the city gets in taxes from the property. That money, Ford said, could be used to fund deferred maintenance or expanded housing for Illinois universities, many of which Ford said are requesting one or both from legislators. For example, Chicago State has $89 million of deferred maintenance and $192 million of additional renovations that need to be completed, according to The Daily Line. “While we have a sports team that has their hands out saying they need money to build a stadium,” Ford said, “we need to make sure that we speak up for our public universities and communities that need development.” “By redirecting proceeds from a potential sale of this prime real estate, Illinois could make transformative investments in higher education, ensuring safe, state-of-the-art learning environments that attract students and faculty,” Ford wrote in a letter to Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this month, calling for the sale of the property and telling him he’d be filing legislation to do so. “This would strengthen our educational infrastructure and provide a lasting economic boost to our state.” If Reinsdorf sells the team, and the state sells the property, Guaranteed Rate Field could become housing, businesses, or both through a mixed-use concept. This, Ford said, would improve the state of Chicago’s economy. “There’s a need for housing, and there’s a need for business growth in that area,” Ford said, both of which would create revenue for the state. He added that the location of Guaranteed Rate Field, next to the Red Line and the expressway, is an ideal location. “It’s a perfect place for development of housing, shopping, and we can’t miss this opportunity,” Ford said. “We have to find a way to stop Illinoisans from leaving, and this is one way to do that.” Ford said he learned about filing legislation to sell state-owned property through his involvement in the sale of the Thompson Center. In 2022, the state sold the building that once housed its government headquarters to a development firm for $30 million and the acquisition of a $75 million office building downtown. Google is expected to move into the building after what is expected to be years of renovations are completed, according to Capitol News Illinois. “The county now receives the benefit of the new landowner paying property taxes,” Ford said. “And they’re going to create jobs and other opportunities for tax revenue for the state and the city and the county — without regressive taxing.”

Rep. La Shawn Ford calls for state to sell White Sox property Ford is filing legislation for the sale, which he said could pay off debt and serve as a new source of property tax revenue. Austin Neighborhood News.

Lindbergh said this exact same thing during a question and answer session which followed a presentation he delivered on White Sox History which took place at my local library, six or seven years ago. Apparently he still believes today what he believed all those years ago. His opinion carries a lot of weight.

Reinsdorf is a Bum. He’s not a real Chicagoan. He’s a Freaking born and raised New York Brooklyn jag. Reinsdorf is no different than his fellow New York scum of the earth Al Capone. Reinsdorf came to Chicago to get rich by feeding off the taxpayers and blue collar working stiffs that Reinsdorf calls “suckers”. Nero had more class than this creep. What he has done and what he’s about to do to this multi century franchise is and has been the acts of a man with no appreciation or respect for the hard working people of the City Chicago. He has never cared about anything other than fleecing us of our tax dollars and our hard earned cash. Go back to New York, Jerry, where you belong.

How about Richie Daley for interim manager? He’s not busy.

All winning streaks have to end sometime. The Sox had a nice 1-0 run. I hope mlb has enough baseballs available for the Dodger series.

Do Getz or Reinsdorf even watch the games? Do the other white Sox owners (Jerry’s partners) even look to see who won? Does LaRussa think it’s still spring training. Make “The Sodfather” the manager. He probably know more about baseball than all of them combined.

Nobody ever gives the pitching coach any heat. Fire his useless ass also.

The only thing that is wrong with guaranteed rate Field is where it’s located. The bigger problem is that the state of Illinois can no longer afford to pay Jerry to stay there and therefore a renewal (or extension) is impossible. The state does not make money on guaranteed rate field, but rather loses money. Jerry will never agree to a deal whereby he would have to pay the state to continue to play at guaranteed rate field. Nor would a new owner.

The Sox stadium at the 78 is dead, unless Jerry and some compadres tote the entire cost of the endeavor which is not going to happen. The bigger problem is that the state of Illinois does not make money on the current Sox deal but rather lose money to the White Sox every year. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the state of Illinois would, or could negotiate another extension when the current one expires without infuriating, the taxpayers of Illinois. Jerry would have to agree to paying the state as opposed to the state paying Jerry and that’s not going to happen. The White Sox may very well wind up without any ballpark to play in when the current lease expires. At least no place locally.

Just like George Hallas and the Bears helped chase the Cardinals out of Chicago in the late 1950’s they are now helping to shaft the White Sox into oblivion.

My understanding is that it was a proposal made by both the Sox and the Bears.

The answer to the question as to who would own the land if a deal to build is successful remains unknown. Would this guy still own the land or would some other entity?

I can see a 20 game losing streak (at least).

Sheets belongs in a 16 inch softball league.

Sounds like this team needs to move somewhere. Four straight years of paper loses means it’s time to back up the moving van and head to greener pastures. Fresh air somewhere. That’s the ticket. Most of Chicago hates the White Sox. Even the majority of so-called Sox fan hate the Sox and want them to leave town. The media and in particular the sports media hates the Sox and wants them gone as far away as possible. They’d prefer Chicago as a one team mlb club city.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/editorials/ct-editorial-chicago-white-sox-78-moving-guaranteed-rate-field-20240122-4czd3eyv3fe6voqgxdtwgo432e-story.html/

It’s easier for elected officials to say yes to an organization that’s willing to put up 2Billion as opposed to and organization (the Sox) that won’t put up their own money.

The Bears never intended to work together with the Sox regarding public funding as the state requested them to do. This is billionaire vs. billionaire which means a dog-devour-dog back alley knife fight over public funding.

Papa Bear Hallas drove the Chicago Cardinal out of town (intentionally). The current Hallas Family may (intentionally or unintentionally) drive the Sox out.

It sure doesn’t look like the bears have any interest in working together with the Sox. The bears are playing poker while Jerry is playing checkers. The bears are calling the Sox hand. They know Jerry isn’t now going to come out with a +billion dollar announcement for private funding for a new Sox stadium. Jerry is getting ready to fold.

Looks like the bears are telling the Sox to go f*** themselves. While it would still take tons of taxpayer money to build the bears this new facility in the lake the bears stating that they would spring for 2 billion dollars (whatever that might mean) they (the bears) have snatch the headlines in a way that makes them look like the good guys and Jerry Reinsdorf remains the cheapskate.

The hotel tax thing isn’t going to be extended to help the Sox. If it were extended it would be to help the bears. My bet is that the hotel tax won’t be extended. Helping a billionaire by using or extending a tax is political suicide. Do you believe Reinsdorf is going to accept anything less than what he already has?

Yeah. It won’t happen and another thing that will never happen is the state and Reinsdorf reaching a negotiated agreement on extending the stadium/property deal after it expires in 2029. With no new stadium deal the state can tell Jerry “this is our offer, take it, or go f*** yourself”. Jerry would then tell the state to “go double f*** yourself” and then the state would sell the property to a developer who will bulldoze the stadium and build a residential community. The white Sox would be “the team without a home” until they find one, or one finds them.