Although I don't agree with everything you wrote, I will agree that the system needs to be completely revamped. However, that creates a huge problem. What do we do with the kids who are living in the system right now? I don't think we can say "sorry you don't get an education because we need to rebuild the system." We need to change the tires and rebuild the engine of a moving car. I don't think a rapper or any individual can instantly fix the system. But they can try to help the kids who are currently stuck in it. That is what he did and I salute him for it. There are now 20 more schools whose students will have access to the arts. It won't fix the system... but it will make the lives of these students better today. I think that has tremendous value.
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Being the champion for the kids stuck in a failed government public education system is not the same thing as being a champion for public education. By all means, help the kids that the Chicago Democrats are neglecting, but if you are going to start pointing political fingers, make sure they are pointed accurately if you really want to improve the future. Chance isn't doing that, he's providing cover to everyone in charge of the current corrupt and failed public education system who's only proposed solution is more money.
Of course you can't change it all overnight, I don't believe anyone is calling for that. It's sad Chance has to donate millions just to keep arts at 20 schools for only one year, especially when you know 100 other schools didn't cut their head trauma football programs like they did their arts. Is he going to donate the same amount next year to keep them? The $10 million the White Sox get every year from the Sports Facility Authority, plus the $7 million they got for the video boards last year also would have more than covered the arts for 20 schools for more than one year.
I just read Chicago Public Schools student population decreased by 12,000 students last year and will decrease by another 8,000 students this year. Graduation rates are between 50-60%. There is a crisis, both short and long term, and while band-aids are nice, the bleeding continues. Chance might want to direct a few more tweets towards the people who've been in power for decades and decades.
That is an excellent point. I may actually change the title to reflect that he is advocating for the children rather than the system. I feel that is a more accurate description of his actions.
As far as his providing cover. I don't disagree... but I think it is an unfortunate natural consequence of trying to provide immediate help. In the long run, perhaps it would be better to let the system hit rock bottom so it can be rebuilt from scratch. Unfortunately, there are thousands of people who would be hurt in the process.
I wasn't expecting that, but I do think your new title is a better fit. And I'm probably being too harsh on Chance, his heart seems to be in the right place. I just happen to follow Illinois/Chicago politics very closely and have for years. He got caught up in this mess when the Governor responded to one of his critical tweets. I don't believe Chance understood the history that led up to this crisis and he was just going with the flow of what other people were doing (such as his father who is a former deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Emanuel) which was blame the Governor.
When this all went down a couple months ago, I just rolled my eyes and thought, great, another celebrity in over their heads. (CaptiolFax Blog by Rich Miller covers IL politics every weekday and is usually a great source.) I will say, Chance didn't back down and has kept right up with his activism and donations. That is great. Chance is a stand up guy for doing that, and he deserves that credit. I shouldn't pee on his rug for trying to help, so I do apologize for that.
The reason I keep bringing the White Sox into this, is because Chance is being paid by the White Sox as an "ambassador" and has been paid to design special White Sox hats for them and to do other things to promote the White Sox. Before any of this school drama started, I saw that Chance was getting paid by the White Sox, and my thoughts were they (Reinsdorf) can afford to pay an already rich rapper to wear their hat, but they cry about being too poor to pay for their own video boards or luxury restaurants. So Chance got off on the wrong foot with me, which is my problem, not his, he didn't do anything wrong there and more power to him getting endorsement deals like that. It looks like he's donating more to Chicago school children than what the White Sox are paying him, so kudos for that too.
And for disclosure, I'm a huge Chicago Cubs fan, but that's not why I "hate" the White Sox. I just don't like corporate welfare being given repeatedly to billionaires to play games. The government is and has been failing those kids, and I should be more appreciative when someone like Chance steps up in whatever form. Thanks for the discussion, I learned more about Chance from this article and have a better opinion of him now.
LOL. Oh boy this is about to get even better. You who is the only person who hates Reinsdorf more than a Cub fan? A Sox fan! I was a hardcore sox fan for about 42 years. Over the past few seasons they have become the worst thing possible... boring. I used to attend 10 games a year. Now for the first time in my life I can't name the entire starting 9 players. I was also a Bulls season ticket holder for years (luckily got rid of them last year). Reinsdorf has made both of these teams unwatchable. (Although the Sox at least finally got Kenny Williams out of the way and made some decent trades for younger talent). His refusal to get rid of inept general managers is infuriating. Now that I got that out of the way, let's talk about the stadium.
My take is that if 1 penny of tax money is used, then the city should get to make every decision about the stadium. Tax money should only be used as an investment. It should be used with the goal of bringing back exponentially more in revenue for the city. But no. They let Reinsdorf pick the stadium. Comiskey was designed by the same team that built Camden Yards. My understanding is that they gave Reinsorf the plans for Camden Yards and the genius said "No". No. No he didn't want an actual tourist destination. No. No he didn't want a series and shops and restaurants attached to the ballpark. That could have brought in a ridiculous amount of money. Instead we got the last of the terrible 1980s mall like stadiums... and they faced it the wrong way! The skyline is kind of a big deal. You would think anyone with a brain would want the stadium facing that view. But no. He's an idiot.
Same deal with Soldier Field. If tax dollars were invovled, that should have been a giant dome. Do I like domes? Nope. But if it involved tax dollars it should have been an investment that would attract Super Bowls, Final Fours, giant boxing events and humongous concerts. The city should be making money hand over fist at a stadium in that location. Instead we got the smallest stadium in football... and it looks like a freaking UFO landed inside the columns.
So yeah this is a multi faceted problem. Perhaps the city should have stayed out of those deals. But if they were involved, they should have built things that would have been huge money makers.
I grew up in Peoria, so the Cubs/Sox dynamic was much different than growing up around Chicago. We were split Cubs/Cards mostly. Peoria's single-A team keeps switching between the Cubs and Cards affiliate every ten years or so.
I didn't start hating the White Sox until my late 20s in the late 90s when I was managing a Marriott hotel in Cook County and had to listen to complaints about the highest in the country hotel taxes every single day. When you get asked 5 times per day why the hotel tax rate is 20%, you learn why, and a good chunk of that was to pay the bonds on New Comisky/Guaranteed Lower Rate Field. It also irritated me that if the hotel tax rate was lower I could have paid my employees more and maybe kept the good ones longer instead of having so much turnover. With just a 4% reduction in that tax rate, I could've paid $1.20 more per hour, give or take.
And then a few years later I learned that the deal Reinsdorf got from Daley, Thompson, and Madigan was the first of its kind in this country. Before then, any subsidies for sports stadiums were minimal, mostly dealing only with infrastructure connections. Nowadays, almost every stadium is predominantly paid for by taxes and the economic benefits they promise never pan out. At best, those subsidies pick the winners and losers of entertainment dollars, they don't create new dollars. (Field of Schemes was a great book studying this dynamic.)
You are so right about Soldier Field. IF it was going to be publicly funded it should have been a Dome for year-round use with public control over how it was used. So many opportunities with a dome. And its just ugly now. That was a debacle, through and through.
Your White Sox got a ring recently enough, I had to wait until last year. I played little league against Jim Thome back in the day, and ran into him around Peoria a few times during his playing career, he is a great dude. As a 14 year old in 1984 I got crushed when the Cubs and my guy Sandberg just missed the Series. I put up with them for another 32 years, like a fool. But I feel your pain with the White Sox being boring right now and an owner not willing to pay for good players. Chris Sale, come on, you keep a guy like that to build around. Moncado better be the next Big Hurt. And the Bulls after Jordan? They lost me, too. Sad. Hang in there. Or don't, and move to Arkansas like I'm about to do. :)
LOL. Good luck in Arkansas!
I rooted against the Cubs for 45 years. Then last year, I gave in. I couldn't root against them. I would have felt like such a hypocrite. They did EVERYTHING the way I dreamed my team would do things. And I want Joe Maddon to adopt me.
By the way, every story I have heard about Thome always ends the same way "He's a great guy". I'm happy the Sox got him, but they were bidding against themselves. He would only agree to be traded to 3 teams (Cle, Cubs, Sox) and the other two teams had first basemen. The Phillies had to trade him (Ryan Howard had been called up) to dump his salary. Instead of tossing the Phillies a scrub and paying the whole contract... Reinsdorf sold the starting CF Aaron Rowand to them so that the Phillies would pick up half the contract. They just won the World Series and would not pay for a premier DH. I despise Reinsdorf!
Not that I'm bitter.
And I remember Reinsdorf starting that trend of tax dollars paying for stadia. In retrospect, they should have called his bluff about Florida. That trend is bad for tax payers and fan bases. Just ask the San Diego Charger fans.
yes i thought so too considering all thats happening recently
Thanks for the feedback. I think this new title (and adjustments to a couple of captions) is a more accurate reflection.