Emanuel Says He'll Talk With Cubs About Wrigley Renovations
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he will "sit down" with the owners of the Cubs about their efforts to get funding from the city for renovations at Wrigley Field.
The mayor tells the Chicago Tribune that he had one meeting a couple of months ago with the owners of the Cubs, and will sit down with Cubs representatives again now that his 2012 city budget plan is complete.
But Emanuel told the newspaper's editorial board that he has "a jaundiced and critical eye" in regard to handing over public funds for private interests.
In August, Crain's Chicago Business reported that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts had put together a new funding plan to renovate Wrigley Field, and that Emanuel is interested.
Former Mayor Richard M. Daley blocked Ricketts' last plan, which included public funding from taxes. According to the August Crain's report, the new plan still calls for "as much as $200 million in public help for a $400-million rebuild of Wrigley" but Emanuel's "people have been much more interested than Daley's were."
