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After spending the morning at the dentist, I thought about this driving back into the city:
What's the big deal?
We all know about Latin's $2 million deal with the Chicago Park District to build a new synthetic turf athletic field in south Lincoln Park. The Protect our Parks folks filed a lawsuit last month, asking a judge to scrap the deal even though 60 percent of the field is already completed.
We live in one of the largest cities in the country, but only have a handful of quality soccer fields in the city. I don't care about behind-the-scene deals or other things like that, because at the end of the day this is good for everyone involved - http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/936021,CST-EDT-edit07a.article
I've had people say to me that it's not fair Latin will get first dibs on use of the field during prime after-school hours and Saturday mornings. Hello McFly, as pointed out again in yesterday's editorial "more than 300 Chicago public and private schools, including Latin, have gotten permits that effectively lock in their access to public fields for a season or more. Latin already practices in Lincoln Park and at lakefront parks daily during sports seasons. With or without this synthetic field, that will continue."
So let's see, Latin plays a major role in adding a quality field to a park for the city and everyone to use, but yet people are upset because this deal was struck behind closed doors.
If this bothers you that much after reading the facts, here's my advice - go hang with the birds and the bees. At the end of the day, this is a positive deal all the way around for everyone involved.
- Joe Trost
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Couldn't agree more with you. And the general lack of soccer fields in the city is a travesty.
Joe,
It's not the product but the process. Even the article you reference states the deal was probably illegal. I'm a soccer coach and do support Latin for doing this and feel it will be a benefit for both the school and general public. However, the fact that such a good deal was done behind closed doors leaves everyone scratching their head and feeling that something shady happened. If this is so great, why the secrecy? Illinois is already ripe with political scandal and, at least at the surface to the casual observer, this is just another deal that can be added to that list.
TROST RESPOND: As I said, it's very basic - Latin is going to play and practice during primetimes. It helped build a $2 million field that everyone will be able to use. I don't care if it was behind closed doors, open doors or at Gumby's house. It's a benefit to everyone and even a blind person can see that.