Emanuel: Epstein's Arrival Has No Bearing On Wrigley Renovation Support
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel says his excitement about Theo Epstein coming to the Cubs has no bearing on to proposals for a publicly funded renovation of Wrigley Field.
As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, Mayor Emanuel was asked Wednesday if the Epstein's hiring as the Cubs' president of baseball operations made him look any more favorably on the idea for a taxpayer-funded makeover for Wrigley Field.
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The city's first Jewish mayor was in a joking mood up to a point.
"You think that by choosing a guy called Theo Epstein that this mayor, Rahm Israel Emanuel, would be more sensitive to their needs?" he quipped. "Is that what you were asking?"
But he said in all seriousness, who is in charge of the Cubs is irrelevant to public policy decisions about Wrigley Field.
"Whatever decision I make about Wrigley Field is going to be made on behalf of the taxpayers," he said.
Emanuel has previously called the proposed plan to renovate the 97-year-old Wrigley Field a non-starter. The plan calls for using 35 years' worth of amusement tax growth to finance a $200 million restoration project.
Former Mayor Richard M. Daley blocked the same plan.
