Daley defends suburbanites' right to concert seats
Millennium Park would never have been built without suburban wallets, Mayor Daley said Monday, scoffing at suggestions that Chicagoans get preferred seating there.
"Remember, people gave money [to build Millennium Park] who lived throughout the metropolitan area -- business leaders. And if you look at many of them, they lived in suburban areas. They should have never given," Daley said facetiously.
(AP)
"We have free concerts there. First come, first served. People show up early. I mean -- they show up REAL early. So, it's first come, first served.
It's a wonderful program. Of course, they [also] have the Grant Park concerts. That goes on" on the same, first-come, first-served basis.
Fed up with suburbanites who show up early and "glom" the Pritzker Pavilion's 4,000 seats, Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) last week advocated preferential seating for Chicago residents.
Schulter suggested a 15-minute window where only Chicagoans would be allowed in. That would be followed by open-seating for everybody else.
"You have people from the suburbs who get there earlier and glom onto all the seats. . . . They're putting their blankets across rows and rows of chairs," Schulter said.
"It's just a question of fairness. If you go to other cities, you'll see city residents are given discounts to go to their museums. It's a fair thing to consider. What we're trying to do is look at -- especially during these hard times -- that our city residents are at least given some consideration somehow." Millennium Park holds roughly 13,000 people, including 4,000 seats at the Pritzker Pavilion and a capacity of 9,000 on the lawn behind those seats.
Seating is expected to become an even bigger issue this summer when the Country Music Festival, Celtic Fest and Viva Latin are moved from Grant Park to Millennium Park to save money.