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“People would love to see the Bears come, but they don’t want their property taxes to increase, and they don’t want traffic nightmares,” Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said. “We’re still in the process of evaluating what we might be able to do from a financial perspective. … We want to make this happen, so we’ll have to see what their needs and our abilities are, and try to balance the two.”
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
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Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer – Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate and more
April 22, 2026
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Summary and audio linked here.
Audio and summary
No more billion dollar subsidies by taxpayers to Illinois sports teams. Ill pols love it, cause just like marijuana sales, bogus sports focus keeps non-public union taxpayers eyes “off the real ball” i.e. political corruption and political mismanagement in Illinois (#1-2 in overall tax burden; Il/Chicago #1-2 in political corruption; #51, behind Puerto Rico in fiscal condition).
It will be interesting to watch this unfold. The Bears would want a facility that could serve as much more than a football stadium. Would Arlington Park residents be pleased if there were events year round? The traffic flow impact would be significant when 60,000 fans show up for a game or concert. Put a dome over it and you would have potential for a Super Bowl pretty quickly. It would be fun to watch BD Lori’s head explode when they change their name to the Arlington Park Bears.
Ex Lori would be long wrong before a stadium is ever built
As an Arlington Heights resident that would be affected by this traffic, the current belief around here is that the stadium will likely be closer to I-53 but away from Euclid and Wilke road intersections. They do need to redo some roads (most importantly 53 itself). I can def see them buying up the old Burger King on NW highway and turning it into something. It’ll be an awesome addition to the suburbs
Personally, I think any business looking to invest major dollars in Illinois is nuts. Who knows what new screwball laws they will have to deal with down the road.
Won’t happen in Arlington Heights I hate to tell you, If you look at the cost of building NFL stadiums the last few years in five or six cities, the number gets into the Billions. That’s with a “B”. Given the Bears’ and McCaskeys’ arrogance, they will be asking for all the bells and whistles, and they won’ step up with a meaningful financial commitment. Plus the infrastructure improvements will be huge. And the leftover debt at Soldier Field? Arlington Heights can’t provide the financial muscle. Illinois is broke. The public would choke at any kind of state help. So… Read more »
There’s quite a few stadiums in the suburbs of major cities that managed to get built. I think the Arl. Hts. stadium deal is already done.
Sounds to me also. The Bears back in January said they needed to inspect the land but here’s the thing, when I was driving down Wilke back in mid October, they had the inspection guys out there inspecting the land. If this is going as fast as it is (which I do think it is), 2027-2028 is a safe bet right now if they close early next year and demolish the buildings and stuff on the property next year.