The Chicago River is among this town's greatest assets — a great civic space that beckons people to relax, eat, bike and jog at the water's edge while it also hosts some of the city's best architecture.
That wasn't the case a couple of decades ago. Back then, the river was foul and smelly from a century of treating the waterway as a dumping ground, particularly when industry lined its north and south branches.
The river, particularly the Main Branch, is attractive and popular. But now a Chicago alderperson wants to dirty-up the waterway again. Not with garbage, but with digital advertising billboards.
First-term Ald. William Hall (6th), chairman of the City Council Subcommittee on Revenue told Crain’s Chicago Business last week that he wants to take up the issue for discussion — but not a vote — when his panel meets Wednesday.
"We have the beautiful Riverwalk where we can add revenue through billboards," Hall said. "I dare you to rent a boat, ride down the Chicago River, that’s nothing but a runway to get a message out."
In March, Hall told the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman that, "As beautiful as the riverwalk is, can you imagine what maybe some digital on the river would look like?”
We can, which is why the idea is all wet. The river is more than a runway, alderman. Along with the lakefront and our park system (Hall wants the signage in parks too) the river is one of the things that make this city special.
People seeking the experience of being on the river shouldn't be greeted by garish digital signage winking, blinking and flashing at them.
Hall, an ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, heads a City Council committee charged with finding ways to bring in new revenue without raising taxes. He's got an important and tough task ahead of him, for sure. The city must find ways to create revenue (or reduce spending) without sticking residents with higher taxes or increased fees.
In addition to putting advertising on the riverfront, and in parks, Hall's committee will discuss putting ad signage on CTA stations and vacant downtown storefronts.
The committee will also take up the idea of allowing video gambling within city limits.
Regarding the river, Hall told Crain's the intent "is not to have a busy river with just boats, but the goal is to have a message along the river that accents the architectural integrity, but lets it be a place where more and more people’s message can get out."
The city has sailed these waters before — albeit unsuccessfully. In 2011, Mayor Rahm Emanuel struck a deal to drape Bank of America ads on two historic Chicago River bridge houses at Wabash Avenue.
Cheap-looking and ultimately unpopular, the ads came down after a month, and a plan to put similar banners on the river's Art Deco bridge over Lake Shore Drive was abandoned.
Chicago has created some of the best parks, open space and public water frontage in the U.S. But the city also has a habit of placing these resources in peril under a maddening urge to build on or otherwise monetize these spaces.
This must stop.
The riverfront is a spot where locals and tourists can remove themselves for a few moments from the hustle and bustle of the city. To lose or diminish that just to turn a buck is wrong.
"I think everyone in the city of Chicago wants to see more revenue. Nobody’s going to fight against that," Hall said. "But how do we get there?"
Not this way, certainly.
Some things just can't be for sale. And Chicago's waterways and public spaces should be one of them.
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