Showing more speed than Anthony Thomas, demolition crews pounced on Soldier Field almost as soon as the last player limped into the locker room after the loss to Philadelphia.
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Wouldn’t it be nice if that same hurry-up offense was applied to other public projects that have been languishing for months, even years? Try these:
1. The Deep Tunnel: The granddaddy — make that great-granddaddy — of public works projects begging for completion, this flood relief leviathan of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago is a 130-mile system of tunnels that was begun in 1976 — not long after the Bears moved into Soldier Field — and it’s still not done.
CTA Blue Line: Last January, CTA officials announced that long-awaited repairs along the elevated’s 104-year-old track and 11 of its Douglas branch stations would begin in 2001. But guess what? It took until December just to get the budget approved for the work.
2. The Uptown Theater: Too bad this majestic structure, a candidate for rehabbing for nearly two decades, isn’t located in a better neighborhood, for example, the North Loop’s theater district. Then, it would be getting the kind of attention it deserves.
3. Block 37: One of the most desirable blocks of prime commercial real estate to be found anywhere on the planet remains undeveloped after nearly 14 years. What is City Hall waiting for? The Deep Tunnel to get finished?
47th Street Theater/Cultural Center: Ald. Dorothy “The Hat” Tillman’s Bronzeville project is taking so long to complete — almost 3 1/2 years since ground was broken — that singer Lou Rawls has taken his name off the complex.
West Side movie studio: Mayor Daley announced this $150 million project for North Lawndale in January of 1999, when the target date for opening the 523,000-square-foot complex was June of 2000. Daley was also up for re-election at the time. Now the revised date for work on the project to even begin is this April — or so we’re told. If they hurry, maybe Lou Rawls will put his name on this one.
4. Millennium Park: The real question about this brainchild of Mayor Daley is: Which millennium did he have in mind?