I take umbrage. With Chicago. Yet once again they have caved into pressure and re-named a well known place--
Meanwhile screaming how upset they are by the whole thing, how the natives aren't going to ever call the place the new name, how history is treated seriously there, so names aren't to be trifled with.
Gimmee a break. This is the town that allowed Comiskey Park to be re-named U.S. Cellular Field.
U.S. CELLULAR FIELD? Is that name even legal for a baseball field?
Of course there is the Marshall Fields fiasco. It's called Macy's now. You know, having been purchased by Macy's...which still goes by it's original name, but maybe that's because Macy's was started by Ohioans. Maybe Ohioans can hang on to their names.
So now SEARS TOWER has been re-named Willis Tower.
Because an London based company , yes, Willis something or other, has leased (not bought) about 145,000 square feet for office space within the Sears Tower, and as part of the lease agreement, this London based company wanted their name spelled across the building .
American Landmarks Properties of Skokie is the bad guy here. They could have said no.
Except, it was about the need for money. We all know that. Would Chicagoans rather have a shiny clean, maintained Sears Tower called Willis Tower, or a rundown ruin that is starting to create havoc on the sidewalks below as the thing starts to fall apart.
Can't Chicago take care of its own stuff? I mean don't even get me started on the travesty the Chicago Tribune has become. LA Times and NY Times are hanging in there. Why couldn't Chicago?
Now they are wailing and gnashing their teeth and saying things like we'll never call it Willis Tower. Not ever ever ever.
I lived a lot of years in Chicago, and my son was born there. I took him to the Sears Tower when he was three. I took him to Comiskey Park when he was six months old. Marshall Fields toy department knew him well. I read the Trib when it weighed something.
But now...Willis Tower? U.S. Cellular Field? Teeny Chicago Tribune?
Hmmmmm.
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