Cultural Commissioner: Free Private Taste of Chicago 'Impossible'

By Prescott Carlson in News on Sep 18, 2010 9:00PM

Chicago's Cultural Affairs Commissioner Lois Weisberg, one of the loyalest members of Mayor Daley's cabinet, weighed in Friday on the recent target of possible privatization, the city's mammoth food fest Taste of Chicago. You would think she would be firmly on the side of her boss, but in fact the complete opposite is true -- Weisberg thinks it would be a horrible idea.

In an interview with the Sun-Times' Fran Spielman, Weisberg said the privatization of Taste would be a "mistake," and completely ruin the idea of the event -- a lakefront festival that's free and open to the public -- because the math just isn't there to indicate a private company would be able to keep it free, at least not with the city still taking their taste of Taste:

"There is no private company that could afford to come in and not charge admission. I know what the costs are. There's nowhere to get the revenue from. Even if they have sponsors, they'll still have an admission fee.

"The private company has to make money. That's what they're in business for. They also have to give the city money. That's where it becomes impossible."

The 85-year-old also looked back to the past and gave a reminder about the Taste's precursor, Chicagofest, which was run by a private company and quickly "got into serious trouble."

Of course, Weisberg inadvertently makes the argument that if Taste of Chicago isn't really much of a cash cow, then why shouldn't the city try and dump it off on somebody else, and let them deal with the headaches? And skim through the comments on any stories about crime incidents at or surrounding Taste, and they are littered with people who agree with charging some sort of admission to keep the "riff-raff" out. Whatever the ultimate solution is, it's probably not something Mayor Daley is going to resolve any time soon in this economy (especially with the major dip in attendance Taste had this year), so come next summer it will be Mayor Dart/Emanuel/Meeks/Hendon's problem.