Lone Taste Bidder Draws Another Line in Sand

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 28, 2011 10:11PM

The lone bidder to privatize Taste of Chicago has come back and said maayyyyybe a $20 admission isn't such a good idea. So they've cut the proposed fee in half in an effort to appease Mayor Daley, who reminded us a few weeks back the annual festival with food, music and some carnival attractions is all about the food.

Celebrate Chicago LLC, the partnership between JAM Productions, AEG Live and the Illinois Restaurant Association, is hoping that the cut in the proposed admission will help the city come to a quicker decision on whether to award the contract to them. Complicating matters is that Celebrate Chicago has to deal with an administration that is now fully immersed in lame duck mode. A source told the Sun-Times, "The people who are doing this are not even gonna be there [once a new mayor is sworn in]. They’re not interested in making decisions — and certainly not decisions they’re going to have to defend.”