5 Things to Know: Loop high-rise tax, coffee crazy, ‘Fred Claus'
Mayor Richard Daley thinks it's a loopy, even "disastrous," idea: creating a special public safety assessment for large commercial spaces in Chicago's downtown core. The proposed tax is among the latest ideas aldermen are throwing out to help chisel away at Daley's preferred revenue option, a general property tax increase for the 2008 budget that would raise $86 million.
Daley indicated the city could not single out commercial high-rises in the Loop. All towers - on the North Side and South Side, commercial and residential - would have to get socked, he warned. The council is expected to vote on the budget Tuesday.
Wired AND windy. If some Chicagoans look a little squirrelly, now you know why. Chicago is the nation's most caffeinated city, according to a new study from an organization called HealthSaver. The Windy City's first-place showing reflects consumption of caffeinated coffee and soft drinks, teas, chocolate and other products with the stimulant.
It you're talking about caffeinated coffee only, then (not surprisingly) Seattle, hometown of Starbucks, wears the wired crown.
Battle of the billionaires. Real-estate mogul Donald Trump has been quoted as saying he may be interested in buying the Chicago Cubs. He's also been quoted as slamming Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has expressed a more serious interest in acquiring the Lovable Losers. Trump reportedly chided Cuban for not having won anything.
Famed architect torn down in suit. Most everyone seems to like architect Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion, the sculptural silver-steel band shell at Millennium Park. It's a different story at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has its own Gehry structure, the $300 million Stata Center in Cambridge. MIT filed a negligence lawsuit last week, claiming flaws in Gehry's design led to leaks, masonry cracks, mold and other problems.
Vaughn hits the red carpet. Vince Vaughn was in town for a premier of his new flick "Fred Claus," in which the staccato-voiced comic actor plays the brother of you-know-who. Some of the film was shot last year in Chicago, at his insistence; Vaughn has owned a downtown condo and hails from the North Shore suburb of Lake Forest. The flick opened Friday to not-so-hot reviews.
Mike Ramsey is Chicago reporter for GateHouse News Service. He can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net <mailto:ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net> .