Firm pays $200K to rent Chicago Park

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

For the second year, a corporation will rent Millennium Park for a day, closing much of it to public access.

This year's tenant is Allstate Insurance Co., which is shelling out $200,000 for exclusive use of a large portion of the city-owned park Aug. 7.

The sweetener for the public is that Allstate is contributing $500,000 for a summerlong program of free entertainment.

Allstate, which is hosting a party for its top agents, is paying $100,000 less in rent than last year's corporate tenant, Toyota. The car company spent $300,000 for its invitation-only day in 2005, plus a $500,000 entertainment sponsorship.

For those who believe in "public goods" we here at Newsalert hope this is the erosion of public parks.Chicago should sell the park,all parks.When Toyota rents out the park,on that day,it isn't a public park.