Today was the rally for the Chicago Blackhawks after winning the Stanley Cup. Thousands of people (estimated more than 100,000) gathered in Millennium Park to celebrate.
Some of the best parts of the celebration included the thousands of people who took public transportation, bringing much needed revenue to the CTA and Metra (probably an extra million dollars or so in a single day.) On top of that, many people patronized local restaurants and other businesses before and after the celebration. Taxis, retail, etc.
One of the bad aspects was the aftermath. Listening to the post-rally coverage on 670 AM The Score, they mentioned the thousands and thousands of empty water bottles left behind. One can only assume that other garbage was left behind. I should not be so shocked at the disconnect people have between tax money being wasted and their own actions.
Money for the children! For the homeless! For seniors! For roads! For infrastructure! For first responders!
When it comes to pitching in to save money by rolling up our sleeves, we city-folk prefer to keep our hands clean. After all, Duck Dynasty is on TV.
There are scheduled street cleaning days. You know why? First, because people litter. Second, because people in neighborhoods can't seem to take time out to sweep up the front of their house to the middle of the street once a month. Silly, isn't it?
Back to the rally. Thousands of bottles left behind. Let's start with public labor. Then there are the vehicles needed to get people and equipment to and from the park. Then there are the trash bags. Fortunately, once they take the bottles away, it all disappears. Wait, it doesn't? Hopefully, someone is making money recycling the stuff.
I'm happy the Blackhawks won. (Like, crazy happy.) I'm happy that tens of thousands of people came to my beloved city to celebrate with the team. I'm happy they gave the economy a little spike. Just pick up after yourselves, okay?
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