ENGLEWOOD — The mayor said Wednesday he is satisfied with the 10-year deal he's struck with Lollapalooza, the annual music festival held last weekend at Grant Park.
"Lollapalooza is a success for the City of Chicago," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a news conference held at Kennedy-King College in Englewood.
Asked whether suburbanites might have stayed home over qualms about the city's gun violence, Emanuel pointed instead to the influx of tourists from out of the state and country who filled city hotels and restaurants for the weekend.
According to festival organizers, Lollapalooza pumped $139 million into the local economy last year, although final figures aren't available yet for the fest just concluded. An estimated 69 percent of the more than 100,000 people a day who attend the three-day fest come from out of state, with 2.4 percent from international locations.
Emanuel also touted the 10-year deal, now in its third year, his administration negotiated soon after he was elected. That deal granted the Chicago Park District a part of the gate, guaranteed at a minimum of $1.5 million, and also eliminated sweetheart tax breaks the fest had been receiving on city and county amusement taxes and state liquor taxes.
Asked if the city was getting a "fair shake," Emanuel said, "We'll see about that."
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