CHICAGO BY THE NUMBERS

There have been so many stories in the news recently that have numbers in them. Because I believe nothing about numbers until I check them myself, I have had a very busy week. Below are some stories with a mathematical angle. Trust me, the essays are fun to read, even if you hate math!

WICKED the Play

The Sun-Times had a small story that the road production company of Wicked set a record for the week ending December 26, 2010 by grossing $1,727,476. That number seemed big to me, so I had to check it out.

The gross revenues are what the show takes in at the box office, so scalper tickets do not count in the total. I am writing that so no one tries to comment that the tickets cost more than I am saying.

Wicked is being performed at the Cadillac Place Theater ,which has 2344 seats. There were 8 shows that week, which means that if the theater was completely sold out, 18,752 people attended a performance. If we divide the gross by the number of tickets, we arrive at an average ticket price of $92.12. That does not make any sense since the range for tickets is $35-$105. How do they charge an average of $92/ticket? Up in the nosebleed section people are only paying the $35. Something is wrong with the numbers.

I guess Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, didn’t ask the Scarecrow to verify the gross.

TASTE OF CHICAGO CHARGING ADMISSION

Only one group, Celebrate Chicago LLC, responded to the City’s RFP for taking over the Taste and other lakefront festivals. The group is a joint venture of the Illinois Restaurant Association and two line entertainment productions companies, Chicago-based JAM Productions and AEG Live.


Their proposal is to charge a $20 admission fee, but $10 would be rebated to the customer by their receiving a $10 credit towards food and beverage, so this plan will totally eliminate all the workers in the Loop who walk over at noon for lunch. All that might end up coming to the festival are suburbanites and out-of-towners. Even they might turn away at the door when they figure out that a piece of pizza and a soda is now going to cost them $20. Celebrate Chicago LLC worked out numbers that will be very lucrative to them — if people actually show up. But at these prices, nobody will come.


In the “family of Four” comparison chart of entertainment pricing at other Chicago venues the company formulated was very tricky and I wonder who else noticed the numbers were wrong.” On the chart, they listed the price of parking at Navy Pier as $20, Museum of Science and Industry at $16, Great America at $25 and a baseball game at $20. For their chart of The Taste, they did not enter a parking price. So they expect all visitors to use public transportation to come to Grant Park but drive their cars to the other venues. If one just looked quickly at the chart, they wouldn’t notice the breakdown. Luckily, I always check the numbers for comparison.
Celebrate Chicago LLC is cooking the books before they even get started. I guess that is the Chicago Way!

ADVERTISING ON GARBAGE TRUCKS IS JUST TRASH!

Chicago Mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel said the city could raise $25 million by selling ads on garbage trucks, vehicle stickers and other public places. He obviously did not read my blog, “Come to Me for the Math TwoTimes,” where I explained how City Clerk candidate State Rep. Susana Mendoza’s (D-Chicago) plan for city sticker advertising made no economic sense. If the numbers don’t work there, how will they will work for selling ads on the side of a garbage truck? Maybe Right Guard deodorant will put something up, but what company wants their ads on a garbage truck? Smells like a fishy plan to me.

TWO TAXING SITUATIONS

Mayoral candidate Carole Moseley Braun releases released only the front pages of her 2008 and 2009 federal income tax returns. She did not pay any taxes because she said her company, Ambassador Organics, (add ',') lost money. But, lucky for her, according to WLS-TV, she received cash back, “In 2008 Braun lists her wages at $55,000, but with business losses of over $220,000, Braun received a refund of over $11,000. For 2009, Braun lists zero wages and her total income at just shy of $16,000. She received a refund of nearly $1,300.”


Of course nobody knows the full story because the rest of the pages of the return cannot be viewed. Braun put a great sympathy spin on it by issuing a statement that said, "Unlike (Rahm) Emanuel and (Gery) Chico, who traded on their government relations for vast riches when they left office, I did not. My tax returns are one measure of the fight I have waged to keep my business running. It is not unlike what many small-business owners and regular Chicago families are going through."


Okay, so a Democrat says it is okay not to pay taxes. But wait! Didn’t Illinois Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady just get trashed by the Democrats because his company lost money and he did not pay any taxes?


Didn’t Governor Pat Quinn say about Brady, “Given his track record—of supporting tax cuts for the wealthy but voting against a minimum wage, and of avoiding taxes on the salaries of his campaign officials—it’s not surprising that Bill Brady believes a different standard should apply to him? If Senator Brady is this secretive and controlling about basic information like his tax returns, just imagine how he would govern. After two recent scandal-plagued administrations, Illinois residents deserve better.”


Will we hear Quinn say the same about Braun? I will bet one million dollars that he won’t. But since that’s a wager I couldn’t afford to pay off, maybe I better come up with another number!