Why Josh Can't Be Left Alone

The City of Chicago rented out its flagship park, Millennium Park, to Toyota Co. for a corporate event Thursday for $800,000. The park, a prime tourist destination, was closed to the public for the entire day. As a response, General Motors showed up with 40 "courtesy cars" and shuttled disappointed tourists to other destinations at its own expense. I love "guerilla marketing." It's a lot of fun to watch. Now, all GM has to start doing is making cars that work and I might consider buying one.

The park being closed didn't upset me. This story in the Chicago Tribune did. Toyota made a large gift to the people of Chicago by supporting its park system. If the local newspapers are going to villainize every supporter of the park for getting some private time for their contribution, than who's going to keep writing the checks? A few million dollars a year in rental fees will go a long way towards keeping Chicago attractive. But if corporations are going to be thrown to the wolves for doing it, then they'll take their money elsewhere. Why get bad PR when you are just trying to help? And then who'll be stuck paying the bills? This definitely calls for a letter to the editor.

UPDATE: My letter was published on Friday, September 16th.