Nov 18, 2008 6:12 pm US/Central
City's Banner Auction Won't Include Obama Signs
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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The city hopes to raise thousands of dollars for charity in their annual street banner auction.
CBS
The City of Chicago hopes to raise tens of thousands of dollars for charity Wednesday when it auctions off 100 street banners, celebrating everything from the Cubs to the Sox to musical theater.
But as CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, some very popular banners are not part of the sale. Eighty of the two-banner sets saluting President-elect Barack Obama will continue to adorn Chicago light poles in the Loop and elsewhere until the inauguration next year. City Hall's already gotten dozens of calls from people hoping to buy them. They will likely be auctioned next year, perhaps bringing big bucks.
"They could probably go for $10,000 or $15,000, I would imagine," one man said.
That would translate into far more than the city expects to raise with an auction of banners Wednesday and Saturday. Proceeds will be used to buy holiday gifts for needy local children, with some also going to the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation and the Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Cindy Gatziolis of the Mayor's Office of Special Events said she is telling people looking for the Obama banners, "Well, we don't have that banner. We would love to have it. If it ever changes, we'll let you know."
The banners were paid for by Mayor Richard Daley's political campaign fund.
About 100 or so banners will be sold at the Daley Center Wednesday. Among them is a Chicago Bulls championship banner from the 1997-98 season, complete with autographs from team members, though Michael Jordan's isn't on there.
In 25 years of banner auctions, the most lucrative was 2005: $150,000 fueled mostly by the White Sox World Series win.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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