Here's a bright idea to raise revenue for Chicago

The city can raise revenue by offering companies the opportunity to light the light poles along North DuSable Lake Shore Drive with colored bulbs representing their brands. There are thousands of CTA buses and drivers whizzing by on any given day. That’s a lot of eyeballs, which is music to advertisers’ ears.

Cars zip along DuSable Lake Shore Drive. — A Sun-Times reader suggests the city raise revenue by offering companies the opportunity to light the light poles along North DuSable Lake Shore Drive with colored bulbs representing their brands.

New ideas for city revenue was a topic of conversation last week on Sun-Times reporter Fran Spielman’s podcast with her guest, Ald. William Hall (6th). The freshman City Council member, who chairs the subcommittee overseeing the search for new revenue, has his work cut out for him. Some ideas at the top of his list are video gaming, wealth taxes, heliport and downtown digital ads.

Might I suggest the Sun-Times put a call out to its audience to share readers’ ideas via letters to the editor?

I can start: I take an express CTA bus down North DuSable Lake Shore Drive every weekday for my commute. On my evening drives home, I see light poles stationed every 20 feet or so that glow down on the walkers and bikers of the lakefront path.

I thought how cool would it be if all of those light bulbs were like the ones I installed in my condo that have the ability to change any color with the click of a button on my iPhone.

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With a view of multicolored lights stretching its 15-plus mile length (the city would need to install some new light poles in spots), North DuSable Lake Shore Drive could expand our downtown symphony of lights. Just think of holidays: the iconic drive can go green for St Pats, red white and blue for the Fourth of July, Chicago sports team colors when our teams make the playoffs. The list truly goes on and on.

The multi-color lights alone would be an iconic addition to Chicago’s architecture. More important, however, is the revenue aspect.

Chicago’s search for new revenue targets video gaming, wealth taxes, heliport, downtown digital ads

A few times a year, we could offer companies the opportunity to light the drive with their brand colors for a price. According to the group “Redefine the Drive,” the drive between Grand and Hollywood avenues alone has roughly 69,000 CTA bus passengers a day as well as over 100,000 cars a day. That’s a lot of eyeballs, which is music to advertisers’ ears.

Maybe Zillow (blue) is looking to advertise their real estate app on Chicago’s North Side? Or maybe Redfin (red)? Maybe Southwest Airlines (red, blue and yellow) has a new local ad campaign about flying away during our harsh winters? Maybe T-Mobile (pink) or AT&T (blue and white) want to market their cellphone carrier brand to Chicago’s North Siders.

Let them get their photo-ops and stories on the news, and let us get their money.

Marty Malone, Lake View

Keep garbage down

We could go a long way toward solving our trash problems if, as individuals and as a society, we had the courage to give an honest answer to one question: How much “stuff” do we really need?

Neil Johnson, Lansing