Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will take money that could be used to pay for the Chicago Police & Fire Pension Funds to buy a BIGGER & BETTER FERRIS WHEEL at Navy Pier!

Navy Pier's Ferris wheel, an icon of the Chicago lakefront, will be dismantled this fall and replaced by a taller ride featuring temperature-controlled gondolas that will be ready in time for the pier's 2016 centennial.

Pier officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel were set to announce Tuesday that the new wheel will rise to a height of 196 feet, almost 50 feet taller than the current wheel. Still, the new wheel will be 68 feet shorter than the original Ferris wheel, which was built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The pier's new Ferris wheel also will not compete height-wise with others that have sprung up worldwide in recent years — such as the 550-foot-tall High Roller that opened last year in Las Vegas.

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