Under the current ordinance, any developer of 10 or more residential units must have 10 percent of its units meet affordable housing requirements or pay a fee of $100,000 per unit to have all of the units be rented at market rate. Most big developers have paid the fee, which is placed into a pool used to create affordable housing units elsewhere. Home builders contend that’s an unconstitutional taking.

Mayor Emanuel, you’re going to raise property taxes. The question is, how much? Please list separately the additional amount required of each taxpayer due to all the borrowing, stalling and the interest on the debt — interest that is tens of millions of dollars more due to the schools’ and the city’s junk bond status. Comment: Bingo. That’s exactly what we wrote last month that’s needed, but nobody will do that. Don’t expect Rahm to do it.

Emanuel has repeatedly accused his predecessor and political mentor of “kicking the can down the road” and postponing Chicago’s financial day of reckoning. But, that didn’t stop Emanuel from giving his handpicked school team the green light to kick the can until the middle of the school year.

Chicago has held its own in recent years when it comes to attracting workers with a bachelors degree or higher. And, by some measures, the city actually has improved its relative standing. Fully study by the Manhattan Institute linked here.

“Once you get a taste of the life you could have, you’ll want to work hard so you can have that life,” says the young man.