-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Amtrak wants to enhance its route from Chicago to Milwaukee from seven round trips a day to 10 to accommodate increased ridership. You know what you’re getting, if you buy a house right next to railroad tracks. But some suburban homeowners say a proposal to expand an Amtrak line that will increase train traffic is too much.
Comment: This is the other part of the bind rating agencies are in. On one hand you have fear of this, which encourages conservatism, but on the other hand you have Rahm and many others like him bullying for rosier ratings.
A comprehensive look at the state’s economy by Moody’s and Illinois’ Commission on Governmental Forecasting and Accountability.
“Consent decrees are traditionally very expensive for cities like Chicago. If they can work to resolve issues without paying a federal monitor hundreds of thousands of dollars and they can accomplish the same thing, that’s a good practice to save citizens money.”
Harvey, who grew up in Cleveland, provided no details of what that help might entail, but suggested it could be similar to mentoring programs he is already involved in.
The largest public-employee union in Illinois will ask its members this month whether they’d support a strike in a contract dispute with Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration.
Comment: Like him or not, either Rauner somehow succeeds or Illinois fails with him. Nothing is clearer.
Comment: 9% interest rate. Borrowing to cover payroll is desperation.
Insurance industry lobbying groups are speaking out against a proposed amendment to an Illinois statute that would give insurance regulators in that state more control over workers’ compensation rates.
Sound familiar?
The settlement would draw to a close a class action lawsuit brought against Chicago-based Northern Trust on behalf of retirement plans across the country who participated in a so-called “securities lending program” administered by Northern Trust.
Chicago is putting up for sale about 40 properties, most of them empty school buildings shuttered in the historic 2013 school closings, officials announced Thursday. Chicago Public Schools so far has sold only nine of the 50-some buildings closed in 2013 and found other purposes for five.
Recent experience of some bankrupt cities, as well as much legal scholarship, casts doubt on the effectiveness of municipal bankruptcy. To strengthen government’s ability to address municipal insolvency, this report argues that federal bankruptcy and state intervention, which are often posed as alternative approaches, should be combined. We call this approach “intervention bankruptcy.
Interesting because it shows how a suburban leader can be co-opted by Madigan to do the bidding for Chicago, which is inverse to his own constituents’ interests.
A property tax increase of that size, through, would weaken the city’s “political and practical ability” to increase taxes to fund pensions and other city services, Moody’s said.
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