-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The nation’s single family home prices rose 12.0% over the previous year.
Alas, the Chicago area once again trailed the other 19 major metro areas tracked by Case Shiller with a mere 8.6% annual appreciation rate for single family homes.
Said Sen. Dave Syverson, the ranking Republican on the Senate Health Committee, “One part of the legislation creates a new class of workers, Community Health Workers, and the [state] estimated costs of this alone at over $1 billion. There are new mandates on local providers and employers. While there are some positive aspects to the legislation, the costs, if implemented, will be unaffordable.”
With conventions and trade shows on hold and hotel rooms empty, the McPier Authority had no choice but to use the state as its financial backstop. The $15.2 million “unreimbursed draw-down” of state sales tax revenue was the first since the 2008 recession.
“It’s the whole package,” said Byron Mayor John Rickard. “All the way from what it does locally to the clean energy it contributes to the state. I think the momentum is toward trying to figure out something.” According to Exelon, the two facilities employ more than 1,500 people directly and pay more than $63 million in local taxes.
The state faces other lawsuits in state and federal courts over the persistent backlogs of FOID card applications. Tens of thousands of residents have been waiting months beyond the timeline allotted by law to get their cards.
In March, the Illinois Housing Development Authority website said the program would be available this spring and in April. Earlier this month, the authority said applications would open “in the near future.” This week, the website posted “an anticipated launch date of May.”
Pritzker couched his reversal in the context of the failure to pass a fair maps amendment. “In order for us to have an independent commission, we needed to have a constitutional amendment, something that would actually change the way the process operates today in the Constitution. That did not happen.”
Eric Zorn: “Suggesting that Illinois Democrats should set a good example for the nation, wave the white flag and agree to a “fair maps” system likely to give Republicans three or four more seats in a House of Representatives now narrowly controlled by Democrats along with greater influence in the General Assembly is … charming. Idealistic.“
Protect Our Parks had requested a review of an appellate court decision handed down in August 2020. In that ruling, appellate justices said Protect Our Parks lacked standing to sue the city of Chicago in the first place over its approval of the center’s construction on public land.
City officials will shift their efforts from managing surging demand for the COVID-19 vaccine to encouraging those who have yet to be inoculated to get the vaccine.
For the month of March, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority reported a net operating loss of about $7 million – but that was about $2 million under what they were projecting. As to a return to normal, the estimate right now that in the first quarter of 2022, McCormick Place will host 25 percent of its original events scheduled – and will return to 100 percent of original scheduling during 2024.
“I think of it as a as a way to celebrate people’s vaccination choice,” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said. “It sounds like Lollapalooza might happen. So I’m not going to comment yet on the details of things that would be thought of for late summer. I think we are certainly, again, let me just say this, thinking a lot about people who are fully vaccinated and the opportunities for them to be able to do, you know, do certain things.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday he will update the state’s guidance for people who fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to allow them to shed masks when taking part in outdoor activities, but masks will still be required in large groups outside.
The Illinois General Assembly has a little over a month left to address the culture of corruption it started rejecting when Mike Madigan was ousted as Illinois House speaker after a 36-year reign. But nearly two months into legislative session, lawmakers have prioritized fringe bills ahead of publicly debating one of the state’s most pressing public policy issues: public corruption reform.
New federal corruption charges state former Illinois House member John O’Sullivan conspired to use bribes to get a red-light traffic camera contract renewed and more of them installed in a suburban Chicago community. Traffic cameras collected $5.5 million during a decade in the suburb.
A reprint of our Wirepoints article.
Basecamp, a Chicago-based company that’s developed a reputation for its tech counter-culture ways, instituted new policies this week that ask employees to refrain from engaging in conversations about political and societal issues while at work.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker today gave his strongest signal yet that, regardless of what he said in the past, he’s now prepared to sign new legislative and congressional district maps drawn without significant Republican input.
Trustee UMB NA, which represents holders of the $170 million of debt issued for the Better Housing Foundation projects, reported that it is working to connect bondholders with a securities litigation firm this spring. Whether that leads to a lawsuit is yet to be decided.
Every Chicago mayor since Richard J. Daley has made similar promises of investment, hoping it would create new industry, better housing and jobs.
Now, there are at least three public corruption cases set to go to trial in the next 10 months as judges move to catch up after the year-long shutdown. Bloomingdale Township Road District Commissioner Robert Czernek is set for trial in a kickback case Aug. 9. And Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta faces trial Dec. 6 in a case revolving around the red-light camera company SafeSpeed.
The $300 payments, from the national non-profit organization Family Independence Initiative, will be issued in 10 installments. Evanston Ald. Robin Rue Simmons says, ‘It is satisfying to see the nation is looking at our commitment here, considering us as inspiration.’
Republicans in Sangamon County government who currently handle those jobs said the bill needlessly expands bureaucracy and would create confusion for taxing bodies and financial burdens for Capital Township taxpayers. The also believe thebill conflicts with the will of the voters, pointing to the 74% of township voters in a 2018 advisory referendum who cast ballots in favor of a merger of the township government with Sangamon County.
“This is the legislature, and negotiation is an important part of what we do and I think it’s important to, you know, get the parties around the table and see if we can come to some common ground,” Welch said. “I think that’s just the right thing to do.”
“The area that we’re falling so far behind in is our domestic out-migration,” said Rep. Ryan Spain. “It is directly caused by these continued poor policy decisions that are driving families out of our state and forcing businesses to close.”
Among the many changes, the Illinois Healthcare and Human Services Reform Act caps costs for blood sugar testing equipment, launches an anti-racism commission, and extends legal protections for people seeking help for opioid addiction.
Jeff Pope, of the Technology & Manufacturing Association: “As we try our best to rebuild the economy, we must realize that small businesses are the key to succeeding. They provide the jobs we need to employ our people, the money our economy needs to recover, and the services that define our communities.”
During the past decade, Illinois suffered the second-largest population decline in numeric terms, behind only West Virginia. As a percentage of the population, Illinois’ population decline was third worst behind West Virginia and Mississippi.
When Bernard Loyd founded Boxville on a collection of vacant lots on Chicago’s South Side several years ago, he had no idea it would become a community hub for the Bronzeville neighborhood and one of the city’s fastest growing business incubators.
The Association and many, many members signed this letter to the governor which reads, in part, “Manufacturing is a critical cog in Illinois’ economy,and we need policies that encourage capital investment and job creation. Today, our state’s manufacturing sector employs 556,000 women and men on factory floors in jobs that pay an average of more than $88,000 in wages and benefits…Manufacturing contributes the single largest share of the Gross State Product and creates the largest economic and jobs multiplier.”
“I’m moving back because after a nightmare of a year, Chicago is poised for a breakout decade. And I want in.”
Local officials have little control over their budgets because of the many unfunded mandates imposed by the state. Now they face another threat from the state. Pritzker is angling to swipe $150 million from state tax revenue that has been traditionally shared with municipalities.
It’s all there. All of what idealogues are confident they have now achieved in converting education into political dogma, complete with laughter about how they have captured the education establishment.
“That’s something that unfortunately before I became governor was a bit set in clay, if not stone. And now, we’re working very hard to make sure we’re going the right direction,” Gov. JB Prtizker said. He attributed the population loss primarily to college students who choose not to attend school in the state.
“(The numbers) have been coming down gradually, which is terrific,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “We have a period of time that we wait — I think it’s five or six more days of decline — which will allow us to move into the bridge phase and then onto Phase 5.”
Ironically, the Illinois State Board of Education and the Department of Public Health is reportedly opposing the amendment that will add non-public schools to their oversight. It’s the Illinois Education Association – one of two major teachers’ unions in Illinois – that is pushing HB 2789.
Experts say the lack of interest can be explained by pandemic health risks; child- and eldercare pandemic issues; and larger, pandemic-sized unemployment benefits. “Of those different explanations, we don’t know why yet why the labor market is tight,” said Peter Ganong, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
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