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Leon Walker, a second-generation South Side developer, said, “We’ve got a fiscal problem in Chicago because you’ve got to balance this budget on a smaller tax base. The key to solving that problem is expanding the tax base. The key to that happening is making our neighborhoods much more livable and more attractive to working families.”
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
29 Comments
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
2 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
March 31, 2026
11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
C’mon guys!! What’s a Commie have to do to please you people?
After all, they’re only asking for the shirt off your back…
Here we go again… So much for that silly Dr. King thought of judging a man by his character, not the color of his skin…
The comments, below, capture most of the perspective one would need to understand the silliness of the article.
These idiots – sorry – simply missed the class that explained capital flows to where there is opportunity… If capital isn’t flowing somewhere, it’s because the market has determined the return isn’t there… How is this hard?
Then you’ll need to start by making the population living there now stop killing each other at the current fantastic rate.
Sure let’s spend millions on the south and west sides so the next time the police justifiably shoot a violent dope addict with a knife or try to restrain a drug dealer like Floyd high on drugs, blm can burn and loot and tell the insurance company to pay. Lori caused all this with the enabling of criminals.
Let’s do more building on the south and west sides so the next time a drug addict with a knife is justifiably shot by the police, blm can burn and loot them like they have in the past.
I think the headline should read instead “Pritzker’s Covid-19 actions” has been the straw that broke the camel’s back in regards to Chicago’s real estate values.”
The straw that broke the camels Back was the mayors blessing of
Animals Rioting, Looting and Assault on the Chicago Police and Residents!
Not only Lori but Sophia King and the Grant Park advisory council who gave into blm and took down the Columbus statues.
Definitely a combo. Prigster cleared out all the city’s normal activity (million$ of people + fi$cal activity for months), while Groot let the void be re-populated with the criminal sjw rioting element.
Equity would be if your $30,000 market value home on the south side were taxed at 2% of its market value instead of the 25% market value its taxed at now.
part of the reason it is 30k is the tax burden. The assessed value is a relative thing, what your taxes are is related to how your property is valued versus the other properties that the taxing body can draw from. If the 30k market value home was assessed at 300k it is possible the taxes could go down, it just matters what the other properties in the taxing jurisdiction are assessed at.
More funny thinking. Ill/cook/chicago are losing people. They aren’t leaving because there aren’t enough Starbucks or Whole Foods around. Taxpayers fund in some degree these redevelopment efforts. If they work, they come at the expense of other areas in Ill/cook/chicago. There are always less people so it’s not even zero sum. No one who has left Illinois for Texas will be coming back because they built another starbucks. Elected officials and their minions just don’t summon the will to make major changes and reverse populaton migation. They can effect the environment, but they don’t control it. They can however always… Read more »
I think about this too. The last 30 years have been developing one area at the expense of another because of population loss. For example, the Barringtons and North Shore have languished because of the gentrification of the lakeshore neighborhoods in Chicago. The south suburbs have turned decripit as the far south, non-cook county suburbs have grown. The western suburbs of chicago have stagnated, and are nearly unrecognizable, as DuPage Kane and Kendall have boomed.