-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Summary and audio linked here.
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.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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The slow bleeding and fall of the city continues. But we will strive for racial equity!
I love the word crafting of the Mars PR folks. We “remain committed to Chicago”. We are just moving all of our people out that’s all.
Sweet words and a middle finger salute to LL.
First the M&Ms, now this.
sounds about right
Sad, sad, sad. Beautifully maintained campus perimeter along Oak Park Ave, next to Shriners Hospital campus and Metra station, anchored relative tranquility of still solidly middle-class Galewood neighborhood. Damage to this now-stable community will quickly become apparent after Mars abandons its factory campus.
Lightfoot should incentivize Mars to remain, rather than throwing more cash at community activists and “gun violence mitigation”. Maintaining pool of steady supply of blue-collar “full-time job with benefits” is far more effective governmental intervention than steady diet of cash hand-outs of taxpayer funds.
“Lightfoot should incentivize Mars to remain” is the same useful-idiot argument empowering Illinois TIF
(the most destructive-to-property-values, crony-Socialist weaponized economic violence tool in the Illinois political arsenal)
to destroy property values in all of Illinois over the past 3 decades.
No incentives for any business is the only way out of a mess that has been created by incentives for ‘our’ ‘friends’ at the expense of ‘our’ ‘not-friends’.
Susan – the correct objective is to make Illinois a very competitive place to do business without the need for any specific subsidies. As you agree (I have read your excellent comments on this board) that ship has long sailed and there is very little interest by the Illinois political apparatchiks to make Illinois truly competitive. Pick any ecosystem – taxes, workers comp, and the like – and it uncompetitivesin Illinois. In fairness to Streeterville, Mars’ absence will be incredibly painful. I paid for college expenses by taking the Milwaukee Road line to the north side, in a warehouse district… Read more »
Who said anything about TIF, Susan? Mars isn’t moving because it can’t expand its facility. Better a well-maintained factory that quietly runs 24/7 than another abandoned industrial site on Pappas’ delinquent taxpayer list.
Nearby Oak Park/Galewood/Monteclare neighborhoods already have nearby enourmous Brickyard Mall to address all its retail requirements, including big box retailers Marshalls, Target, etc.
With its proximity to a train station and being a working class neighborhood, this will no doubt turn into an affordable housing project with some odd retail mix that probably won’t work. The property has a lot of underutilized surface parking that can be redeveloped into something more functional.
Industrial isn’t viable because everyone wants good jobs in their neighborhood but they don’t want the traffic and pollution those jobs bring. YIMBY-NIMBYism.
Spent years driving by this Mars facility on weekly basis. Neither traffic-generator, nor polluting plant. Bucolic operation; good neighbor; tax-payer.
The nicest lawn in the city, golf course green quality. Always admired it driving by. Chicago politicians finally drove them out of town, congratulations!
First this, next Allstate, then Jenner & Block leaves, and before you know it, the region is abandoned, and a coalition of western states is building a 20′ wide pipe from Evanston to Phoenix…
The Oak Park facing side of the campus is a beautiful Spanish style that looks like it was teleported from Pasadena.
The politicians and community activists will all scream “disinvestment”. None of them will admit that their policies caused a major employer to vacate after 93 years.