Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer
April 22, 2026
No Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Researchers at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley found that San Francisco’s downtown was only 31% active between March and May, compared to pre-pandemic levels. That was followed by Cleveland (36%) and Portland (41%). Notably, all three cities are majority Democratic. Detroit and Chicago’s downtown areas did not fare much better in terms of activity, with just 42% and 43%, respectively.
SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
FOLLOW US
WIREPOINTS ORIGINAL STORIES
Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
34 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.
You know how the woke SJWs are always complaining about “food deserts” in bad neighborhoods, where the residents have driven away the grocery stores through their actions?
Well, welcome to downtown Chicago, a “people desert”!
Soon to have the population density of the Sahara!
My wife’s returned to doing a monthly overnight business trip to downtown Chicago.
Guvm’t offices, hospitals.
It’s a mess. Gulag hotels, empty sidewalks, and vacant offices.
Almost everyone she meets talks about how they wished they could get out of having to be there.
Years ago I worked downtown off LaSalle Street on a huge office floor that was eventually being vacated but still needed to be staffed. The building itself was also fairly empty as it was due to be rehabbed. It was creepy as hell to work with only 2 other people on a floor that was almost the size of a city block. Empty hallways, elevators, bathrooms. Not a fun place to work.
I last worked and lived in downtown Chicago during the late 80’s when I managed nightclubs on Division, State and Lincoln Ave. After that, I’ve been there at least a couple of times a year every year for work or the museums-n-zoo’s.
Downtown Chicago was always a bit gritty and edgy, but at least it was also vibrant and cool.
Not any more, and not coming back.
The ‘80’s were the last time Chicago as a whole had its gritty blue collar edge. Then the segregation of neighborhoods by income took off, where the poor but OK neighborhoods became really poor and dangerous, and the nice higher income neighborhoods became fabulously wealthy.
Now that the thugs from the poor neighborhoods hunt their prey in the wealthy neighborhoods and downtown, the city is breaking down.
You are correct, it’s not coming back.
New city promotion to attract visitors to downtown. Get a free chalk outline of your body, C’mon down, it’s a happening place.
I spent a large portion of my career downtown. At noon on any weekday you would have to navigate through the crowded sidewalks to get where you were going. That’s never coming back.
It was different when crime and shootings were not in downtown areas. But it has now moved more to affluent areas, so nowhere is safe. Who would even want to go to the beaches when flash mobs randomly occur? A lot of downtown restaurants have suburb locations. Why go downtown, pay big bucks for parking, get car jacked, or shot in a drive by?
4 shootings downtown in 2019.
24 shootings so far in 2020.
Good people have gotten the message and are staying away, permanently.
Try going to the Loop on a weekday in the afternoon — it’s like no one there has a job or any useful reason to be there — Google will have a hard time getting workers to come to the dump they just bought
Sending thousands of Google nerds into the Loop everyday is like releasing thousands of sheep in lion country.
Miss Sweet Home Chicago? Thank a progressive Democratic Party defund the cops liberal.
West Detroit is here.
I really don’t see how Chicago prospers without a thriving downtown. A failed downtown has a cascading negative effect on so many things that are apparent but also many things that are not. Nobody wants to go to a place with little or no vibrancy. Tourist dollars are just not going to keep it afloat, especially since the weather sucks half the year.
Some anecdotal verification of that story. Just attended a very nice wedding in Bridgeport last weekend. 225 people in attendance. Many 20-30 year-olds who almost to a person said they would limit their after wedding partying downtown and head back to the suburbs because of the fear of crime and violence. And among the older generation folks, could not find a single one among dozens who had been downtown in the last few months for any reason– even during broad daylight hours. No one has been there in months for shopping, a meal or entertainment. Heartbreaking– but understandable I guess… Read more »
Downtown recovery has peaked. Now look out below!