-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
From fast-casual to sit-down, the lunch business at downtown restaurants has not recovered from the pandemic. Operators are constantly calculating if staying open for lunch is worth it, and the math doesn't look great.
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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It is a dying industry ,foodservice jobs are hard to fill ,no one is interested in throwing their life away anymore
The entirety of the Chicago political class you have to thank.
Lori and her ilk wrecked downtown! Any questions should be directed to Herself. It’s not going to happen until the police are given police powers. Wood shampoos discourage bad behavior.
If you can do your job with a computer, and your skills are needed by your employer, why would you ever go downtown? You like being a target for the crime thug super-predators that hunt for victims on the CTA and downtown streets?
The D’s and radical leftists, essentially all of the government in Chicago and the State, will blame Covid. There is some of that. But their heads explode when you point out that Miami, Tampa, Charlotte had Covid too, and they are booming. D’s and leftists always run the region they gain control of into the ground, and unfortunately Chicago is proving that once again. Soft on crime, taxes uncompetitive, 1,000 days of JB’s executive orders, unions in the constitution. Who thinks any of these policies will invite businesses growth / people to return?
Well said and exactly correct.
If enough businesses close the others will be able to make it. It is a shame, but downtown Shitty of Chicago is dying a long miserable death. The Shitty of Chicago downtown is just expensive and takes to long to get too. The internet has changed the working world for ever.
There’s a special tax zone that includes the loop for the purpose of paying off bonds used to finance venues like Soldier Field, Sox Park and McCormick place. The lunch time waste land the central business district has become just adds to the citizen’s tax debts!
Well since the state is under Emergency Covid Declaration don’t count on the lunch crowds returning. The state obviously doesn’t want them to return, too dangerous in the midst of this horrible pandemic that is apparently killing everyone. At least that’s the message from Pritzker. Emergency! Emergency! Emergency!
Chicago always took suburbanites for granted. Now they’re realizing how dependent their economy is on them.
They wanted, not long ago, for them to have their own special tax.
They actually have it in Detroit. Non resident income tax for those who work but aren’t domiciled in the City of Detroit.
Hannah’s Pretzels was expensive to begin with. It was almost $20 for a sandwich drink and a treat. They had one guy in line whose only job was to cut avacados on demand. If they’re struggling now, they’d probably go under with the recession. They are/were? in the Citadel building which is a bad spot these days, as Federal court is mostly remote and Griffin’s operations mostly moved to FL the day the pandemic started. Downtown is in a death spiral that is increasingly difficult to pull out of. And it all goes back to the St. Floyd riots. I… Read more »
My takeout lunch orders downtown cost 50-60% more than two years ago. What was $6 in 2020 is now $10. It adds up.
I do my personal best to punish the city for their progressive values.
Well done Debtsor. And I do my personal best to punish Illinois by living in a different state. Hope you will join me some day.