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Vallas says the three most critical issues facing the city are crime, deteriorating public schools, and skyrocketing taxes, which affects affordability. Vallas is known as a policy wonk, who delights in diving deep into the details of problems and issues. He’s also known for repeating those details to anyone who will listen, which has given rise to a reputation, which he acknowledges with good humor, “of never giving a short answer when a long one will do.”
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.
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.
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He is the only choice if Chicago is to be saved. My money is on Chuy Garcia.
So you are not interested in saving Chicago?
Sadly, just like Illinois Chicago appears to be unfixable. It’s all about damage control now.
It is a good start saying these are the three things I am going to focus on. No question he has the best ideas and the best solutions for those mega problems. The open question is does he have the political skills to get elected and run the city politically. It is a much different skill set and personality type that runs CPS and other school districts than it is to get the votes on the city council, deal with legislators and work the aldermen individually. Lori ended up being a flop on all three counts. And don’t forget, we… Read more »
There’s also another group, the Progressive Reform Caucus, which counted 17 members after the 2019 local elections. The “progressives” aren’t as strident and organizationally disciplined as the Democratic Socialists, but their smorgasbord of woke/progressive policies, if acted upon, could do a lot of damage and cost a lot of taxpayer money. So good luck to whoever wins the mayoral race if there are 12 card-carrying Democratic Socialists and 17 “progressives” in the new city council (for a total of almost 60% of the 50-member council). The Daleys bequeathed a strong mayor/weak city council system to Chicago, and now would be… Read more »
Doesn’t stand a chance, wrong skin
It depends on who actually turns out to vote.