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 --
Bally’s bought the 30-acre site on which the Tribune printing plant is for $200 million last year. But, in order to go ahead with plans to build a casino complex on the site, Bally’s still needs to buy out the lease by the Trib’s parent company Alden Global Capital and find the Tribune a new location for a printing plant. Alden, meanwhile, recently extended its lease on the land for another 10 years.
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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
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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
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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.
Just another typical Chicago clusterf#ck of epic proportions! Nice work guys!
WHAAAAT! So they can continue to print a paper no one is interested in bying?
I’m going to say this is click bait reporting. There’s absolutely no way they didn’t know there’s a lease or what the options were. That’s all part of a letter of intent and for sure part of the purchase and sale agreement. I’m guessing that they had a deal with Alden Capital and now Alden is trying to re-trade the deal. Typical hedge fund behavior.
Nix the deal, buy property that some alderman owns, the Chicago way
According to the Crains article, Bally’s bought the site from Oak Street Capital, but didn’t know, or didn’t care, that Alden could extend their lease for 20 years. Of course Alden will squeeze what they can out of this. I thought ground leases got recorded and would be discovered as part of the due diligence for such transactions. I guess I was wrong.
Geez, just a minor detail overlooked in the city’s rush to get a deal done. NO one bothered to check with the party that has control of the land? A rookie developer or college intern at any urban planning operation would have this as item number one on his check list. The city gets hosed by NASCAR on the race rights fee. Can’t figure out how to do a deal with the Bears. Clueless on how to keep the Mag Mile safe. On and on. This Lori administration is just a collection of buffoons.