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 --
The federal government owns 19 properties in Chicago, including the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building and the 28-story Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building. It also leases more than 2 million square feet of space throughout the entire metro area. Although it accounts for only a small slice of Chicago real estate, a pullback by the federal government could deal a blow to the shaky downtown office market. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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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.
I have visited the Chicago area every year for the past 10 or so years. In 2019, before Covid, the Dirksen Federal Building had all kinds of foot traffic inside their ground floor lobby. Since that time, during every visit to the Loop during a weekday, I could have rolled a truck load of bowling balls thru the lobby and would have not hit a person. I don’t know where the feds are, but they are not in the Dirksen Federal Building.
Largely other’s money I suspect. Most advisors want us to put X into real estate funds and some rush to projects with government tenants. Perhaps over-concentration. Let the class actions commence. In five years the lawyers will divvy up the settlement funds and the class members can buy an extra large frappe st Starbucks.
More sales to come. Downtown is not a place people want to go to anymore. Much too dangerous.
I call bullshit in the GSA saying that the 5.3 million sq ft (!!!) of federal buildings in Chicago only have a vacancy rate of only 8%. That is totally unbelievable. We know that due to remote work, federal buildings in Washington DC have at best a 6% occupancy rate. The Tribune also notes that Chicago office vacancy rates are at 23%. But we are supposed to believe that the federal buildings in Chicago are 92% occupied??? Here’s the other red flag based on the empty buildings in Washington DC. I would argue that the Chicago government swamp creatures are… Read more »