-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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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Nothing is going to work at this time. People are already scared away and that will last for a long time to come.
Jane Byrne tried that years ago
She spent $millions shutting down and transforming State Street
It cost more to put it back to normal
Another boondoggle paid for by taxpayers
I think we have seen this before. How many towns have implemented this very thing in the past only to reverse it years later when it did not work.
The kids skipped history class again. Economic class too. They devoutly attended sermons from the Climate Clerics.
State Street Mall anyone?
$300 Million to wreck a main downtown traffic artery? No thanks.
300 million to block a few streets with cement barriers only in a Democrat run city.
If they really want to revitalize the downtown…make it safe. Make it so, you can walk anywhere and visit any store, restaurant, theatre and have little concern of being robbed, beat up or shot. Let the Police do their actual job in your “Revitalization Zone” without spending $300M the City does not have and make the place – safe.
Sounds like an ideal place for youth to gather, discuss the business of the day, perhaps break a few things and fight with Police without the troublesome interruptions of traffic.
Similar efforts I believe have failed nearly everywhere implemented and ended up being reversed in many.
Co- living units, micro units , what, next SROs.
Banning people downtown would revitalize birds-animals-natural habitats for wildlife.
Did these birdbrains take into the account the crashing failure of the State Street “pedestrian mall” years ago…???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Street_(Chicago)
“In 1979, the downtown portion was converted into a pedestrian mall with only bus traffic allowed. Mayor Richard M. Daley oversaw the State Street Revitalization Project and on November 15, 1996, the street was reopened to traffic…”