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"Chinatown was particularly hard-hit in the early days of the pandemic. Others, like Pilsen’s Mexican community and Polish pockets along Milwaukee Avenue, face pressures associated with gentrification. Similar changes are happening in some other cities. Still, the demise of two notable examples so close to the Loop would be a blow for a city that prides itself on its patchwork of distinct neighborhoods that showcase Chicago’s immigrant heritage."
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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