Author: Mark Glennon

Commentary: Bankruptcy looms for Chicago if there’s no pension fix – Chicago Tribune

September 27, 2019 10 Comments

The Chicago skyline from West Fulton Market on Sept. 25, 2019.

Comment: A must-read by Richard Porter, a lawyer in Chicago and member of the Republican National Committee:

“Chicago is in a hole that tax hikes only deepen; the only way out of Chicago’s death spiral is debt reduction… We need financial first aid in Illinois now. Waiting and wishing as prosperity bleeds away is cruel and immoral. Chicago needs to restructure and reduce debt now. Give Chicago the benefit of a bankruptcy we

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Federal agents raid McCook, Lyons village halls – WGN

September 27, 2019 No Comments

Democratic State Senator Martin Sandoval represents both communities. Federal agents searched Sandoval’s offices earlier this week, reportedly looking into whether Sandoval, who chairs the senate’s transportation committee, received kickbacks from companies. But it’s unclear if Thursday’s raids were connected to the Sandoval investigation.

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Was corruption at the heart of Illinois’ gas tax hike? – IL Policy

September 27, 2019 12 Comments

Capital bills are a feeding frenzy for special interests. And Sandoval held the keys to the kitchen. “Governor signs Sandoval’s $45 billion infrastructure improvement package,” boasts a June press release from the state senator’s website.

Might the feds want to have a word about some of those projects? According to the Chicago Tribune, authorities are looking into allegations Sandoval used his public office to steer business in exchange for private kickbacks.

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Chicago Teachers Are Ready To Strike – NPR

September 27, 2019 No Comments

The Chicago Teachers Union voted in overwhelming numbers to authorize a strike, union officials announced late Thursday. The union is planning to set a strike date next Wednesday. Teachers likely will walk out in mid-October if no deal is reached by then.

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Seniors were sold a risk-free retirement with reverse mortgages. Now they face foreclosure. – USA Today

September 25, 2019 9 Comments

Chicago among the places hardest hit. “The scar reverse mortgage failures leave on neighborhoods can be seen on a drive through Chicago’s South Side with longtime resident and community organizer Pat DeBonnett. A cluster of six ZIP codes together have endured more than 1,000 reverse mortgage foreclosures over the past five years – higher than many entire states. Boarded up homes and empty parcels followed.”

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Illinois’ Dick Durbin Among Democrats Who Asked Ukraine To Investigate Trump In 2018 – The Federalist

September 25, 2019 No Comments

While Democrats rush toward impeachment over an anonymous whistleblower complaint accusing President Donald Trump of requesting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, many have ignored the fact that last year, Senate Democrats wrote to Ukraine’s prosecutor general asking Ukrainian officials to investigate Trump.

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Mayoral ally makes no apologies for rally video in which she swears, advocates for teachers’ strike – Chicago Sun-Times

September 25, 2019 2 Comments

When Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10th) signed on to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s City Council leadership team, she did not agree to forfeit her independence or sever her deep roots at the Chicago Teachers Union.

“That’s right, mother-f—er!” Garza said, raising her fist in the air.

After describing herself as the first CTU member ever to win a City Council seat, Garza shouted, “Queen Mother of God, I see people ready to strike. Right out here.” On Wednesday, Garza acknowledged she “got carried away” introducing Bernie Sanders and probably should not have used profanity.

“It wasn’t appropriate.

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Lightfoot, Preckwinkle urged to work out transit dispute – Crain’s

September 25, 2019 No Comments

Quit the fighting and work it out. That’s the bottom-line message of an unusual letter sent today to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and others that urges prompt approval of a proposed pilot program to boost transit ridership on the South Side and south suburbs by slashing fares on Metra’s Electric and Rock Island lines. Signers include the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club and the Metropolitan Planning Council. Also aboard are the Active Transportation Alliance, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and the Environmental Law & Policy Center.

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Chicago Park District employees vote in favor of a strike – Chicago Sun-Times

September 25, 2019 2 Comments

Chicago’s park district workers announced Tuesday evening that they have voted in favor of a strike, putting added pressure on Mayor Lori Lightfoot as she’s already facing looming teachers and school support staff strikes. SEIU Local 73 also represents the more than 7,000 school support staff workers who also have voted in favor of a strike. The CTU, meanwhile, is in the middle of its own vote on whether to enact a work stoppage.

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Fire department chief at Chicago airports out and firefighters to be retrained amid FAA investigation – Chicago Tribune

September 24, 2019 1 Comment

The Federal Aviation Administration opened an investigation in July after someone reported that unqualified firefighters were staffing the federally mandated, specialized aircraft rescue vehicles at both O’Hare and Midway airports. Separately, the city inspector general’s office is investigating whether any city rules were broken.

It’s not clear what either investigation has found. A spokesman for the FAA declined to comment, citing its ongoing investigation.

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Housing Markets Turning Ugly In 2019 – Forbes

September 24, 2019 1 Comment

Illinois is home to nine housing markets out of the study’s 50 that are turning ugly. One of the biggest downsides to homeownership in Illinois is the state’s high property taxes. In some areas of Illinois, property tax rates rise above 3%. Peoria and Aurora are among the ten worst.

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Federal agents raid Springfield, Cicero offices of Illinois Sen. Martin Sandoval, says source – Chicago Tribune

September 24, 2019 3 Comments

Federal agents on Tuesday raided the Springfield and Cicero offices of longtime Democratic state Sen. Martin Sandoval as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to a source. The FBI led the raids at Sandoval’s office in the state capitol as well as his regional offices in the 5800 block of West 35th Street in Cicero, the source said. The exact nature of the investigation was not disclosed.

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Chicago way ahead of U.S.—in those who can’t afford to sell their home – Crain’s

September 24, 2019 1 Comment

A little more than 7.8 percent of Chicago-area homeowners with a mortgage had negative equity, meaning they owed more on the loan than the home was worth on the current market, according to a Sept. 20 report from property information firm CoreLogic. That’s more than twice the rate of “underwater” homeownership nationwide.

In addition to the Chicago-area homeowners who have negative equity, nearly 1.6 percent were in the “near negative equity” range, meaning their home equity was under 5 percent.

Together, the two groups total 9.4 percent of Chicago-area homeowners who can’t afford to put their home on

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More Pension Problems – Champaign News-Gazette

September 24, 2019 1 Comment

There were two more pension setbacks last week, this time associated with local communities’ often underfunded fire and police pensions. Slowly, the noose is tightening around the necks of taxpayers and public officials statewide, proving once again that ignoring pension woes won’t cause them to go away but, instead, to get worse.

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What’s wrong—and right—in Chicago real estate – Crain’s

September 23, 2019 2 Comments

A recent survey of real estate investors doesn’t give Chicago much respect, but at least the place is more popular than Hartford and Buffalo. The Chicago-area market ranks 48th out of the 80 largest U.S. real estate markets in PWC’s annual “Emerging Trends in Real Estate” survey. That’s up one place from last year, but down from 2017, when it ranked 42nd, and 2016, when it ranked 19th.

The full PWC report is linked here.

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Illinois AG joins lawsuit against federal limits to California’s regulatory powers – Capitol News IL

September 22, 2019 2 Comments

California’s ability to regulate the pollution limits of cars and light trucks should not be limited by the federal government, Illinois’ top lawyer argued in a joint court filing Friday, because those standards positively impact the health of his constituents.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a group of 22 other states, the District of Columbia and two cities in suing the federal government after it moved Thursday to revoke the most populous state’s ability to set stricter emission specifications than those required by President Donald Trump’s Administration.

The lawsuit is testing the waters for how federal and state powers will

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Gerrymandering is voter suppression. Period. – Opinion – Crain’s

September 22, 2019 No Comments

“Our elections are rigged and rotten. More of us need to wake up to that realization. The fix is put in when politicians from one party or the other draw political districts to their own party’s advantage after each census, which will happen next in 2021. In Illinois, both Republicans and Democrats have done the rigging over the decades. It’s wrong every time.”

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Whose Grid? Our Grid! Chicago’s Campaign To Put Electricity Under Public Control – In These Times

September 22, 2019 No Comments

Representatives of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (CDSA) engaged marketgoers in discussions about the campaigns they are involved in, from lifting the ban on rent control to establishing single-payer healthcare. But one effort in particular seemed to catch the most attention.

“We’re trying to bring ComEd under municipal control,” CDSA member Matthew Cason told Patrick Petranek, a Logan Square resident whose eyes lit up at the prospect of Chicago’s largest electricity provider, Commonwealth Edison, being taken over by the city. Petranek said he supports more transparency around fees and signed a petition in support of

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Be Prepared – Editorial – News-Gazette

September 19, 2019 3 Comments

Democrats have been speculating in recent weeks about the possibility of the economy falling back from recovery into recession and its adverse impact on President Donald Trump’s re-election bid in 2020.

But Democrats, at least those in Illinois, might want to reconsider what they wish for because a deteriorating economy would have a devastating impact on a financially distressed state like Illinois. For starters, a recession would reduce revenue at all levels of government.

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My family left Chicago because of high property taxes – Letter – Chicago Sun-Times

September 19, 2019 11 Comments

Our condo was just off Michigan Avenue facing east, with a view of the lake and the Bean. One day my husband said “We need to sell this condo now before property taxes go up and we lose money on it.” I thought he was kidding. He wasn’t. We bought a to-be-built house in Las Vegas in October 2014, moved into that house in September of 2015, and the condo closed in December of that year.

Our cost of living has gone down 40%. Our current property taxes are 1/3rd of what the condo’s taxes currently are. We

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Lightfoot’s pension pitch hits wall in Springfield – Crain’s

September 18, 2019 3 Comments

The mayor in recent months has floated a variety of “help us” proposals, the most viable of which is to have the state assume unfunded Chicago pension liabilities as part of a package in which it also would help underfunded plans in numerous municipalities around the state. She’s facing a projected $838 million budget hole.

But a wide range of Springfield insiders say that’s not going to happen, at least not in the General Assembly’s fall veto session. Instead, a more limited plan that excludes help for Chicago is being teed up for consideration.

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Black Lives Matter Comes to the Classroom – City Journal

September 18, 2019 No Comments

Activist teachers formed a national committee and prevailed on the National Education Association to adopt a resolution of endorsement. Thus was conceived the BLM at School National Week of Action, to be held annually the first week of February to set the tone for Black History Month. The following year, school districts in more than 20 major cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Seattle incorporated BLM at School Week into their curricula.

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$250,000,000,000 and counting. That’s a quarter-trillion dollars, which is how much Illinois pension debt now totals, according to Moody’s – Crain’s

September 17, 2019 1 Comment

That’s the bottom line of the latest annual look at the conditions of the government retirement systems in the 50 states by Moody’s Investors Service. Illinois’ adjusted net pension liability as of June 30, 2018, stood at a cool $240.8 billion. That’s more than any other state, with California coming in second—its population is more than three times ours—at $230.8 billion and Texas coming in third at $132.8 billion.

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What is a PTELL Referendum and How Does it Work? – Civic Federatoin

September 16, 2019 1 Comment

In the State of Illinois, non-home rule units of government located in counties subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) are limited in the size of their annual property tax extension to 5% or the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less. However, the limitation is subject to some exceptions and can be increased by referendum. The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is reportedly considering asking taxpayers for a larger levy to pay for pensions and a large backlog of land restoration and maintenance needs.

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Chicago Schools Are on the Verge of Two Strikes – Jacobin

September 15, 2019 6 Comments

“In their 2012 strike, nearly 30,000 Chicago Teachers Union members planted a flag for labor militancy in public education. Today, they’re again on the verge of another strike — and they may be joined by 7,000 SEIU education workers, says socialist magazine Jacobin. “A strike by the SEIU and CTU together this fall could land a blow against everything wrong with our schools and much more besides: racism, poverty, inequality, union-busting, and the contempt of the city’s 1 percent for the workers who make Chicago run.”

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A warning sign City Hall should heed – Crain’s

September 15, 2019 1 Comment

Nice collection of the empirical evidence by Greg Hinz: “The weakness is in capital flows, the amount of money spent to buy or sometimes build new structures. Consider it a sort of leading indicator as to whether investors consider a given area worth the risk of plunking down their money in exchange for returns that can be many years away.

According to a new report by real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured, office building capital flows here dropped a heart-pounding 87 percent in the first six months of the year compared to last year…. Similar research comes from RCA/CBRE…. A

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Lightfoot would be wise to steer clear of these tax ideas – Editorial – Crain’s

September 15, 2019 No Comments

Revenue-raising ideas trotted out by a coalition of progressive groups and a handful of like-minded aldermen during a Sept. 10 news conference landed with a thud.

“But…there are signs that the conga line of capitalists looking to pour money into downtown real estate is thinning. Office building capital flows here dropped 87 percent in the first six months of the year compared to last year, according to one study. Similar research projects that in terms of all commercial transactions, Chicago still will

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Congestion pricing in Chicago: Be clear or beware – Opinion – Crain’s

September 15, 2019 No Comments

If congestion pricing’s main objective is to fill a general budget deficit, then it is simply another tax. If that is the reason for it, let’s not wrap it in the virtue of reducing congestion in downtown. The brief life of the county’s tax on sugary drinks should have taught us that lesson. Without the proper groundwork, congestion pricing will amount to little more than an unavoidable tax levied on those who, by choice or necessity, drive into the city for work or play.

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Lightfoot facing budget dilemma on eve of Navy Pier reception for state lawmakers – Chicago Sun-Times

September 12, 2019 No Comments

That would appear to leave the mayor with no alternative but to cobble together a budget that includes: a hefty property tax increase; an increase in ride-hailing fees; a smaller version of Emanuel’s $10 billion pension borrowing and another round of “sales tax securitization” bonds; a tax increment financing surplus; and, perhaps, cuts that include permanently eliminating the 3,000 vacancies that existed at the time she ordered her hiring freeze.

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State revenue from casinos continues to drop as Illinois prepares for massive gambling expansion – Chicago Tribune

September 12, 2019 No Comments

As Illinois embarks on a massive gambling expansion of up to six new casinos and the addition of slot machines and table games at horse tracks, revenue from the state’s 10 existing casinos last year dropped more than 3% , continuing a decadelong slide.

The loss in revenue from casinos, however, was more than offset by a continued increase in the state’s take from video poker and slot machines at bars, restaurants and truck stops. The full report from the legislature’s

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New inspector general audit targets maintenance of CPD fleet – Chicago Sun-Times

September 12, 2019 1 Comment

Inaccurate data prevented the inspector general from making a thorough assessment. But the results he did produce were, nevertheless, alarming for a department charged with overseeing 425 city buildings, 10,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment and purchasing new vehicles while maintaining old ones.

The department known around City Hall as “2FM” did not meet the industry standard of at least 95% “fleet availability” in 2017, according to the audit.

Even more troubling: Only 12.9% of preventive maintenance was performed in a timely manner in 2017.

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Dismantling Madigan’s Capitol – IOP

September 11, 2019 No Comments

Despite the power Madigan holds, there does seem to be some political will and momentum in changing the way Illinois draws its legislative map. Gov. Pritzker campaigned on Fair Maps and although he hasn’t given specifics he vowed to veto any map that is politically gerrymandered.

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Chicago Prepares to Unclog a Transit Bottleneck – Next City

September 11, 2019 No Comments

The Chicago Tribune reports that work will begin this fall on the largest modernization project in CTA history, a $2.1 billion reconstruction project that goes by the name of Red-Purple Modernization (RPM). The overall project, which will take a total of four years to complete, will modernize the signaling and train controls and rebuild four stations on the North Side elevated, on which Red, Purple and Brown line trains operate.

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Watchdog accuses County Clerk Karen Yarbrough of running ‘illegal patronage’ operation, wants court oversight – Chicago Tribune

September 11, 2019 No Comments

Less than a year into office, Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough faces potential federal court oversight of hiring amid a watchdog’s accusations that she’s “running an illegal patronage employment system.”

Veteran anti-patronage attorney Michael Shakman said in a new legal filing that Yarbrough has put the politically connected into jobs that are supposed to be free from such influence, asked her employees for campaign contributions on their private cellphones and transferred certain supervisors to far-flung offices in hopes they’ll quit.

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Head tax, LaSalle St. tax, vacancy tax on progressives’ checklist for Lightfoot – Crain’s

September 10, 2019 8 Comments

A coalition of progressive groups and a handful of aldermen are getting specific about increases to a bevy of taxes to fill Chicago’s budget hole, including restoring and increasing Chicago’s corporate head tax to $16 per month for large companies, instituting a 3.5% tax on office leases, a hike in the hotel tax from 4.5% to 7.5% and a local income tax on those earning above $100,000 a year.

 

That’s just the start. See their whole “Re-imagine Chicago Platform linked here.

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It’s time to rethink how we pay for city services – Opinion – Crain’s

September 10, 2019 1 Comment

Michael A. Pagano, dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs and director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Meter all water users and charge a price to replace the system’s infrastructure. Charge a market price for parking as well as road use, starting with congestion pricing. Ask the legislators in Springfield for access to an earnings tax at the place of employment, like Ohio’s cities, or a payroll tax on employers, and reduce the property and sales tax rates. Broaden the sales tax base by imposing the sales tax on

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Former state lawmakers ask judge to order Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza to pay back raises they voted to reject – Chicago Tribune

September 8, 2019 No Comments

Two former Democratic state senators are asking a Cook County judge to order Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza to pay back wages they and other lawmakers gave up when legislators voted repeatedly over a decade to freeze their salaries. The request from Michael Noland of Elgin and James Clayborne of Belleville was filed Wednesday in a lawsuit the former lawmakers brought against Mendoza, a fellow Democrat.

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Buyout bill looks like a bust – State Journal-Register

September 8, 2019 No Comments

The state’s ban on buyouts is supposed to limit severance pay to 20 weeks. In the case of Thomas, Western officials and their lawyers came up with an alternative — two years of sabbatical leave worth $570,000 and then a return to a faculty position paying $200,000 a year. It was a price they were willing to pay to avoid a big fight over Thomas stepping down.

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Pension reform: Local officials across Illinois, join Lori Lightfoot’s mission – Editorial – Chicago Tribune

September 8, 2019 1 Comment

Outside Chicago, a recent Wirepoints examination found that 57% of 630 downstate police and fire pension funds showed funding ratios of less than 60%. Many are in far worse shape, even for governments meeting their statutorily required contributions. That includes the state’s five funds. In 2001, the state was paying about $1.4 billion into its pension system. By 2017, that number jumped to $7.6 billion, a 450%

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A spin through the city reveals an industry under siege – Crain’s

September 8, 2019 7 Comments

Greg Hinz: “Hard data backs up my anecdotal impressions. As first reported by my colleagues Alby Gallun and Danny Ecker, retail vacancies in the metropolitan area are hovering around 11 percent, within a percentage point of the highest level in nearly two decades. And average asking rent per square foot is lower than it was in 2001, based on data from CBRE.”

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Two bad energy bills in Springfield would jack up your electricity bill – Opinion – Chicago Sun-TImes

September 6, 2019 No Comments

The Clean Energy Progress Act the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

“No matter what you call them, these bills both would benefit Exelon and, if passed, would raise Illinois resident and business’ (ratepayers) electricity bills significantly in the process.”

Proponents are not just conveniently ignoring the fact that, if either of the two proposed bills passes, electricity rates are guaranteed to increase, but they are actively saying the opposite.

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Money buys influence, Preckwinkle tells business owner during lunch in South Holland – Chicago Tribune

September 4, 2019 2 Comments

“It’s almost foolish financial decision-making to not go to Will County or Indiana,” a local businessman said.

Preckwinkle responded with a refreshing degree of frankness.

“The labor unions pushed it,” Preckwinkle said of the prevailing-wage and apprentice requirements adopted by the county board by an 11-4 vote in March 2018. Labor unions generously supported the campaigns of commissioners facing primary challenges in an election that was held a week

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Medicaid audit shows Illinois spent $4.6 million on dead people – Crain’s

September 4, 2019 1 Comment

Illinois spent $4.6 million covering deceased Medicaid managed care beneficiaries from October 2015 through September 2017, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services found. The state did not recover payments made to private insurers administering Medicaid benefits in Illinois, according to the report released last month. Medicaid managed care is the joint state and federal health insurance system for low-income people. OIG conducted the audit because reviews of six other states, including California, Ohio and Florida, found insurers received payments after beneficiaries’ deaths.

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Chicago Early Learning Centers Say Free CPS Pre-K Comes At A Cost – WBEZ

September 4, 2019 2 Comments

The free program through Chicago Public Schools could come at a major cost to community-based early childhood centers, many of which offer far more than preschool for four-year-olds, including infant and toddler care as well as after school and summer programming. The preschool expansion, coupled with new requirements for centers that receive public funding, is hurting centers across the city, including Concordia Place in the Avondale neighborhood on the North Side.

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S&P leans on Lightfoot to find pension fix – Crain’s

September 3, 2019 No Comments

“We would view any measure that would lower annual contributions into Chicago’s pension systems negatively. That’s a reference to talk that Lightfoot might seek to lower and move farther into the future the pension-payment ramp adopted at Emanuel’s request.

On the other hand, the New York firm said, “We would view measures that either trim liabilities through benefit reductions or a dedicated revenue stream toward pensions positively.” S&P didn’t get specific, but officials have talked at reviving what now appear to be moribund plans for a Chicago casino that could help pay pension debt or moving to reduce the

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After Rush to Beat New Tax, Manhattan Luxury-Apartment Sales Slump – Wall Street Journal

September 2, 2019 1 Comment

A lesson for Chicago as it considers a hike in transfer taxes on high end properties, to which Mayor Lightfoot is committed: New York hiked its transfer tax on sales over $2 million on July 1. July sales of Manhattan homes and apartments for $2 million or more shrank to the lowest level for any month in more than six years. It was the slowest pace for such sales in the month of July since 2009.

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Fact-Check: Does Science Say Time Is Running Out to Stop Climate Disaster? – Better Government Association

September 2, 2019 7 Comments

Comment: Of all the BGA’s idiotic fact checks we’ve covered here, this may be the dumbest, trying to capture the entire climate debate in a single article and asserting any conclusion as a fact. And her conclusion, for what it’s worth, is that Congressman Sean Casten’s claim is “mostly true” that most climate scientists agree the planet will face an irreversible ‘worst case scenario’ if climate change isn’t tackled within the decade.

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Hunt on in Peoria to cut police, fire pension costs – JournalStar

September 2, 2019 3 Comments

“We could very well be looking at 100% of our property taxes going to police and fire pensions and still not totally address the problem,” the mayor said. “The unfunded part (of pensions) is blowing up. The ability for any of us to get to a 90% funding ratio by 2040 is impossible.”

Peoria is hardly alone in this concern.

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Cook County Health CEO: ‘Something’s Got To Give, Or Somebody’s Got To Give To Us’ – WBEZ

September 1, 2019 4 Comments

Cook County’s public health system expects to provide a staggering $590 million in health care next year that it won’t get paid for.

On Friday, Cook County Health CEO Dr. Jay Shannon warned that the amount could climb even higher if new federal rules begin in October. Those rules would deny permanent residency or visa renewals to immigrants who use or might use government programs like Medicaid. “The chilling effect that this may have on people accessing services that they have a right to, is right now a large X factor,” Shannon said

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CTU fails at reading the political moment – Editorial – Crain’s

September 1, 2019 1 Comment

Union leadership seems to have looked at teacher uprisings in certain red states and in Oakland, Calif., and drawn the conclusion that the same tactics will work here, igniting a grassroots brushfire of support for their cause. But teachers in those districts truly are miserably paid and their schools woefully underfunded. Chicago teachers, however, have been well paid for years, and Chicago isn’t Oklahoma or West Virginia. Chicagoans understand the connection between good schools and a city’s economic viability. They’re also smarting from the tax burden being placed on them. And they’ve just elected a mayor who ran not on

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Tennessee, whose governor opposes legalizing marijuana, pulls out of Illinois’ weed business – Chicago Sun-TImes

September 1, 2019 No Comments

The Tennessee treasurer told the Sun-Times, “When I became aware of the risks associated with IIP’s business model in light of federal law, I requested the investments staff to sell the stock.” He said his concern is about the Controlled Substances Act, which makes it illegal to “knowingly open, lease, rent, use or maintain any place, whether permanently or temporarily, for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing or using any controlled substance” — which marijuana remains under federal law despite Illinois’ and other states’ moves to legalize it.

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City concedes tax on high-end homes could go further – Chicago Sun-Times

September 1, 2019 7 Comments

A spokeswoman for the city’s Finance Department said the agency is examining whether to make commercial property a part of the tax increase. If it’s included, it would be the second time the administration has expanded the proposal’s reach since Lightfoot began publicly discussing the idea in recent weeks.

Initial discussions involved applying a higher tax rate to sales of homes valued at $1 million or more, similar to a proposal offered by progressive aldermen who want the money earmarked to help the homeless. But in her address about city finances Thursday night, Lightfoot said the tax should

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News-Gazette Media to sell almost all assets – Daily Illini

September 1, 2019 2 Comments

Comment: Very sad news indeed. They’ve been among the few voices in Illinois media recognizing the scope of our crisis. Along with filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy and notifying employees of potential layoffs starting this October, News-Gazette Media will be sold to the family-owned Champaign Multimedia Group LLC, an affiliated company of Community Media Group.

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot says city faces $838M budget deficit in State of the City address – ABC Chicago

August 30, 2019 3 Comments

Comment: Read the text of the speech linked here if you want, but she said nothing concrete. Her cash budget numbers, as usual, mean little because the real problem is growing pension debt. She said nothing specific about what revenue or reform measures she will pursue. The only exception is a progressive real estate transfer tax, which she said she is committed to. We called that an Exit Tax on the wealthy when we wrote about it. Mayor Emanuel rejected it as “treating homeowners like ATM machines.”

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Florida Governor DeSantis seeks to lure Chicago financial firms to Florida – Orlando Sentinel

August 28, 2019 No Comments

“Warren Buffett said recently, be wary of investing in states like Illinois that quite frankly are digging themselves a deeper hole and really have no way out in terms of their fiscal outlook, their pension allocations,” DeSantis, referring to the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO, said during the Enterprise Florida meeting in Jacksonville. “I think there is an opportunity to talk to some folks and drive some investment here in Florida.”

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Rethink budget for cops, raise taxes on wealthy — and spend more on working families, progressive aldermen say – Chicago Sun-Times

August 28, 2019 6 Comments

“Working class Chicagoans need a budget that taxes the rich and powerful corporations to pay their fair share,” Ramirez-Rosa said. “ … The time has come to tax the rich instead of continue to rely on fines, fees, and regressive taxes that have pushed out Chicago’s black and brown families out of our city.” No specifics are offered, however.

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Ominous Signs For All Chicago In Teachers Union Contract Negotiation

August 27, 2019 20 Comments

To many of us, some things seem obvious. When you’re so broke that your survival is threatened you don’t raise pay. You don’t keep facilities open that are half full. You don’t provide lavish retirement benefits. You expect employees to contribute to their own retirement.

We think that way because we live in an alternate universe.

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One pension loophole closed – WLS

August 27, 2019 No Comments

A new law requires any county board member or elected local governmental official to forfeit their salary at the beginning of their next term if they are receiving pension benefits for service as a county board member or elected officer.

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Monthly Case-Shiller Index: Chicago Area Home Price Gains Keep Slowing Down

August 27, 2019 1 Comment

1.5% annual appreciation rate, the lowest rate in 44 months. This places the Chicago area 5th from the bottom of the rankings of the top 20 metro areas that they track. Several former high flyers have fallen from grace and are now below Chicago: New York, San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle. Seattle, surprisingly, is actually seeing falling home prices.

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Hidden ‘tort tax’ from heavy lawsuit activity costing Chicago area residents $800 each, every year, new report says – Cook County Record

August 26, 2019 No Comments

The pain from lawsuits in Illinois isn’t limited to the purses of the companies that get sued, but is spread to the pocketbooks of every state resident, a new report said, estimating the state’s high level of litigious activity costs the average Chicago area resident $811 each, every year.

On Aug. 26, the Illinois Civil Justice League, an organization which advocates for reform of the state’s civil court system, released a report indicating the state’s tort system hits those in the Chicago metropolitan region with $3.8 billion in annual direct tort costs annually.

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Obama Still Can’t Build That – Wall Street Journal

August 25, 2019 No Comments

“It seems that Mr. Obama may have messed with the wrong bunch of environmentally sensitive stakeholders. On Thursday a federal agency called the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation said in a letter to the Federal Highway Administration that the plan needs more study and that it’s ‘concerned that not enough detail is provided to properly characterize the nature and intensity of the adverse effects to the cultural landscapes’ of Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance, another park nearby.”

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Socialism in Two Countries – Wall Street Journal

August 23, 2019 1 Comment

https://images.wsj.net/im-100731?width=1260&size=1.5

The Chicago Teachers Union is taking fire after a trip to Venezuela by a four-member delegation made the headlines. The CTU delegation knew exactly what political and economic system it regards as a model. As awful as they are, Chicago’s public schools have not reached the level of desperation the collapsing system in Venezuela has. But if the CTU is allowed to keep putting its socialist ideals into practice, Chicago may get there.

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New law protects immigrants renting property in Illinois, 2nd state to enact similar legislation – ABC Chicago

August 21, 2019 1 Comment

Under the new legislation landlords are prohibited from evicting or retaliating against a tenant based on their citizenship or immigration status. They are also not allowed to intimidate tenants by disclosing or threatening to disclose a tenant’s citizenship or immigration status to any person, entity, or immigration or law enforcement agency.

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Anyone Who Receives Government Assistance Can Now Get A Big Discount On The Internet In Chicago – Block Club Chicago

August 19, 2019 No Comments

The city and Comcast are making it easier for low-income families in Chicago to get a significant discount on internet. The Internet Essentials program offers internet for just $9.95 plus tax a month. That means anyone who participates in SNAP, Housing Assistance, the National School Lunch Program or other programs is eligible for the offer.

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Law allows Illinois to take action on climate change – Associated Press

August 19, 2019 2 Comments

Comment: This legislation repeals the state’s Kyoto Protocol Act of 1998. It limited state action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the United States Senate effectively rejected the Kyoto Protocols by a 95 – 0 vote because they were so onerous, costly and unfairly excluded developing countries. But Illinois had put it into state law so it was bound by rules the federal government no longer intended to follow. In other words, what was rejected in Washington by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote had been just fine for Illinois.

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Facing massive budget hole, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to give prime-time ‘State of the City’ speech followed by citywide tour on government finances – Chicago Tribune

August 18, 2019 17 Comments

Comment: Good grief! Look at this ridiculous survey, referenced in the article, that the city is asking residents to fill out on what to do with taxes and spending. Just make up a zip code and anybody from anywhere can fill it out. And you can bet CTU and other unions have armies already swarming this.

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It’s time for truth in state and local government finances – SFO Chronicle

August 18, 2019 2 Comments

A must-read by former Sec. of State and Treasury: “Imagine your business could treat borrowings as revenues, avoid cost recognition by not paying expenses and report less debt than actually owed….. Fortunately, accounting for private-sector enterprises doesn’t enable such activities. But accounting for state and local governments does, and with big consequences. For example, Chicago used proceeds from the sale of 75 years of parking meter revenues to plug a single year’s budget shortfall…. Today, state and local governments are using GASB’s permissive rules to report unfunded pension liabilities at just one quarter of the $4 trillion the same

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Grifters, grafters, govs and Blago leave Lincoln crying – Daily Herald

August 18, 2019 No Comments

A new film, “Lincoln Is Crying: The Grifters, Grafters and Governors of Illinois,” combining documentary and comedic fiction, “exposes some of the biggest crooks who pillaged the Prairie State, including felonious aldermen, corrupt state representatives, thieving congressmen, scandalous mayors, larcenous governors and even a couple of cunning comptrollers.”

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How much can Chicago tax a casino and still get one? – Crain’s

August 15, 2019 No Comments

Hardly anyone believes a casino operator would pay an effective tax rate of 72 percent to operate a Chicago casino. But how high could the rate be and still attract bidders?

It’s a fair question after a financial analysis released Aug. 13 by the Illinois Gaming Board suggested that the much-anticipated gambling house could be dead on arrival because of “onerous” taxes on the facility imposed by state lawmakers—new taxes that would be so high as to make it impossible to finance the project. The consultancy hired by the Lightfoot administration to analyze five

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Cook County grand jury investigating Chicago Ald. Marty Quinn’s challenge of opponent’s election petitions – Chicago Tribune

August 15, 2019 1 Comment

A Cook County grand jury has subpoenaed city election records related to 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn’s challenge to a college student’s nominating signatures during the last City Hall campaign, the Tribune has learned. Quinn, the hand-picked alderman of House Speaker Michael Madigan, the 13th Ward’s Democratic committeeman for decades.

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Challenges to the Obama Center Might Work This Time – Chicago Magazine

August 15, 2019 No Comments

In June, Obama beat a federal lawsuit to stop him from building his Center in Jackson Park. But he and the Obama Foundation didn’t have much time to celebrate: This month, he’s facing a report from the city’s Department of Planning and Development claiming the project will have an “adverse effect” on the park and Midway Plaisance.

A year ago, the mayor and the city council would have ignored that report. No longer — Obama doesn’t have that kind of clout anymore.

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New group opposing graduated income tax puts Madigan in the middle – Crain’s

August 14, 2019 1 Comment

The face is that of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, whose visage—literally—appears on stationery of the newly formed Vote No on Blank Check Committee and likely will dominate millions of dollars in coming TV ads from the group over the next year and a half.

“The people of Illinois understand that for 34 years Madigan has been at the center of every major issue in this state, and that he’s at the center of this one,” said committee Chairman Greg Baise, who runs another group, Ideas Illinois, that has been criticizing the tax plan.

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Will Illinois law allow a proposed Chicago casino to make enough money? Mayor Lori Lightfoot isn’t sure – Chicago Tribune

August 13, 2019 3 Comments

“We talked to a number of different financial experts who are in the business of financing casino enterprises, and person after person that we talked to told us that the tax structure that’s embedded into the statute that passed is not one that would allow for a casino operator to be successful because it takes too much money out of the deal upfront. So we will see what the report tells us, and then we’ll respond,” Lightfoot said.

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State Tax Collectors Want You – WSJ

August 13, 2019 No Comments

The Supreme Court last year gave states a green light to collect online sales tax from out-of-state businesses without setting guardrails. And what do you know? States are now testing the limits of their taxing power and creating a web of regulatory trip-wires for small businesses. Some states like Arkansas, Colorado and Illinois exclude “marketplace” sales on sites like Amazon and eBay from their thresholds for individual sellers, but many do not. And some states require marketplaces to collect sales tax for third-party retailers. The upshot is that a retailer who sells on eBay, Shopify and Amazon will exceed different

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Solving suburbs’ vicious property tax cycle benefits all – Opinion – Crain’s

August 13, 2019 2 Comments

Two suggestion from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning: First, state should re-examine its criteria for disbursing revenue to communities. Criteria should take into account things like infrastructure condition and the cost of service delivery, not just population and retail sales. Second, the county’s property tax classification system forces businesses to shoulder a higher share of the tax burden. By phasing out the property tax classification system over several years,Cook County could reduce the commercial/industrial tax differential, encouraging new business investment that will rebuild local tax revenue.

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Illinois Democrats worry about state census count – Crain’s

August 12, 2019 No Comments

In a letter today to U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham, all 15 Democratic members of the state’s Washington delegation expressed “concern” about the status of preparations for the big count and asked for an update on what’s being done—especially for hard-to-reach groups such as low-income households, people of color, immigrants and the homeless.

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Illinois sports betting stalls while Indiana, Iowa poised to launch books in weeks – Chicago Sun-Times

August 11, 2019 5 Comments

Even though the state’s massive gaming expansion was signed into law over six weeks ago, the Illinois Gaming Board still has to draft hundreds of rules governing application and oversight procedures that aren’t spelled out in the law. And while state lawmakers initially said they thought sports betting could launch in Illinois in time for the NFL kickoff in September — or at least by the Super Bowl in February — there’s no rollout in sight.

All operators would have to pay $1 million to renew licenses every four years. After that, Illinois will take a 15% tax on

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Governing.com To Close

August 8, 2019 No Comments

Comment: Another sad result of the tough media environment. They were a major source of news about state and local government, and we often posted their stories here.

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Lots of options on table to fund transportation – State Journal-Register

August 8, 2019 No Comments

The federal government pays for 80 percent of major highway projects in Illinois — and both Davis and Graves said Illinois is poised to gain federal matching funds.

“The state legislature passed a robust capital bill,” Davis said, funded in part by a doubling of the state’s gasoline tax from 19 cents to 38 cents. “We have to live up to our end of the bargain by putting a highway bill together to make sure that those improvements go to every community in Illinois. I want to see more diversification. I want to see less volatility when it comes to

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Lightfoot to lower the boom on Chicago taxpayers Aug. 29 – Chicago Sun-Times

August 8, 2019 11 Comments

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is poised to lower the boom on beleaguered Chicago taxpayers on Aug. 29 — by disclosing a shortfall that tops $1 billion — during a prime-time speech that, she hopes, will be carried live by some media outlets.

So far, the new mayor has only described the deficit as “north of” the $740 million acknowledged by Emanuel’s chief financial officer and said there is “no question” she’ll be forced to raise taxes.

She has refused to say more until she had potential solutions to present on the revenue and spending sides.

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The biggest problem with the ‘fair tax’ – Opinion – Crain’s

August 4, 2019 15 Comments

“First, the progressive income tax would fund just four months of a single year’s pension payment. The money would all be spent before even accounting for new spending Pritzker has proposed, such as universal pre-school or a state-run public option health insurance plan.” “Second, lawmakers must be honest about why previous, larger tax hikes have failed to deliver on their promises. The 2011 income tax hike was supposed to fix our ballooning unpaid bill backlog and mounting pension debt. The 2017 income tax hike was supposed to balance the budget.” “Third, lawmakers must be honest with their

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What Illinois Can Learn From the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and Even Puerto Rico About Public Pension Reform – MuniNet Guide

August 4, 2019 9 Comments

“This article provides the legal basis for Illinois and other states to justify needed and reasonable modifications of public pension benefits that are unaffordable and insurmountable through pension reform legislation or a Constitutional Amendment. This article discusses and explains why all states can learn and should follow what the U.S. Supreme Court and virtually all state courts have vigilantly protected as the necessary and required attribute of government for the benefit of all.”

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Can Mayor Lightfoot shake out the clout at O’Hare? – Editorial – Chicago Tribune

August 4, 2019 No Comments

“Now-retired Ald. Ricardo Munoz, 22nd, who wasn’t subtle in explaining how The Chicago Way operates. ‘Pick your ten friends and make them millionaires,’ Munoz told the BGA. ‘Get them the contracts from the city and make them millionaires.’ That is precisely the culture Lightfoot has vowed to eradicate. She ran for office promising to end the practice of aldermanic ring-kissing and favoritism…. Let’s see if she can apply those principles at one of the city’s untouchable vessels of greed — O’Hare.”

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Once-powerful Chicago Teamsters boss’s long fall – Chicago Sun-Times

August 4, 2019 1 Comment

For years,Colie epitomized the excesses and arrogance associated with the old guard of Chicago’s unions. He feasted on pricey dinners and drank hard while sticking others with the bills, surrounded himself with younger women, drove expensive cars and used a wealthy Chicagoan’s 76-foot yacht, at no cost, for a trip to Europe.

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The party appears over for the Flying Lady — a ‘Playpen’ yacht with a stripper pole — after its owner is charged in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme – Chicago Tribune

August 4, 2019 No Comments

Adorned with a pink stripper pole attached to the afterdeck, the 58-foot powerboat dubbed Flying Lady was a regular in the often raucous party spot just off the downtown shore, serving essentially as a floating nightclub, complete with tipsy guests dancing to pulsating DJ music and bikini-clad women performing acrobatic pole moves to the cheers of sun-drenched crowds.

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Willie Wilson says he was spurned by Lightfoot, now working with aldermen on reparations ordinance – Chicago Sun-Times

August 1, 2019 11 Comments

Their draft reparations ordinance will be introduced in September, when the City Council reconvenes after the traditional summer recess. It calls for:

• Free education, job training and apprenticeship programs at the City Colleges of Chicago “leading directly to job opportunities for the impacted population” along with a “curriculum that seeks to undo the lingering effects and trauma of the Transatlantic slave trade.”

• Free public transportation on the CTA.

• Development of an early childhood education plan at Chicago Public Schools for African American students living in poverty along with “tutors and specialized attention for

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Ex-labor leader pleads guilty in extortion case and will cooperate with Feds – Chicago Sun-Times

July 30, 2019 1 Comment

A onetime labor leader with ties to several prominent Illinois politicians pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday in a lesser-known extortion case that still threatens to reach deep into the state’s halls of power. As part of his plea deal, former Teamster chief John T. Coli will cooperate with the feds in other investigations. Coli admitted to taking part in a scheme to extort $325,000 from Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, the clout-heavy studio that is home to such hit TV shows as “Chicago Fire” and “Empire.” He pleaded guilty to receiving a prohibited payment and filing a false

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How Illinois pols have pocketed more than $5 million in what Barack Obama once dubbed ‘legalized bribery’ – Chicago Sun-Times

July 28, 2019 1 Comment

Dozens of former elected officials have kept campaign cash for themselves. It’s all legal under a loophole in the state’s ethics reform. ‘I’m the charity,’ says one ex-legislator who pocketed $583,357 — the biggest money-grab. A few examples:

Last year, former 36th Ward Ald. William J.P. Banks wrote himself a $291,708 check when he shut down his campaign committee, and former Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont took $36,157 from her still-active campaign fund.

Some other big beneficiaries of campaign cashouts: former state Sen. James DeLeo, D-Chicago, who took $271,681, and

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Chicago considers municipalizing ComEd – Utility Drive

July 28, 2019 4 Comments

“Chicago has an opportunity to define its energy future,” said Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, one of the sponsors of the measure to study municipalizing ComEd, in a statement. “[T]hrough municipalization Chicago could accelerate decarbonization, and implement a progressive rate structure that ensures better rates for working-class Chicagoans.”

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Richard Epstein: Chicago Betrays the Public Trust for Obama – Wall Street Journal

July 28, 2019 2 Comments

“Chicago’s handling of the presidential center violates the venerable public-trust doctrine, under which a municipality owes a duty of loyalty and care to its citizens analogous to a corporation’s duty to its shareholders. Cities must follow transparent procedures and work to maximize residents’ gains, not give huge public handouts to politically powerful private entities. Chicago officials should, in fact, feel a higher duty to provide fair value to the public because of the huge conflict of interest raised by the longstanding relationship between the Obama family and the city.”

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A green power seller reacts to pending industry reform—with sky-high prices – Crain’s

July 24, 2019 No Comments

Retail power sellers will need to shift from month-to-month prices to fixed prices for 12 months under reform legislation taking effect next year. Here’s how CleanChoice Energy, which has leaned on variable pricing in the past, is responding. Effectively, CleanChoice is saying that buying renewable energy certificates from Illinois wind farms, which allows it to make its green-energy claims, costs far more than RECs from out-of-state wind farms. That flies in the face of the message that the renewable power industry is delivering, which is that the cost of producing wind power has fallen dramatically in recent years and

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Have you spoken at a Chicago Police Board meeting? The police know more about you than you realize. – Chicago Tribune

July 24, 2019 1 Comment

Chicago police have for years compiled profiles on every citizen who spoke at public meetings of the city’s police disciplinary panel, a process that included running criminal background checks and internet searches on activists, a police union official and even relatives of an innocent woman killed in a high-profile police shooting, the Chicago Tribune has learned.

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Feds investigating $10,000 in checks from ComEd lobbyists to ousted Madigan operative – Chicago Tribune

July 24, 2019 1 Comment

Records obtained by the Tribune reveal that the checks went to Kevin Quinn, a former top Madigan lieutenant and brother of 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, after he was dismissed from the speaker’s political operation in early 2018 amid a sexual harassment scandal. The checks came from accounts linked to five current or former lobbyists for utility giant ComEd, including Madigan’s close confidant Michael McClain, records showed. McClain’s home in downstate Quincy was raided by the FBI two months ago.

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Corruption, firm value and startups – Points & Figures

July 23, 2019 No Comments

New study: “We know that corruption has a negative effect on firm value. It’s a deadweight tax on firm value…. Further analysis in the paper suggests that corruption is particularly harmful to shareholder value when state governments are controlled by a single party, consistent with the notion that interparty competition deters corruption.”

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The feds’ surgical strike against Speaker Madigan’s allies – Chicago Tribune

July 23, 2019 1 Comment

There’s something particularly unsettling about federal agents barging into the homes of Speaker Michael Madigan’s closest confidants. The raids didn’t unfold at campaign headquarters or a law firm or a City Hall office. They were unannounced impositions into sacred spaces, into living rooms, along picture-framed hallways, near tossed shoes and empty coffee cups and unmade beds. They were personal.

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Chicago area home sales plummet in June in 12th straight down month – Crain’s

July 23, 2019 2 Comments

With a double-digit plunge in home sales in June, the Chicago area’s housing market reached its 12 consecutive month of declines. In Chicago, 2,766 homes sold in June, 13.3 percent below June 2018, according to data released by Illinois Realtors, the statewide trade group.

In the nine-county metropolitan area, 12,002 homes sold, down 11.6 percent from a year earlier. The local declines were far steeper than the national dip. Nationwide, home sales fell 2.2 percent in June from a year ago.

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With anger growing, Chicago Teachers Union floats threat of September walkout – World Socialist Website

July 22, 2019 9 Comments

“In conducting this fight teachers must turn out to the working class more broadly, including teachers in neighboring suburban districts, city workers, autoworkers and other sections of workers coming into struggle…. The resources needed to fund education exist in abundance, but this fight requires a frontal assault on the privately accumulated wealth of billionaires and re-ordering society’s priorities in the interest of human need, not profit.”

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Poll says Pritzker popularity sagging – JournalStar

July 21, 2019 6 Comments

In a Morning Consult poll on popularity of governors, Pritzker finished 42nd on the list with a 44% approval rating and a 33% disapproval rating. Another 21% were undecided. At the bottom of the list was Ned Lamont, a Democrat from Connecticut, with a 32% favorable rating. Curiously, eight of the bottom 10 governors are Democrats. The only two Republicans in the bottom 10 are Jim Justice of West Virginia and Matt Bevin of Kentucky. Contrast that with the top 10, who all happen to be Republicans.

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Mayor kills deal for private operator of Chicago port – Chicago Sun-Times

July 21, 2019 No Comments

Members of the Illinois International Port District board unanimously voted down a proposal to negotiate a master lease with Savage Services, a transportation and logistics company based in Midvale, Utah. It amounted to an about-face for an agency that in March selected Savage as its preferred bidder for the job of revitalizing operations.

Board Chairman Michael Forde said the mayor’s office voiced its objection and members agreed as a courtesy. “The mayor’s office was of the opinion that this was not in the long-term interests of the port,” Forde said.

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Clout contractor in Carrie Austin probe got millions in no-bid add-ons on city deals – Chicago Sun-Times

July 21, 2019 1 Comment

A construction company whose records have been subpoenaed as part of an investigation that also includes Ald. Carrie Austin and a Chicago building inspector has gotten no-bid increases worth $2 million on two city deals to put in noise insulation for homes near O’Hare Airport.

Oakk Construction Co. offered City Hall the lowest price to win two city contracts in 2012 to soundproof 350 homes, according to city records that show the deals were supposed to cost the city a total of about $3.8 million.

Oakk has made millions of dollars under a city program to repair

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Lightfoot’s about to make a bad bet – Editorial – Crain’s

July 21, 2019 1 Comment

If a casino is to serve its function—namely, drawing lots of dollars out of the wallets of out-of-towners rather than locals—then it must be located in places where visitors want to be. That means picking a location close to downtown. By those lights, the best location of the lot now being studied by the Lightfoot administration is the Michael Reese site, within a dice toss of McCormick Place. There could be even better options closer in, but none of those possibilities seem to be on the table at the moment.

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How high will natural gas utility bills go? – Fox Chicago

July 21, 2019 1 Comment

The man who runs a multi-billion dollar construction program for Peoples Gas said the work is desperately needed to reduce leaks and improve safety. He strongly disputed an estimate by the Illinois Attorney General’s office that massive projects will eventually raise consumers’ bills by $750 a year.

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Soften the blow to Chicago employers, Mayor Lightfoot – Editorial – Chicago Tribune

July 21, 2019 1 Comment

An ordinance scheduled for the full City Council next week will present Mayor Lori Lightfoot with an opportunity to prove she takes seriously Chicago’s business community. The council is poised to vote on an ordinance that would create new, sweeping regulations for employers by controlling how they schedule their employees’ hours. Restaurants, hotels, hospitals, manufacturers, retail stores — industries with hours that can be less predictable than those for office jobs — would be required starting in April 2020 to adhere to strict scheduling rules.

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Takeda, Walgreens, Mondelez are moving thousands of office jobs out of Lake County. Who’s going to take their place? – Chicago Tribune

July 18, 2019 9 Comments

Even after years of high-profile office moves from the suburbs to downtown Chicago, Lake County’s current predicament stands out. The far north suburban county is bracing for the loss of about 2,700 office jobs by early next year, from prominent companies Walgreens Boots Alliance, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Mondelez International.

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Lightfoot selects five sites, all on South and West sides, as possible casino locations – Chicago Tribune

July 17, 2019 3 Comments

City officials stressed that the casino won’t necessarily wind up at one of the five spots, which they characterized as test sites. The five are the “Harborside” location at 111th Street and the Bishop Ford Freeway, near the Pullman neighborhood; the former Michael Reese Hospital site at 31st Street and Cottage Grove Avenue; a site at Pershing Road and State Street, which is near Guaranteed Rate Field; the former U.S. Steel parcel, known as South Works, which is between 79th and 91st streets along South Lake Shore Drive; and the lone

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Puerto Rico’s Bankruptcy Plan Is Almost Done, and It Could Start a Fight – New York Times

July 17, 2019 2 Comments

“If this works — if Promesa works and the restructuring works — it may make bankruptcy for states seem like something that lawmakers should be considering a little more seriously,” said David A. Skeel Jr., a University of Pennsylvania law professor who is on the oversight board and has written on the possibility of states using bankruptcy. “But if it doesn’t work, it would have the opposite effect.”

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Office vacancy rate hits two-year low – Crain’s

July 16, 2019 1 Comment

The driving force behind the suburban-to-urban migration—access to city-dwelling talent—is evolving as more millennials with young families embrace the suburbs, said JLL Director of Research Hailey Harrington. That gradual shift has pushed some companies to split their operations between downtown and the suburbs, she said.

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