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Among the remaining questions is how the team plans to fill a $1.5 billion construction funding gap. They also need to explain how they would deconstruct much of Soldier Field, which was dedicated as a war memorial. Gov. JB Pritzker remains skeptical of any forthcoming funding plan: "There are a lot of priorities that the state has and I’m not sure that this is among the highest priorities for taxpayers.”
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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This idea is so bad that one hears even the GUV may be aganist it.
Please democrats please keep doing this stuff! The amount of wealth, businesses, great police, investments, leaving your state for republican states is making our republican run economies on fire with growth! Keep doing your libtard nonsense! hahahaha
Absolutely correct. Each idiotic move Illinois makes is good news for a red state.
Also, how can taxpayers have any faith they aren’t going to be taken to the cleaners for additional $billions$ when you have newly planned O’Hare Terminal 2 project is now $3 billion over budget and growing from original $8.5 billion and hasn’t even begun construction.
Brazen demand, to expect taxpayers to yet again gift a new stadium to sports teams owned by uber-wealthy team-owners. We taxpayers are still footing the bill for the fairly new stadiums constructed for both Sox and Bears at taxpayer cost. Their team-owners made out like bandits on both deals.
Suspect most Chicagoans will realize this would be a disaster for taxpayers. Don’t know whether Johnson and his advisors will acknowledge this. I suppose Johnson may think one or two new downtown stadiums would be a “win” for his 1-term administration.
I absolutely love this Streeterville! I hope they make the taxpayers pay the entire $4.6 billion for a team that freaking sucks! hahaha, Steeterville, come on over to a republican run state, they are awesome. Opportunities skyrocketing, wealth, investment, safety aka locking up the criminal “sun teens.” Its wonderful in these other states, leave that craphole crime infested vile libtard city behind.
Steeterville, these democrat communist politicians don’t give a crap about you or anyone in Chicago, they don’t care, you live in communism in Chicago. They probably call you racist too and you deserve to get hosed by the racist democrat party. Wake up, move out, again they couldn’t give a rats a** about you, only their political power. Again, you live in communism.
Also, you live in communism, they just haven’t run out of your money yet, just wait and see how ugly it will get there when they run out of money which isn’t too far off from happening in the future. Chicago is bankrupt, only reason its running right now is, they got the covid plandemic scam money in 2020. It was bankrupt then and that covid plandemic scam money is about to dry up and will be bankrupt again. Doesn’t matter when the zoo runs the city.
I made part of this comment on another Stadium story here, but come on…The remodel of Soldiers Field back in 2002 the tax payers borrowed $390M. 22 years later, the tax payers currently owe $640M and by the time it is payed off in about 10 more years it is projected to have cost the tax payers $1.1B.
This new idea will of course work the same damn way for us the tax payers. The answer again is staring them in the face. We cannot afford it and oh yeah…its a stupid expensive idea that penalizes tax payers.
Bears need to be sold and move to San Antonio.
…or you could move there instead…. or some other red state city.
Exactly Hones Jerk, get out of Chicago asap, you only have yourself to blame for not doing it
Also, it’s not really that difficult to move, just takes a little time and effort, just do it!
What they need to do is build a $4.6 billion gigantic toilet and flush that libtard craphole down the sh*tter where it belongs. Keep it up Chicago you are doing awesome driving all the wealth, working people, investment, development into republican run states. Keep it up Chicago you’re doing so awesome! hahahaha jokes on you morons. Oh and just wait till the last bit of covid plandemic scam dollars run out which is very soon, you will see how ugly Chicago will really get LOL!
No. We don’t need another Texas football team.
Besides, I enjoy watching on TV football played in sub-zero weather.
Hopefully Pritzker (and Harmon) are truly skeptical/opposed rather than just posturing during early stage negotiations. What have they told Kevin Warren privately that had him thinking yesterday’s dog & pony was a well timed good idea? He seems like a savvy guy, not someone who’d hang his hat on Brandon Johnson. What backchannel signals did Pritzker give him?
Never gonna’ happen. Too much money for infrastructure. Too much of a gap for the building itself. Crummy on field performance by the team. Little support from taxpayers. And no interest whatsoever in helping the McCaskeys. More waste of time from a poorly run franchise.
It’ll happen. Our elected politicians are far more beholden to their big campaign contributors, bedazzled by the promise of more union construction jobs, not us docile taxpayers who are stuck with inevitable HUGE cost-payments to finance these boondoggle projects.
Brando’s a big cheerleader because his trade unions buddies are pushing hard behind the scenes for stadium deal.
No this is not a taxpayer priority for funding a new stadium, your priorities Pritzker are funding for illegals, yes illegals and you damn well know it.
I can’t figure out what the heck the bears are doing. Is this just a ploy to get the schools near Arlington Heights to drop the property taxes? I don’t think they will get much if any gov funding. Lawsuits galore trying to build on the lakefront.
Maybe if the Bears signed illegal immigrants as undrafted free agents, the city and state would consider financial assistance to build the stadium. To house additional illegal immigrants during the off-season, of course.