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As revelers across the city this weekend waved flags and honked horns in honor of Mexican Independence Day, a chaotic undertone tarnished the celebration with sudden downtown road closures that trapped drivers and bouts of mischief among the mostly peaceful street parties that sometimes escalated to violence. “If you say you’re going to close off the streets because there’s going to be a lot of people, great, fine,” one River North resident said. But what resulted Friday night was “scary...In order to be safe, they created a lot of unsafe situations."
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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Mexican Independence Day Was Celebrated Downtown And Other Parts Of The City — With Non-Stop Horn Honking, Traffic Blocking Car Caravans, Dangerous Driving And Reckless Car Stunts, Illegal Guns, Stabbings, Gang Members, Mob Violence, Drugs, And Numerous Violent Assaults On Police Officers, With Many Of Them Involving Career Criminals — BUT MAYOR JOHNSON HAS NO PROBLEM WITH ANY OF THAT – WBBM AM 780 News Radio Chicago