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The district is preparing to sell the old Bontemps Elementary in Englewood for $75,000, the old Henson Elementary in North Lawndale for $25,000, and the former Shedd Elementary, which last served as a satellite building for Bennett Elementary, in Roseland for $25,000. All three buildings closed in 2013.
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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“CPS is in the business of educating students,”
LOL!!!! Not even close. If CPS truly was we wouldn’t have such an incredibly stupid low information voter populace.
The sales prices show how worthless ghetto properties are in Chicago
Buyer beware! Don’t follow the lead of Joliet that bought the old Catholic High building to turn it into something or other for $1, only to find out it was ultimately unusable and ended it tearing it down to the tune of 1M for asbestos abatement.
You’re shy by $1 million: https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/joliet-catholic-hs-gym-finally-torn-down-photos-backstory
https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/big-beautiful-brown-wall-funded-joliets-taxpayers-cost-2-million
Being Chicago, if the schools are torn down peg the cost of each to be $5-10 million, because Chicago.
After all this time, it’s almost amazing it might finally happen. Commenters are right, that the annual costs just to maintain these empty buildings appears to be larger than the one-time sale price. Community members wish the buildings could be hubs for startups, food truck tasting fairs, neighborhood activity centers, etc.; but obviously after 12 years, nobody has come forward to make that happen. At this point, the best thing for everybody is to offload them. Once they are sold — whether supposedly for housing or some commercial use — the chance increases a lot (no development is guaranteed) that… Read more »
Now people don’t get cynical there was a reason. The CPS were hoping the 8,000 teachers hired after covid would teach there after a miracle that the buildings would be teeming with students
All three buildings were closed in 2013. Hurray! This is mind blowing example of good government watching out for taxpayer dollars. It took only 12 years for the City to get around to selling these vacant properties. How many millions were lost on maintenance, security, utilities, lost investment returns on sales proceeds, etc. over those years. Any moderately competent private sector manager would have sold off these abandoned properties immediately. But, no, it takes 12 years for the great shepherds of our tax money to unload them. So, Mayor, good idea to raise taxes to pay for these sophomoric screwups.
Good God. 12 years. WTF?