-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Instead of letting malls fall into decay, many local municipalities are swooping in to purchase the shopping districts, hoping to revitalize them as community centers that provide sources of tax revenue. Among them, the Bloomingdale Village Board purchased Stratford Square Mall earlier this month for $8.75 million, and West Dundee recently announced plans to acquire Spring Hill Mall.
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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What a great way to create a new reason to raise property taxes to fund this silliness.
Totally ridiculous for any suburb to buy a dead mall. Seriously, do these suburbs think that they have better information or solutions than a real estate firm does?
If these properties were viable and could be repurposed, the real estate firms would find investors that would invest to make a profit.
All these suburbs are doing is creating future money pits for their tax payers. So stupid.