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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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CHI-EXIT/IL-EXIT UPDATE: How Black Lives Matters Riots, Looting Arson — And A Downtown Violent Crime Wave — Have Shit-Housed Michigan Avenue — Which Is Now At An All Time High Retail Vacancy Of 31 Pct – Crain’s Chicago Business
I’m just so very tired of everything requiring DEI. How about some plain old common sense.
This article reads like a generic mission statement written by an oh so woke H.R. department. There is not one concrete idea, just DEI talking points.
How about profits, safety and free parking as a hook for the Mag Mile. If any more managerial advice is needed get in touch with Mark or Ted and hopefully they’ll hook you up with Old Joe.
Yep – took a kid to lego store at Water Tower Place and it was $30 to park. Never again. Lego store, 2 cheeseburgers lunches and parking ran me over $100. Michigan Ave retail is dead unless they fix these prices. The cheesburger place is obviously paying exorbitant rents, so too Lego. But the parking is the most egregious. If you want people to shop at your store then don’t r*pe them on parking when the suburbs are free (and better).
Welcome to any large city. Do you think its cheap to go visit the lego store at the Rockefeller Center? Bill’s Burgers there charges almost $20 for a burger and $10 for a shake.
It’s all about making the city safer not lowering prices. Prices have always been high and some people will always complain about it. The last thing Chicago needs is to try and attract more people with less money to spend. Let’s keep the bargain basement shopping away from Water Tower Place.
Sometimes there are more places for rich shoppers to spend their money than there are rich shoppers, to the great consternation of Michigan Ave. The Mag Mile has lost much of its appeal with many shoppers of means, and instead, now attracts only degenerates and lowlifes looking to prey upon the few remaining visitors. They can continue to charge rich shopper premium for a TJ Maxx experience, but it will only worsen the vacancy rates, as the rich shoppers have already moved on. It’s been nearly three years since Lori destroyed Michigan Ave. in the name of equity. Streeterville and… Read more »
PPF, once again you’ve got your facts correct but have drawn the wrong conclusion. What most large city’s have in common now is Democratic Party governance which behoves high prices for everything they touch from parking and amenities to the actual merchandise bought. A portion of these high costs are used to fund the pensions and health care of former public employees. A Democratic Party big city administration that is business friendly is a contradiction in terms. In their mind businesses exist in order to pay their fair share. Mag Mile business owners found out the hard way TWICE just… Read more »
The Mag Mile is already 1/3 vacant and 1/3rd of the way to Detriot.
Quinton Primo is actually a smart guy and a nice guy on top of it. He has has had lots of good ideas in his life– but this is not one of them. The Mag Mile does not need to be tied up in racial/Democrat/woke/identity politics. It needs basic high end retail analysis and marketing. And this is not a racial comment, because before the Wuhan Virus there were plenty of international, multi racial and diverse shoppers on the Avenue. Don’t try to lecture high end retailers as to what their market is. They know better than any of us… Read more »
The marketplace has already decided what kinds of stores it wanted on the Mag Mile. It wanted high end stores in the past, but with the crime wave it said no stores is preferable
“some of our city’s best minds have come up with outstanding ideas to reimagine and redevelop this stretch of North Michigan Avenue”. Those are people that don’t put their capital at risk, they want to tell the business community how to deploy their capital or they spend taxpayer money. I’m sorry but I’m not of the opinion that every neighborhood needs to be diverse. Is Chinatown diverse? Are there areas on the north side that are not diverse? Are there areas in the suburbs that are not diverse? This guy runs a $3.7B investment fund so he should know that… Read more »
I usually avoid reading Crain’s articles but this piece is a gem of stupidity. I don’t know why the author doesn’t just come straight out and say it: Michigan Ave. of the 2020’s should be the Maxwell St. of the 1970’s. Maxwell St. was equity. People of all colors, races and income levels buying stolen/lost products out of the trunks of their car on weekends, with various petty crimes occurring, and some drug sales and pimping after hours. If this NOT what he means, then I have no idea what he’s talking about. Because whatever nonsense he’s pushing makes no… Read more »
All the premium brands on Rush Street already attract all types and classes of people. They only see one color: green.
Just the opposite of what Michigan Avenue needs — it needs unique store that generate high foot traffic and sales. The last thing it needs is race quotas for store leasing.