Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer
April 22, 2026
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Summary and audio linked here.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
"Our main headwind right now is public safety," said Michael Jacobson, president of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association. "Unfortunately, we have seen both individual leisure travelers begin to cancel their hotel rooms for the next several weeks and months because of what they've been hearing on the news and seeing happen downtown. More concerning is we've even seen conferences pull out of Chicago all together for other cities in the Midwest."
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
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If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
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Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
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.
“Our main headwind right now is public safety,” said Michael Jacobson.” Sorry Michael, it’s not a headwind. It is a typhoon, cyclone, hurricane, sirocco and tornado all rolled into one super destroyer of cities.
How about a gun going off in a grade school wounding a child! Mom put the gun in the kids backpack! Hmmmmm…..Should we expect gun battles in elementary schools? I wonder if the mayor even knows? Lori asked for it and now it’s raining bricks on her head!
I’m thankful everyday we have experts to advise us “ something should be done!” Sounds like a serious plan you get from an alderman! Or, Crains, Tribune, or the Civic Federation! Ya know, the usual windbag dopes.
build more jails, keep them full! If overcrowding becomes an issue; build more jails.
They would prefer tourists venmo $1,000 to Chicago and skip the trip entirely.
One thing not mentioned is politics. Maybe some of these convention organizers don’t want to have their convention in a liberal shit hole. Maybe tourists have the same thinking. Ratings for the NFL, all the awards shows are all down. Plenty of red states you can have your convention or vacation in.
Same with business owners. A lot of business owners are against forced pretend vaccination mandates and coronavirus hysteria, they are never sending their people back into the Loop.
You beat me to it. The people with money to travel, retirees, etc. who are majority conservative… Maybe they just don’t want to patronize the ideology here with their money. Defunding police, “restorative” justice, allowing shoplifting, etc. This is just as likely a contributor as crime is to the loss of customers. A large silent boycott is what it is. Myself I refuse to spend a dime in Chicago. I drove to Rockford recently to audition some stereo speakers I could have auditioned at a Chicago shop. As for conventions I never understood why any company would put up with… Read more »
Democrats are hypocrites. Most libs I know with any means were masked covidians here in IL but then took all their vacations to FL unmasked. Virtually everyone I know with more than $5k in their bank accounts took a FL in the past 24 months. Obviously JB Pritzker sent his entire family to Florida while he shut down the state but there’s pictures of AOC, Don Lemon, and many others who harped on everyone to wear a mask in gatherings but trotted off to FL, like a hypocrite, so they could enjoy a taste of freedom, because few want to… Read more »
The NEA is holding their convention in Chicago this summer. Lucky us.
https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/conferences-events/annual-meeting-and-representative-assembly
Nuke it. Lots of problems solved.
Moral decay of leadership; Greedy state pensioners sour tourists on Chicago. New headline for clicks.
I call BS on the Chicago hospitality industry. What’s keeping customers away from downtown Chicago hotels is miserable service – or no service at all – for which they continue to charge pre-COVID (or higher) room rates. Ka-ching, ka-ching, all the way to the property’s P & L bottom-line and the bank. No room service – download an app and wait for someone from a mile away to run lukewarm bar food to your room. Restaurants closed, even though websites claim that they still have restaurants and room service – you hear me Palmer House and Marriott? No shuttles, and… Read more »
You can thank Lori, Toni, Lil Kim and Judge Tim for this mess. And they don’t care!
When the conventions start staying away, that is trend that quickly snowballs into an avalanche of bad news for the hospitality industry.
The middle of the end…how does it get better? How do you regain your standing? Why would anyone ever return?Nashville has so much more to offer why would anyone go to Chicago?
“why would anyone go to Chicago?”
Maybe some enjoy the thrill of being hunted.
People investing money in new businesses in Chicago are insane. I have zero sympathy for anyone opening a restaurant or bar that then fails. If you are clueless to the present environment and grim future, you are not being prudent. There are a 100 other cities you can invest in with way less risk. Chicago is in permanent decline.
I was downtown last week for work, unfortunately, and Chicago is certainly in decline, not sure if permanently, but it will take a lot more than what they are doing now to revive downtown. There’s plenty of valuable infrastructure and big companies, but the crime, and quite frankly the commute, and to some extent, the absurd progressive values, are what are keeping normies away. I think downtown has plateaued with the number of people who are willing to return downtown and it seems to be mostly city dwellers and young people who want to socialize at work. I like being… Read more »
I read that some companies in the Loop are reducing their square footage when their leases come up. I think that as some offices lose their vibrancy, so does the downtown. Then it become harder to attract workers for a 5 day work week. My old workmates say that some days it’s just depressing to be on a large open floor with only a few people working. When the offices were full, at least you could grab some friends and go out after work and enjoy a drink. When there’s an inconsistent number of people in the office that becomes… Read more »
All very true. My spouse is required to commute downtown two days a week and it’s a mostly empty office as staff finds reasons not to come in, ranging from weather, to child care, to illness, or just straight up not showing up on the required day and working from home…”ooopies? I was supposed work from the office today?” Factoring in this too is that Chicago and IL just isn’t as desirable for younger kids any more either. The flagship college grads are looking elsewhere for work, especially Nashville, anywhere in Florida, TX, NC, sun belt. It’s a problem attracting… Read more »