Number of half-empty Chicago public schools doubles, yet lawmakers want to extend school closing moratorium – Wirepoints
April 19, 2024
18 Comments
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
Crap property has crap value. Who wants to buy an dilapidated abandoned residential property in Markham? What possible motive would such buyer have? What possible benefit would buyer receive?
But think of all the benefits. Lease terms would be dictated by the Cook County ordinance. Eviction would be banned if the tenant didn’t pay. And rents might be set by the government if rent control proponents have their way.
At lot of these properties aren’t habitable anymore without significant renovation and repair, and are literally worth less than equivalent vacant lot at same location.
This is where Section 8 comes into play.
The motive would be profit. Black or hispanic gentrifiers would move into these areas and improve them, often displacing the dangerous residents who get pushed out. Cheap property is NOT a bad thing. But a property with a $15-40k tax lien, before the rehab even starts, there’s absolutely no room for profit. I’d love to see young black or brown families purchase $100k moderately rehabbed starter homes in these areas and revitalize the communities, but it’s never going to happen in a neighborhood full of properties with substantial county real estate tax liens. This man made problem could solve itself… Read more »
do you have the data that supports who is leaving and who is incoming or do you just like to make things up?
https://www.chicagoreporter.com/chicago-is-the-fastest-shrinking-major-metro-area/ Chicago is the fastest shrinking major metro area Here are the key takeaways: Chicago is shrinking faster than any other major metro. New York and Los Angeles saw declines in 2018, but at lower rates than Chicago, which is now in its fourth straight year of population loss. Black residents continue to move out. This isn’t happening in other major metros. And unlike other racial and ethnic groups, a majority of black residents exiting the Chicago area didn’t have a job when they left. Immigration is tapering off. Mexican-born residents represent the largest share of immigrants in the region… Read more »
https://www.theroot.com/chicagos-shrinking-black-community-1790865474 Chicago’s Shrinking Black Community Roderick J. Harrison, a Howard University researcher, said he was not surprised earlier this year when the U.S. Census Bureau reported a dramatic decline in Chicago’s black population. The recession and perception of better economic opportunities in Southern states such as Georgia and Texas — and even Western states like California, Nevada and Arizona — have prompted a number of black Chicagoans to pack up their belongings and create new paths in a pattern being called reverse migration. It’s similar to the historic journey created by their ancestors decades ago in the Great Migration of… Read more »
Again, a surface level discussion that all back taxes need to be paid before someone can take ownership, and the back taxes exceed the current value. This is a man made problem. it might even fix itself if we had an environment where population was growing and people were moving to teh state. but with people fleeing the state, and more blighted properties showing up every day, this is what we get. But the legistlature is too busy fighting the culture wars, changing all words to gender neutral to be ‘inclusive’ instead of focusing on real problems. The democrats in… Read more »
Distressed properties? Is that the same as neglected properties? Home ownership comes with some responsibilities. If you don’t maintain the property there exists a chance it could become a distressed property. Owning a home comes with sacrifice. Money you want to blow on booze,weed and threads needs to go to home maintenance. Inconvenient isn’t it!