-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The City Council is being asked to revive an underground warehouse development on the Southeast Side that’s being pushed by the Ozinga family. After a city zoning official ruled last year that the project ran afoul of Chicago’s ban on mining operations, it appeared that the Ozingas — owners of the namesake concrete and materials business — had little choice but to give up on the site near East 112th Street along the Calumet River.
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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