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"The opportunity to be bold and smart exists in full form. We can create a public-private partnership on the lakefront that works. We can be cutting-edge when it comes to the carbon footprint of a new stadium, by building a low-carbon, eco-designed stadium. We also have a chance to use this as an opportunity to finally connect our lakefront and our people through public transit solutions." Audio: Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon says Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades – Chicago’s Morning Answer
April 3, 2026
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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.
Illinois lost another 54,000 tax filers and dependents, net, according to the IRS. Since 2000, fleeing taxpayers have taken $94 billion of annual adjusted gross income with them.
“eco-designed stadium” is woke-speak for “let’s double the cost by wasting tons of money on feel-good, but useless crap”
Let’s not forget that the last Soldier Field renovation took place a mere 20 years ago and cost $632 million, with the taxpayers on the hook for $432 million. I wonder if the taxpayers are still paying on that debt. Your tax dollars at work.
From some perspective, $632 million is $1 billion in today’s government inflated dollars. What a waste of money, but that’s how the Democrats roll.