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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.
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.
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The city is going belly up like a dead mackerel.
A 68% budget increase in 6-7 years, much of it permanent programs and city jobs funded by temporary federal COVID money is bad enough in a city where over 50% of the revenue goes to debt and pensions, but wait until the pension explosion resulting from all that hiring kicks in. Daley sold the parking rights and skyway, those were huge mistakes, and it’s gotten far worse sense. That light at the end of the tunnel ain’t going to be pretty.
The skyway sale is a terrific example of the folly of government thinking. Drivers pay the toll, expenses can’t be covered by the tolls, so raise the toll to cover expenses and watch more drivers not show up. Never cut expenses, raise the price. Chicago/ Cook County is lost.
It’s only just begun… (and the best it not there)
If only we could do like JB does, take the toilets out of the house to avoid the property taxes.
“it’s a moral catastrophe” Well said.