CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[Stunnies23]

I voted for Kennedy in the primary, but will go with Rauner in the general. Pritzker has stated he will raise the flat income tax again to increase revenue. There is no tax relief in sight as long as Madigan and his billionaire puppet Pritzker are in office. Also, count me in for supporting McCarthy for mayor. The number of murders and guns getting stuck in people’s faces to steal their cars is staggering and Rahm doesn’t seem to give a $&@$& about it.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Good lord, I hope not a Chuy Garcia, “stop the gentrification”, “I hate white people”, “keep the nearly empty schools open because it keeps teachers employed” type. No thanks.

We either let the rebirth of the center city continue or we let he whole shithouse go down (quoting Jim Morrison here).

I think a Latino candidate has to take a stand against gentrification and against Trump immigration rhetoric. Those are the two biggest issues in Chicago's Latino community, I would expect pretty much any Latino candidate to follow the Chuy playbook since it worked with Latinos and even pulled in a bunch of white bleeding-heart liberals.

With McCarthy jumping into the fray, look for Rahm to lean even harder into currying favor with the black community. He's already been doing it... inviting Obama to town to stump for the library, revealing new stations and upgrades to the Green Line, building flashy new fieldhouses in some South Side parks, big new high school in Englewood. The West Side's been mostly left out except the new Police Academy (which the black community hates) so I assume we'll see some more plans for that part of town.

Do we have a plausible black candidate lined up to run? That's a big vacuum. Obviously it's still very early, but I think Rahm could win a healthy share of the black vote if he plays his cards right and avoids another police shooting scandal. That's his path to victory with a mix of black voters and white professionals. With McCarthy in the race, Rahm's not gonna win the police-and-fire vote, so it frees him up to talk about police reforms that would have been political suicide before.

[the urban politician]

^ As I've stated many times, along with many others, and without any sensible refutation of my point having materialized:

Chicago gentrifies or dies.

Period.

So if you "fight" gentrification (which I don't even know quite how you do that) you are an enemy to the city, as far as any reasonable person who cares about Chicago is concerned.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

And where is the talk of property tax reform?

Are they being lowered? By how much? Is a committee examining this? Who is spearheading this? What is Pritzker's plan?

There isn't one. His plan is to keep buying commercials with images of him talking to children and black people, sometimes wearing a hard hat. What a slime ball. I can't believe anybody buys this BS. Illinois just keeps getting dug deeper into a hole, and the voters keep voting for the same group of lunkheads

I think a progressive state income tax would better allow Illinois to better fund public schools at the state level. Public schools currently rely mostly on local funding. Your school district(s) is/are probably the single greatest line item on your property tax bill. They'd still come knocking for money, but it would likely be far less unless your school district agreed to a higher levy by referendum(?).

I don't trust that Pritzker (democrats) will institute a progressive state income tax and leave those theoretically saved local tax dollars untaxed by the state. An increase in taxes may (will) ultimately be necessary, but I'd rather that process be transparent and not be dictated by men with questionable business interests. Rauner's no better, but at least he and Madigan are openly hostile towards one another. That reform process would be so publicly followed. Mainly because I'm sure the tea spilled by both sides would be too sweet. We need that though.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ As I've stated many times, along with many others, and without any sensible refutation of my point having materialized:

Chicago gentrifies or dies.

Period.

So if you "fight" gentrification (which I don't even know quite how you do that) you are an enemy to the city, as far as any reasonable person who cares about Chicago is concerned.

I don't think there is a logical argument against this. The city needs property values to explode in order to service the pension debt. The only way to do that is through gentrification of nearly abandoned and worthless property in about 30% of the city.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

I don't think there is a logical argument against this. The city needs property values to explode in order to service the pension debt. The only way to do that is through gentrification of nearly abandoned and worthless property in about 30% of the city.

I don't think it's quite that dire. New York City is richer than ever before and still has significant debt. Japan is an affluent country and their outstanding debt is 250% their GDP. I'm not saying there are no issues with the pensions, but I think the gentrify or die mentality is a bit hyperbolic. It doesn't need to be said that attracting higher income households (jobs) is priority #1, but that seems to be happening and the gentrification process will play itself out over (hopefully) decades. I don't see Chicago having true affordability issues unless climate change ignites mass migration. Some of us may just barely live to see that day, but most won't.

[the urban politician]

^ At the rate in which higher income households are supplanting more moderate income ones, there will definitely be an affordable housing problem in the core and lakefront areas of the city. We are already getting there.

But citywide? For sure that will never occur in our lifetimes.

[SpireGuy]

Tracy Baim posted this on FB and I think there's a lot of truth to it:

"My 8-point plan for J.B. Pritzker to heal the rifts facing Dems for November:
1) See if his opponents are interested in top-level appointments in his administration, and announce ASAP.
2) Hire their teams, those who want to continue working on gov race.
3) For every dollar he spends on the race, match that with another dollar for social service agencies in Illinois, new money into old problems.
4) Have Lt. Gov. nominee Juliana Stratton even more out there, as she is his biggest asset.
5) Be wonky and aggressive on his plans for change, including solving financial crisis. Don’t dumb it down, people want real answers, not generic mission statements.
6) Put significant resources into Dem candidates across the state, for Congress, state seats, county seats, etc., that are close or at risk.
7) Help re-build a new Dem Party in this state, taking on Madigan’s machine by helping engage new leaders for the future. Show that you are independent of Madigan, even while you might work with him on some issues.
8) If elected in November, have a very bold plan in place to recruit a very diverse staff, top-level appointments, agency leaders, etc., from across the city, county and state. Do like Obama, get the smartest people from all backgrounds and skill sets—including people actually impacted by the problems."

[Vlajos]

^ that's a lot of "who cares?"!!!! What Illinois needs is a real fiscal plan that won't further soak the taxpayers. So far all JB has done is propose higher income taxes and new spending.

That is a recipe for disaster.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

^ that's a lot of "who cares?"!!!! What Illinois needs is a real fiscal plan that won't further soak the taxpayers. So far all JB has done is propose higher income taxes and new spending.

That is a recipe for disaster.

x2

[left of center]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

I think a progressive state income tax would better allow Illinois to better fund public schools at the state level.

A progressive income tax would require changing the Illinois constitution. If we're doing that, lets also amend the whole "benefits to public employees may not be diminished" clause thats bankrupting our state.

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ As I've stated many times, along with many others, and without any sensible refutation of my point having materialized:

Chicago gentrifies or dies.

Period.

So if you "fight" gentrification (which I don't even know quite how you do that) you are an enemy to the city, as far as any reasonable person who cares about Chicago is concerned.

A bit on the dramatic side, but I completely agree. The exponential growth in pension debt that's burdening the city can only be solved by an equal or greater exponential growth in property valuations in the city.

The question is, how long will this model be sustainable for? Something needs to happen on the spending end of this equation.

Originally Posted by Vlajos

^ that's a lot of "who cares?"!!!! What Illinois needs is a real fiscal plan that won't further soak the taxpayers. So far all JB has done is propose higher income taxes and new spending.

That is a recipe for disaster.

Exactly. All these pols look to the revenue side of things. We are already one of the highest taxed states in the US. We absolutely need to cut waste and unsustainable spending. There really is no other solution. Driving out the tax base with ever more draconian tax levies just makes the problem worse. In the end, you will only be left with net beneficiaries of the tax code, with no one left to pay into it. The whole system will grind to a halt and leave everyone worse off for it.

[Vlajos]

Maria Pappas should run for Cook County President. I think she is the only high level official that seems to care about taxpayers. She consistently reduces spending, has made her office more efficient. Things like this.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...property-taxes

[left of center]

^ When Preckwinkle was looking for across the board cuts to all County departments (this was shortly before the sugar tax was voted on, or after there was a vote to repeal it), Pappas not only matched the amount in cuts Preckwinkle was looking for (other heads put up a fight to keep their level of funding), she went ahead and made even more cuts than requested, which she cited as additional waste that was unnecessary for her and her office to perform their job.

Pappas is indeed a rare breed of politician in Illinois.

[Vlajos]

^ yep, I think almost all the county department heads except Pappas hemmed and hawed at budget cuts.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ At the rate in which higher income households are supplanting more moderate income ones, there will definitely be an affordable housing problem in the core and lakefront areas of the city. We are already getting there.

Definitely possible near the core and along the lakefront. I don't think that's worst thing though? Ideally land values would improve enough to justify the preservation of the existing structures on decaying parts of the south and west sides. The west branch of the green line isn't nearly as bad, but all the vacant tracts and rotting structures along the south branches of the green line are a sad sight. I do hope to see the south side lakefront neighborhoods fill in sooner than later. A booze cruise that from Hollywood to Rainbow Beaches with stops at North Avenue Beach, Navy Pier, Northerly Island, and Jackson Park would be cool.

[HowardL]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

A booze cruise that from Hollywood to Rainbow Beaches with stops at North Avenue Beach, Navy Pier, Northerly Island, and Jackson Park would be cool.

Fuck yeah, it would. Start pitching that now to some investors.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Just gonna leave this here:

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-wa...s-metoo-moment

[left of center]

^ Read about that in the Trib about six weeks ago. I haven't seen too much outrage directed at Madigan, at least as of yet. Hopefully something comes of it, but considering how long this news has been out for already, I'm not all that hopeful.

[KWillChicago]

West loop boom still boomin. My friend from out of town was asking why there are so many cranes west of the expressway. The only answer I could give him was because the west loop is awesome. I suppose it is chicago's brooklyn. Keep the towers coming.
https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/3/27...oop-apartments

[emathias]

Originally Posted by KWillChicago

West loop boom still boomin. My friend from out of town was asking why there are so many cranes west of the expressway. The only answer I could give him was because the west loop is awesome. I suppose it is chicago's brooklyn. Keep the towers coming.
https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/3/27...oop-apartments

Chicago's Brooklyn? Don't be absurd.

Brooklyn was an independent city, has a population, by itself, approximately equal to all of Chicago's current population, and is 70 square miles.

The West Loop is about 2.5 square miles, has never been an independent city or even really much of an independent neighborhood until recently, and has a population a bit hard to calculate with all the recent changes (loss of some old inventory, addition of much new inventory) but is probably between 75,000 and 100,000.