CHICAGO | Politics and Current Events

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Not if Chuy or someone like him were Mayor.

B.S.

chicagos advantages and disadvantages are entrenched. one individual will have very little effect one way or another on those things. people are moving to the city because they want to live in interesting neighborhoods, not because Rahm Emmanuel is mayor. commuting preferences are changing. businesses have no choice but to react if they want to attract top talent. this is happening in every major city in the United States, not just Chicago. we also have O'Hare, top research universities, and a vibrant cultural scene. if Chuy was elected none of these things would cease to exist. there may be less blatant pandering to the corporate class, but id have no problem with that personally. if someone wants to relocate here, they can do so without handouts.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

B.S.

chicagos advantages and disadvantages are entrenched. one individual will have very little effect one way or another on those things. people are moving to the city because they want to live in interesting neighborhoods, not because Rahm Emmanuel is mayor. commuting preferences are changing. businesses have no choice but to react if they want to attract top talent. this is happening in every major city in the United States, not just Chicago. we also have O'Hare, top research universities, and a vibrant cultural scene. if Chuy was elected none of these things would cease to exist. there may be less blatant pandering to the corporate class, but id have no problem with that personally. if someone wants to relocate here, they can do so without handouts.

I disagree, someone like Chuy would be terrible for the City. His whole purpose seemed to be to support the CTU and Karen Lewis. I personally think he would have tried to institute a city income tax or exchange tax (or even both) that would have been a huge disincentive for corporations and people. Property taxes would have gone up as well. As it is, this carve out for homes worth $250,000 or less is ridiculous. Everyone needs to feel the cost of these benefits that were "promised" or people will never learn.

[urbanpln]

Originally Posted by urbanpln

The only real danger that I see is the political disfunction at the State level, and uncertainty that is trickling down to the City.]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...113-story.html

As I said a few days ago, political uncertainty is a big problem for the State, and Chicago region.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by urbanpln

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...113-story.html

As I said a few days ago, political uncertainty is a big problem for the State, and Chicago region.

Yeah, the political and economic situation is definitely hurting us. However, Boston offered GE $145Million to relocate 800 jobs. That sounds like a lot of money to me that IL and Chicago never really had a chance to compete with.

[SamInTheLoop]

For those following the proxy primary battle races pitting Rauner against Madigan.......Madigan absolutely scorched the governor yesterday.......smoked, filleted, skewered......choose your cooking method (I must be hungry or something!).....served him up on a platter for sure........is it enough to bring Rauner back to reality and to give up on his quest to be IL's Scott Walker, as that clearly is not in the cards for him? I'm not especially hopeful, but I suppose we'll see......

[the urban politician]

The Judicial Branch, over and over and over, continues to fail in its primary purpose:

July 20, 2016
Court rejects plan to revamp Illinois' remap rules

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

The Judicial Branch, over and over and over, continues to fail in its primary purpose:

July 20, 2016
Court rejects plan to revamp Illinois' remap rules

Cook County judge? There ya go.....

[Kngkyle]

^ How anyone can take them serious when they make proposals like this is a mystery.

[Via Chicago]

Credit rating hit, another big tax hike possible as clock ticks on pension overhaul

But given the high court's rulings on the sanctity of government worker pension benefits, some believe the city has no choice but to simply start paying the $11.2 billion owed to the two funds.

Among them is the Municipal Employees and Benefit Fund of Chicago, which is nearly $10 billion in the hole and at risk of going broke within eight years, according to a recent analysis it commissioned. The smaller Laborers Annuity and Benefit Fund has about $1.2 billion in red ink and is projected to run out of money in 11 years, according to its most recent audit.

Both pension funds backed the proposed benefit cuts the Supreme Court struck down. Now that a different approach is required, the municipal workers are pitching state lawmakers on proposals to shore up the fund by dramatically increasing the amount of taxpayer money going into it.

Under the proposal, the city would be required to come up with at least $509 million more in annual contributions to the funds within the next five years and at least $1.6 billion over the long haul. Where would the money come from? A Chicago casino, which still doesn't exist despite two decades of city efforts. It's the same money machine Emanuel is eyeing for the police and fire pension funds.

Even with a casino, the city would have to cut spending, raise hundreds of millions of more dollars each year or both to make the contributions required under each of the payment schedules under four different versions of the municipal workers' plan. With Chicago's sales tax already the highest among big cities in the nation, the one place the city can turn for new revenue without help from state government is the property tax — a particularly difficult political prospect given that taxpayers already are being hit up for the police and fire pension funds.

[Vlajos]

CPS just announced that it will need to cut school budgets about 30%. I've seen a lot of CTU supporters demanding more and more tax money. Proposals like financial transaction taxes, city income taxes, commuter taxes, employee head taxes, etc. I'm curious if people think these are good solutions.

[the urban politician]

They need to close more schools. Referencing Daley's words, the CPS has "lost its constituency"

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

They need to close more schools. Referencing Daley's words, the CPS has "lost its constituency"

I totally agree, but Rahm was nearly crucified for closing 50 last time. Since then, CPS has lost 6,000 more students. Remember Chuy Garcia and Karen Lewis running around saying Rahm hates black and brown kids?

[the urban politician]

^ You know who hates black and brown kids? The Chicago Teachers Union

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

CPS just announced that it will need to cut school budgets about 30%. I've seen a lot of CTU supporters demanding more and more tax money. Proposals like financial transaction taxes, city income taxes, commuter taxes, employee head taxes, etc. I'm curious if people think these are good solutions.

Financial transaction taxes simply don't work at the local level. I'm not a believer that taxes in general make or break a place, but financial transaction taxes implemented unilaterally and locally would kill our trading industry, which would cause a much larger tax loss overall.

City income taxes, commuter taxes, head taxes, none are perfect. The biggest trouble with these tax increases are that they will not result in ANY benefit for the vast majority of taxpayers. Most taxes have clear benefit to the general public - these increases won't.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by emathias

Financial transaction taxes simply don't work at the local level. I'm not a believer that taxes in general make or break a place, but financial transaction taxes implemented unilaterally and locally would kill our trading industry, which would cause a much larger tax loss overall.

City income taxes, commuter taxes, head taxes, none are perfect. The biggest trouble with these tax increases are that they will not result in ANY benefit for the vast majority of taxpayers. Most taxes have clear benefit to the general public - these increases won't.

I completely agree, but this is the mindset of a large segment of Chicago. It's all tax all the time.

[the urban politician]

^ For some reason gentrification does not seem to be penetrating into the majority African American areas. Of course I'm not saying that this is a reason to not buy property, but your post seems to suggest an investment strategy.

Bronzeville is likely to prove an exception to that rule, over time

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ For some reason gentrification does not seem to be penetrating into the majority African American areas. Of course I'm not saying that this is a reason to not buy property, but your post seems to suggest an investment strategy.

Bronzeville is likely to prove an exception to that rule, over time

Lol @ pretending we don't all know why that is. The long standing racial divisions of this country have gone nowhere. That said I think these areas will redevelop eventually and anyone who bets on them will be rewarded handsomely.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Lol @ pretending we don't all know why that is. The long standing racial divisions of this country have gone nowhere. That said I think these areas will redevelop eventually and anyone who bets on them will be rewarded handsomely.

There are major factors here beyond racism. Black neighborhoods are just decimated physically and have no retail, food, or entertainment options to speak of.

Nobody who has a choice will live in a place that looks like Dresden after WWII. My girlfriend just moved to East Garfield Park, but even she is disappointed at the total lack of shops and restaurants in the area (not to mention the lack of a Green Line station between Ashland and California).

Historically, Latino neighborhoods experienced a gradual transition from white ethnic to Latino, did not undergo massively destructive riots or arson, and Latino communities didn't experience the same barriers to credit so they were able to purchase properties and open businesses to keep commercial strips thriving. Unfortunately the very fact that these neighborhoods are still healthy and intact makes them prime candidates for gentrification as existing gentrified areas fail to accommodate new growth.

[LouisVanDerWright]

And what, other than systematic racism, resulted in the conditions you describe? Were those areas built that way?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Lol @ pretending we don't all know why that is. The long standing racial divisions of this country have gone nowhere. That said I think these areas will redevelop eventually and anyone who bets on them will be rewarded handsomely.

I personally think it's both racism in some cases, and not enough retail/commercial in other cases. I have a friend, non-white and not from the US, who lives in Chicago who literally told me when I was helping him find a new place a few years ago to stay away from predominantly African American areas even though his ex wife whom he had a kid with is African-Brazilian and I thought seemingly wasn't racist towards them (such a weird thing when he told me to find him a place not in any area like that). I think there's enough people in town and in America who for whatever reason have these same types of thoughts. I also think it has to do with the retail/commercial too. At least nowadays, a lot of gentrifiers are younger who want the restaurants/eateries. These exist in the areas we're speaking of no doubt, but the amount of them today is way lower in Chicago than say a decade ago. There's also some of these areas that have a lot of vacant lots and is most likely a lot less attractive than areas that aren't quite like that. Just my opinion though