CHICAGO | General Discussions

[Via Chicago]

forest parks downtown is actually far more advanced than berwyn or some of the other surrounding inner burbs. theyve built a really tight knit group of antique/resale stores that reminds me of what andersonville has sort of become, along with a vibrant stretch of restaurants and bars.

berwyn suffers a bit from actually not really having a gravitational downtown, and instead being split up into several more distinct but isolated commercial corridors. ogden on the south, cermak in the middle, depot district along the BNSF, and roosevelt on the north. cermak actually seems to have the most potential into turning into something really interesting, but it needs a road diet and some new ideas. roosevelt has actually done pretty well at attracting some oak park spillover, and of course has benefited from some longtime stalwarts like Fitzgeralds. the rest is unfortunately a bit auto sewer, but the architecture and cohesiveness is decently in tact, outside of the occassional drive through. the housing stock has also almost entirely avoided the tear down trend, but i do worry about what happens when developers start moving in and seeing dollar signs. right now its mostly just flips.

[Via Chicago]

but it goes back to the point that 400k prototype homes are not going top be built in the north side neighborhoods we're talking about where they might be considered "affordable" given their neighboring peers. the idea is they would be built on city owned lots in predominantly south and west side neighborhoods where, were they to go up, would instantly be the most expensive home on the block. so it really solves for nothing, other than some token new construction. if youre a middle class family in the market for something in the 200-300k range, none of this speaking to you and youre going to buy the older fixer upper in a non-hip area like you would have otherwise anyway. and frankly that older home is probably going to be better construction anyway.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

but it goes back to the point that 400k prototype homes are not going top be built in the north side neighborhoods we're talking about where they might be considered "affordable" given their neighboring peers. the idea is they would be built on city owned lots in predominantly south and west side neighborhoods where, were they to go up, would instantly be the most expensive home on the block. so it really solves for nothing, other than some token new construction.

oh yeah, agreed. $400K prefab homes going up on empty lots in north lawndale isn't the solution.

if they could drive the all-in cost down to $200K, then maybe we'd have something.

i was only bringing up our multi-family solution for being able to live in lincoln square in response to your comment about the fetishization of "new! newer!! newest!!!" in the real estate market.

i also happen to think there's a fetishization for SFH's if children are involved (at least among certain demographics). it's not that SFH's are bad or wrong or anything, but we can't all have one if we want to maintain our city's functionally urban, yet family-friendly neighborhoods. small-scale low-rise multi-family (the chicago flat) excels in that department, IMO.

every time a 2-flat gets deconverted, baby jesus cries.

[Baronvonellis]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

oh yeah, agreed. $400K prefab homes going up on empty lots in north lawndale isn't the solution.

if they could drive the all-in cost down to $200K, then maybe we'd have something.

i was only bringing up our multi-family solution for being able to live in lincoln square in response to your comment about the fetishization of "new! newer!! newest!!!" in the real estate market.

i also happen to think there's a fetishization for SFH's if children are involved (at least among certain demographics). it's not that SFH's are bad or wrong or anything, but we can't all have one if we want to maintain our city's functionally urban, yet family-friendly neighborhoods. small-scale low-rise multi-family (the chicago flat) excels in that department, IMO.

every time a 2-flat gets deconverted, baby jesus cries.

Wait why is a prefab house $400k? That's the question, when you can buy new construction houses in suburbs for $250k, built on site? Shouldn't they be significantly cheaper than that?

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Baronvonellis

Wait why is a prefab house $400k? That's the question, when you can buy new construction houses in suburbs for $250k, built on site? Shouldn't they be significantly cheaper than that?

Yea, this price doesn't make any sense. You can build houses on-site that are twice the size of that in Florida or Arizona for half the price. What are they doing to make it cost so much lol?

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

Yea, this price doesn't make any sense. You can build houses on-site that are twice the size of that in Florida or Arizona for half the price. What are they doing to make it cost so much lol?

Compliance with Chicago's absurd building code? They aren't making you hard pipe conduit in the burbs or Florida...

[Kngkyle]

I was (pleasantly) surprised to see this come up on one of my favorite youtube channels... portrays Chicago in quite a positive light.

• Video Link

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

I was (pleasantly) surprised to see this come up on one of my favorite youtube channels... portrays Chicago in quite a positive light.

• Video Link

any city can make a "commitment". theyre empty gestures unless actual change occurs and there is actual accontability. all too often, these commitments are made, and then 10 years later completely forgotten about.

case in point

http://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/climate-goals/

perfect examples:

Goal: Reduce, reuse and recycle 90%of the city’s waste by 2020.

How We Did: Only 9% of residential waste serviced by the city is recycled in Chicago.

Goal: Plant one million trees.

How We Did: There were 104,604 trees planted by the Park District, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Streets and Sanitation between 2008 and 2017. However, the data show a net loss during that same period from development and pests.

so what you get is some nice PR immediately following these sorts of announcements. "wow 1 million new trees! chicago is so progressive!" and then here we are in the future and we actually have fewer trees than before and yet, no ones putting out slickly produced videos that reflect that reality, and pointing out the fact chicago is falling behind.

so here we are again. "wow 100% renewable energy by 2040! chicago is so progressive!". what are the odds there is actually a plan and funding in place able to execute on that? id venture close to zero.

its the information equivalent of vaporware (or more accurately, more marketing/propaganda than anything else).

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

any city can make a "commitment". theyre empty gestures unless actual change occurs and there is actual accontability. all too often, these commitments are made, and then 10 years later completely forgotten about.

case in point

http://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/climate-goals/

perfect examples:





so what you get is some nice PR immediately following these sorts of announcements. "wow 1 million new trees! chicago is so progressive!" and then here we are in the future and we actually have fewer trees than before and yet, no ones putting out slickly produced videos that reflect that reality, and pointing out the fact chicago is falling behind.

so here we are again. "wow 100% renewable energy by 2040! chicago is so progressive!". what are the odds there is actually a plan and funding in place able to execute on that? id venture close to zero.

its the information equivalent of vaporware (or more accurately, more marketing/propaganda than anything else).

Don't mistake me posting the video to mean I actually believe any of what is said in it will happen. It was just nice to see a Youtube video on Chicago that didn't include murder in the title.

[the urban politician]

^ Yep, seems like the obvious solution

[Steely Dan]

So, I'm confused. Our 2018 property tax bill went DOWN by ~$1,300. Woo-hoo!

I thought all of us northsiders were supposed to be getting slammed with big increases this year.

Instead, we get a big drop! How does all of this wacky property tax bullshit work anyway?

[LouisVanDerWright]

I am as perplexed as you are, like I said the other day my bill dropped at literally every property except one and my vacant lots which saw a $1.50/yr increase each...

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I am as perplexed as you are, like I said the other day my bill dropped at literally every property except one and my vacant lots which saw a $1.50/yr increase each...

Your area is so far being left alone. Even further east in Pilsen I’ve been mostly left unscathed (although the taxes are going up)

It’s on the north side (Lakeview, Bucktown, etc) where property owners are getting their asses handed to them.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ what makes our drop even more amazing is that we didn't even hire any of those tax appeal shysters.

the county, out of the goodness of its own heart, simply said "you get to pay a lot less in taxes this year".

Yeah it was my reassessment year this year too for most of my properties. Still dropped...

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Your area is so far being left alone. Even further east in Pilsen I’ve been mostly left unscathed (although the taxes are going up)

It’s on the north side (Lakeview, Bucktown, etc) where property owners are getting their asses handed to them.

That's the thing though, it's not just my area, even my properties in Logan dropped which makes zero sense. My bill at my residence fell back to just above where it was in 2011 when I bought it for $136k despite it being reappraised at $500k+ two years ago.

One of my properties the assessor was kind enough to tax as vacant last year because I had it under construction (have no idea how they even figured that out since it was also vacant before I bought it and being taxed as occupied). That alone dropped a $2700 tax bill down to $800 for last year. The county literally sent me a check for $1900 that I just got in the mail because my bank escrow overpaid the bill...

I like this Kagei guy lol...

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

So, I'm confused. Our 2018 property tax bill went DOWN by ~$1,300. Woo-hoo!

I thought all of us northsiders were supposed to be getting slammed with big increases this year.

Instead, we get a big drop! How does all of this wacky property tax bullshit work anyway?

That’s because the tax burden is being shifted from homeowners to commercial landlords

But before you celebrate too much, just remember the state of the city’s Finances. They will be coming to reach into your pot before too long. Trust me....

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

But before you celebrate too much, just remember the state of the city’s Finances. They will be coming to reach into your pot before too long.

but i was expecting that to happen this year.

every media outlet in town was talking about how huge tax jumps were coming to northside property owners, and then i get a $1,300 tax decrease!?!

it's not that my property taxes didn't go up that was so shocking to me, it's that they actually went DOWN (by a lot!), when all we heard on the northside was "expect big tax increases this year". WTF?

maybe lincoln square isn't really part of the northside?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

but i was expecting that to happen this year.

every media outlet in town was talking about how huge tax jumps were coming to northside property owners, and then i get a $1,300 tax decrease!?!

it's not that my property taxes didn't go up that was so shocking to me, it's that they actually went DOWN (by a lot!), when all we heard on the northside was "expect big tax increases this year". WTF?

maybe lincoln square isn't really part of the northside?

I guess my read of what's been out there was that the brunt of the pain was going to go to commercial landlords because of the formula change that followed the shift from Berrios to Kraegi.

Also, each area gets "reassessed" every 3 years. Often when that happens you'll see a big jump in taxes like what happened in E. Lakeview. I really have no idea when your particular neighborhood is up for reassessment. Anyhow, that's my very basic understanding of how this whole esoteric thing known as Cook County property taxes works...

[Kenmore]

had an extremely minor increase here

[the urban politician]

It's amazing how much of a racket this "tax appeal" business is for attorneys. Although I hate having to see my taxes go up, I'm also in favor of finding ways to seal off these ridiculous and corrupt sources of revenue for sleezeball attorneys.

My own property tax appeal attorney gets lots of business from me but I've never once met him, gotten an email from him, or spoken to him. He has paralegals do all of his work, and everybody works from home. This guy probably just schmoozes all of the people at the Assessor's office and otherwise spends his time playing golf and eating steaks for all I know. Waste and fraud, my friend.

[Steely Dan]

^ what makes our drop even more amazing is that we didn't even hire any of those tax appeal shysters.

the county, out of the goodness of its own heart, simply said "you get to pay a lot less in taxes this year".