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Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
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This thread needs some POSITIVITY for Chicago. Still my favorite Big city. I adopted as a second Hometown.
First I and others to Visitors/Tourist Business Travelers to Conventioneers. SEE A CITY ON THE MOVE AND UPSWING.
Since I left Chicago...they
Rebuilt its Expressways (LSD to come next).
Demolished ALL its Failed High-rise Housing Projects.
Re-Built the Under-Grant Park Garage.
Grew Navy Pier into the #2 attraction in the Midwest
Created Millennium Park a Tourist and locals Fill daily.
Continuing the River-Walk and Lakefront improvements.
South and West side Neighborhoods had the Worst Blight Removed and returned to Prairie.
Keeps Downtown Spotless and green with median flowers and planters and hanging baskets.
Great Neighborhoods maintained and improvements still come.
Gentrified Neighborhoods continue to Boom.
Chicago's Downtown continues to Grow and Build and its Business sector is Strong and Diverse.
Major companies are moving back to the city from suburban campuses MOVING THEIR HEADQUARTERS and Chicago's talent pool continues to expand at an exponential rate. AS CHICAGO'S DOWNTOWN PRESTIGE HAS RISEN GREATLY.
In my state Philly is seen as improving greatly from tons of decay. Center City (downtown) virtually all gentrified Now. But PAST choices of Philly in Housing styles gave Philly Ton's of neighborhoods like these.... ⤵
These are only some of CHICAGO'S GREAT ATTRIBUTES AND VIBRANT NEIGHBORHOODS. WHETHER LATINO, WHITE, AFRICAN-AMERICAN OR MIXED.... I merely note compared to a Eastern city...
Chicago also having a full Alleyway system and streets with mostly 2-sides of parking. Some in back and/or garages too and yards and front green space.
Doomsayers should not be TOO OVERZEALOUS.... IN CALLING CHICAGO'S FUNERAL. LET THEM BUY THEIR BLACK SUITS..... and lay them out on the bed already.......
I'm amused at the Liberals turning Illinois into this super red state....more red than Texas I tell ya. Okay, so it's the Governor of a nearby much smaller state's fault....okay. I'm disappointed ya'll haven't pulled out the 'it's Bush's fault' card yet. Add that to your argument.
So after decades of Republican rule, Chicago and the state of Illinois are going bankrupt due to the policies of Bush and Brownback...sound good?
Are these two things a joke? Chicago is most definitely heading toward bankruptcy - the difference is, the only catalyst is far left liberal policies in Chicago - in detroit, there were a multitude of issues (depopulation, high unemployment, loss of industry). Chicago, and Illinois are in for serious serious pain solely bc of their pension liabilities. And in Illinois, pension benefits are constitutionally protected, so they can't even be cut. Chicago public schools shut down 50 schools so they can continue making pension payments - their cost to borrow money - which they NEED to do since they run an annual operating deficit of $500m, largely due to outrageous pension obligations - is near 10%.
Thread is a bit misleading. Don't get me wrong - Illinois and Chicago face HUGE pension issues. But the payments now are not being made bc there is no budget in place, and payments can't be made without a budget.
Pensions are going to have even bigger problems because many are heavily tied into the bond markets. Bonds are the next big financial crisis to hit. And it will come as a big surprise to many.
Pensions are going to have even bigger problems because many are heavily tied into the bond markets. Bonds are the next big financial crisis to hit. And it will come as a big surprise to many.
Possibly - most public pensions have a return assumption between 6-8%. You certainly haven't gotten that from the bond market last several years, but generally 1/3 of assets are comprised of equity - where returns last several years have made up for low bond yields. Also, funds use smoothing, allowing them to spread spread lower / higher returns over several years.
Funds like nyc and California have incorporated riskier investments (private equity, etc) to chase higher yields - which could be dangerous if those investments go bottom up.
You seem to not agree with this, so I will try and keep it simplistic.
Chicago does not have a revenue problem (tax collection). City is the regional economic hub, strong employment, stable population, diversified economy, strong property values which dictate property taxes.
They have a huge expense problem. Primarily related to decades of far left policies influenced heavily by unions. Chicago has one of the highest unfounded pension liabilities of all cities / states in the US - basically means they owe retirees a lot more money than the funds have. Only way to bridge that is to raise property taxes, with estimates being they need to be more than doubled.
Illinois is one of only several states where pension benefits are constitutionally protected and can not be reduced / restructured. The city must borrow money just to balance a budget - and bc they are very risky to lend money to, it costs them much more to borrow.
Some of these pension benefits border on corruption, with some individuals having expected lifetime payouts of $5m - $10m. And it's very hard to reduce other expenses (police, gov't) in a city with a skyrocketing murder rate, and strong union influence.m for example, in spite of what I mentioned above, the primary challenger to Rahm Emanuel ran to the far left of Rahm, heavily in bed with the teachers union.
Disclaimer - I don't live in Chicago and have no reason to have a biased opinion. But I'd love for you to explain why I am wrong. Edit: I said they are definitely headed toward bankruptcy (they aren't improving, that's for certain) but bankruptcy isn't guaranteed - just more likely than it was several years ago.
Last edited by joeymags; 10-15-2015 at 09:35 PM..
Reason: Edit
You seem to not agree with this, so I will try and keep it simplistic.
Chicago does not have a revenue problem (tax collection). City is the regional economic hub, strong employment, stable population, diversified economy, strong property values which dictate property taxes.
They have a huge expense problem. Primarily related to decades of far left policies influenced heavily by unions. Chicago has one of the highest unfounded pension liabilities of all cities / states in the US - basically means they owe retirees a lot more money than the funds have. Only way to bridge that is to raise property taxes, with estimates being they need to be more than doubled.
Illinois is one of only several states where pension benefits are constitutionally protected and can not be reduced / restructured. The city must borrow money just to balance a budget - and bc they are very risky to lend money to, it costs them much more to borrow.
Some of these pension benefits border on corruption, with some individuals having expected lifetime payouts of $5m - $10m. And it's very hard to reduce other expenses (police, gov't) in a city with a skyrocketing murder rate, and strong union influence.m for example, in spite of what I mentioned above, the primary challenger to Rahm Emanuel ran to the far left of Rahm, heavily in bed with the teachers union.
Disclaimer - I don't live in Chicago and have no reason to have a biased opinion. But I'd love for you to explain why I am wrong. Edit: I said they are definitely headed toward bankruptcy (they aren't improving, that's for certain) but bankruptcy isn't guaranteed - just more likely than it was several years ago.
I don't see how that would send the city to bankruptcy.....
This thread needs some POSITIVITY for Chicago. Still my favorite Big city. I adopted as a second Hometown.
First I and others to Visitors/Tourist Business Travelers to Conventioneers. SEE A CITY ON THE MOVE AND UPSWING.
Since I left Chicago...they
Rebuilt its Expressways (LSD to come next).
Demolished ALL its Failed High-rise Housing Projects.
Re-Built the Under-Grant Park Garage.
Grew Navy Pier into the #2 attraction in the Midwest
Created Millennium Park a Tourist and locals Fill daily.
Continuing the River-Walk and Lakefront improvements.
South and West side Neighborhoods had the Worst Blight Removed and returned to Prairie.
Keeps Downtown Spotless and green with median flowers and planters and hanging baskets.
Great Neighborhoods maintained and improvements still come.
Gentrified Neighborhoods continue to Boom.
Chicago's Downtown continues to Grow and Build and its Business sector is Strong and Diverse.
Major companies are moving back to the city from suburban campuses MOVING THEIR HEADQUARTERS and Chicago's talent pool continues to expand at an exponential rate. AS CHICAGO'S DOWNTOWN PRESTIGE HAS RISEN GREATLY.
In my state Philly is seen as improving greatly from tons of decay. Center City (downtown) virtually all gentrified Now. But PAST choices of Philly in Housing styles gave Philly Ton's of neighborhoods like these.... ⤵
These are only some of CHICAGO'S GREAT ATTRIBUTES AND VIBRANT NEIGHBORHOODS. WHETHER LATINO, WHITE, AFRICAN-AMERICAN OR MIXED.... I merely note compared to a Eastern city...
Chicago also having a full Alleyway system and streets with mostly 2-sides of parking. Some in back and/or garages too and yards and front green space.
Doomsayers should not be TOO OVERZEALOUS.... IN CALLING CHICAGO'S FUNERAL. LET THEM BUY THEIR BLACK SUITS..... and lay them out on the bed already.......
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