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* Mayor Daley wants help from the Legislature…
As many city homeowners complain about their new, higher property tax bills, Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday called on state lawmakers to increase and make permanent breaks designed to soften the effect of rising home values.
In Chicago, those property tax exemptions are being phased out and are set to expire in 2010 unless the General Assembly renews them.
Yeah. That’ll happen.
* The CTA is still arguing with the governor over the reason it needs yet another fare hike…
The CTA’s announcement Thursday that the agency must hike fares next year was greeted with frustration by riders who are already stressed over the high cost of commuting and the ailing economy. […]
Free rides for seniors and selected other riders, instituted in recent months by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the legislature, turned out to be the last straw, they said. […]
“The CTA got a sales tax hike approved . . . [that is] more than enough to cover what was lost by letting seniors ride free,” Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero said.
* As is PACE…
The suburban bus line is looking at a 25-cent increase in fares, which would bring its base fare to $1.75 in a move to raise badly needed money, officials said. […]
Budgets are being drained by the increased cost of fuel and other operating expenses. In addition, sales tax revenue is lower than expected, and transit agencies are feeling the loss of fare receipts and state subsidies for senior citizens and the disabled.
* As the stock market continues to gyrate, we’re getting more bad news on the economic homefront…
Lake Forest-based Brunswick Corporation says it will cut 1400 jobs. The boat manufacturer says the plan comes as a last resort in a poor economy.
As the recreational boating market sinks, manufacturer Brunswick needs to find a way to make ends meet. By early next year, the company plans to shut down four plants and temporarily close three others. Brunswick spokesman Dan Kubera says boats just aren’t selling in this economy.
* And this is an important point to remember about recent Illinois history…
State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-12th), chairman of the Commerce and Economic Development Committee, also weighed in on the federal [rescue/bailout] legislation […]
“It is evident that HB 4050 that House Speaker Michael Madigan and I sponsored, and which Gov. Blagojevich suspended, was ahead of this crisis,” he said, asserting that the pilot program that mandated credit counseling for homebuyers in certain circumstances “would have protected many of our neighborhoods on the Southwest Side of Chicago.”
Blagojevich suspended that legislation at the behest of some ministers who appeared to be in the tank with predatory lenders.
* Blagojevich’s legal troubles and erratic behavior means his ability to govern is just about nil these days. God help us…
* And then there’s this…
Sneed hears rumbles political fund-raiser/fixer Tony Rezko, who is now singing sweetly to the feds from his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, has been talking about his “dealings” with a Chicago bank, which has political connections.
Stay tuned.
* Related…
* Town Hall Meeting with T. Boone–Chicago
* Giannoulias Update on Illinois State Finances
* Religious Leaders Offer Hope Despite Economic Crisis
* Dow Drops Below 9K, Chicagoans React
* Cook County sheriff who announced he was halting evictions not typical
* A holiday from evictions
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 11:56 am
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That’s the best political cartoon I’ve seen in months.
I guess we are all going have to wait for Blagojevich to be indicted rather than have our elected lawmakers having the onions to start impeachment preceedings.
Comment by ForeShadow Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:02 pm
CTA and Pace say they need fare increases to deal with the rising cost of fuel. The global financial meltdown is causing crude oil prices to plummet. One expert is saying the could drop to nearly $40 a barrel. Will they cancel their fare increases if fuel prices drop accordingly?
Comment by Bluefish Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:05 pm
I wonder how many people in the zip codes targeted in PA 94-0280 now wish they had had the force of the act in place? And I wonder if that pilot project could have been modified and expanded after its conclusion to have helped a lot more people. Guess the answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind.
Comment by Captain Flume Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:19 pm
Glad to see the mention HB4050. Had others been awake to the scams and the work of the predatory lenders and their allies( appraisers, bond merchants, bankers, insurance companies, credit default swap sellers, etc.) the current scandal might have been seen and stopped earlier.
Another example of Madigan’s common sense approach versus the razzle dazzle.
BTW, Rich nevers likes to remind everyone that GRod gave one of the nation’s biggest predators a $25 million grant to locate in the NW suburbs. True they never collected because they sunk, but as always it is the GRod thought that counts.
Comment by Reddbyrd Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:22 pm
It’s pie in the sky, but here’s an idea:
People got used to $4 gas. Now with prices going down, how about implementing a floating surtax to fund capital projects?
Set a baseline of a statewide average like $3.75. When it’s under the baseline, the state collects an extra nickel a gallon. When it’s over, it doesn’t.
Keeps the transition from gasoline moving and raises money for capital.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:24 pm
“ability to governor”?
It seems to me the man could have saved his troubles and perhaps the troubles of the CTA. It’s a shame.
Comment by Levois Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:25 pm
lol
Thanks, Levois. Fingers were apparently on autopilot. Fixed.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:29 pm
Is Mike Madigan the only obstacle preventing impeachment proceedings from beginning? Is he the only one in this State who can begin that procedure against Blago? If so, then that’s another great reason for a new constitution because Mikey needs to get off his rear end and get things going.
Comment by Little Egypt Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:32 pm
Used to 4.00 gas?…..
What a loony way to get more money to be squandered by the government.
How letting the citizens vote on that issue?
Comment by Plutocrat03 Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:36 pm
Mayor Hubris at it again, pointing fingers at everyone else. The OIG’s “loafing” report, hundreds of TIF districts siphoning cash from city services, millions of $ in patronage settlements, fast-tracking the sale of assets for a quick buck, and hiking property taxes $86 million last year (which residents haven’t even gotten walloped with yet).
Excuse me, Mayor, but if and when property taxes are reduced, how will you fund your fiefdom? Daley is in some respects more sickening and dangerous than Blago, since he wields virtual control over the city council.
Comment by The Doc Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:48 pm
Little Egypt,
I support a con-con but there’s no point going into an impeachment proceeding unless you have plans to finish the job. The votes are not present in the Senate to convict Blago, is my understanding. If it’s not going anywhere, why bring it up? Madigan may present some theatrical votes for show and tell, but he’s not going to tie down the chamber for weeks in a process that will shove everything else off the front page and that’s still going nowhere.
Comment by ZC Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:50 pm
===The votes are not present in the Senate to convict Blago===
I wouldn’t bet a lot of money on that premise if I were you, which I’m not, but you get the point. lol
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 12:51 pm
Regarding the CTA, I think buses stop at nearly every block. Alot of fuel is used to go from 0 -25 mph. How much money could be saved if they eliminated 40% of the stops requiring riders to travel the extra 100 yards to the next stop? I think its appropriate that the raised fairs; long over due.
Comment by Larry Mullholand Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 1:44 pm
Set a baseline of a statewide average like $3.75. When it’s under the baseline, the state collects an extra nickel a gallon. When it’s over, it doesn’t.
We used to have stable, reliable funding sources for transportation infrastructure when gas, labor and materials were relatively cheap, and this funding was relatively immune to the swings in the economy. Thus, planners could look far into the future and gear up for the needs. It would be a great way to have long term planning ***NOT!*** with a funding scheme that varied even more with the economy.
Remember, federal transit funding, as well as highway funding, is dependent on a portion of gas tax revenues, and the current instability is causing huge problems in the long term prospects for both.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 1:45 pm
The solution with all these unplesant budget surprises is for citizens to become more sophisticated about financial derring do as proposed by our governor and legislative representatives.
Now, did anybody think that those free senior passes were going to come without a cost somewhere. Did we even ask how much it would cost a year to hand out those senior passes. Nope. I guess we assumed that Blago and/or Young Ron would
pull another government-cash-laden rabbit out of
their hat and, presto, a free lunch.
We can be forgiven for expecting those rabbits. The guv is famous for finding a million here and a million there for “special projects” designed to enhance his chances in his next campaign. Is it surprising that we expect him to do it again…and again…and again.
Will the current fiscal crisis teach us that somebody always pays in the end and there is no free lunch?
If we don’t learn it, we are doomed to pay for it.
Comment by Cassandra Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 1:45 pm
The governor has stiffed CTA and Pace to such an extreme degree on concessionary fares and on capital spending that I can see how their operating boost has gotten eaten up. Rather than increase fares, I want to see the legislation either axe the free fares or fund them, and I want to see a capital plan that also refunds the transit agencies for all the operating funds they’ve had to raid for capital projects over the past couple of years.
The huge fall in spot oil prices is not going to benefit CTA and Pace much because electricity bills are still rising sharply for the ‘el, and the transition to low-sulfur fuel for buses eats up any price cuts. And besides, it’s only a temporary fall due to the utter collapse of speculative activity over the past few weeks. Once the supply and demand fundamentals sink in, prices will go back up.
The overall picture is horrifying. The only way I see out for the state now — even if we do get tax reform by hook or by crook — is for a federal bailout. They did things like this during the original Depression, and they can do it again for this one. A key part of economic recovery is spending, and the only entity that can be persuaded to spend to start with is the federal government. Massive public works will be what starts to revive us. Maybe that will be the underpinning for an Illinois capital plan.
Comment by Angry Chicagoan Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 2:20 pm
Redd, AA would like a gallon of whatever you and Marty sandoval are drinking. There is NFW that HB4050 would have stopped the credit crunch or the Wall Street meltdown.
That was a common sense, well-intentioned bill that POA should have embraced instead of bricked. The counseling would have been beneficial and may have kept borrowers out of the hands of these jackals.
Keeping Bear Stearns’ hedge funds afloat, CDS’ risk-free, Lehman’s CEO from being a jerk who was loose with the truth, AIG from over leveraging, yada yada, yada, HB 4050 did not.
Stick to your cheap shots on Blago. They’re just as funny and factually correct to boot.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 2:24 pm
Cassandra, The governor is also famous for telling school districts they are getting Millions of dollars and then not delivering too!
Comment by He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 2:26 pm
I think the fare increase was necessary and ievitable. I prefer regular incremental increases in fares to meet the operating costs of the RTA-CTA, rahter than peridodic Doomsday crises.
Although I believe Czar Daley is guilty of political featherbedding at the CTA, the CTA/Czar are actully right that the free rides cost real money.
Since Governor Pinocchio has characterized himself as a Reagan Democrat, I plan to send Pinocchio a copy of Milton Friedman’s book - There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch - for the prison library.
Comment by Captain America Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 2:28 pm
“Blagojevich’s legal troubles and erratic behavior means his ability to govern is just about nil these days.”
Sooo. What’s the change?
Comment by Sal Says: Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 5:14 pm
The effect of “rising home values?!”
What rising home values. The anger is set to boil over as the property taxes continue to climb in the face of 20% declines in RE values.
The best thing Springfield can do is pass a 2-year Cap on all local government levies, which would essentially freeze property taxes for that period.
(Why people rip on assessors is beyond me. While the system desperately needs simplification, the assessor raises taxes because your elected officials increase levies.)
Oh yeah, when the money runs out, start sending people home or cutting salaries and benefits. That’s what the rest of us have to do.
Comment by Bruno Behrend Saturday, Oct 11, 08 @ 10:24 am
Wake up, guys.
Relief for the homeowner just means higher property taxes on business property. Pure and simple. Juat what tenants need.
Comment by Truthful James Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 3:03 pm