Morning shorts
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* Exelon Makes Unsolicited Bid for NRG Energy
* Credit crisis hitting Chicago’s office market
J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. has terminated a 52,100-square-foot lease of a former Bear Stearns Cos. office in the Central Loop, as Wall Street’s woes begin to rattle the downtown Chicago office market.
Five financial services firms that were sold or taken over as a result of the crisis, including Merrill Lynch & Co. and American International Group Inc., lease about 835,000 square feet downtown, according to a third-quarter report by tenant representation firm Studley Inc.
* Economy squeezing revenue for cities
Sales tax collections are down in the Rock River Valley as a shaky economy squeezes business in Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties, forcing some local governments to cut back spending.
evictions back
Less than two weeks after Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced he was suspending mortgage foreclosure evictions — a move that drew international attention — his deputies were back at it Monday.
Dart’s deputies were following new guidelines that he had insisted on before resuming the evictions, including protecting renters who have no idea they’re about to be evicted because no one has told them their landlord is facing foreclosure.
* Cook County Hires More Judges to Cope with Foreclosure Crisis
* Homeowners could get help with property taxes
Cook County homeowners who got walloped by huge property tax increases this month could qualify for government assistance to help pay their tax bills under a proposal floated Monday by county assessor James Houlihan.
Houlihan wants Chicago and Cook County government and local suburbs to establish a fund earmarked for property tax relief, and he hopes to get Mayor Daley, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and local mayors on board.
* Houlihan Pressed on Details of Tax Plan
* County assessor asks for help on high property taxes
“The taxpayers are streaming into our offices and they are frightened,” Houlihan said. “They are worried about escalating property taxes when they see their home values are declining,” he said. “They need immediate help.”
* Beware of the boot
More than 169,000 parking tickets were issued during the first eight months of this year in the 42nd Ward, which includes Chicago’s downtown and Gold Coast areas. That’s 44 percent more tickets than the next highest ward.
* Flood victims lining up for food stamps
Thousands of Chicago-area residents braved the morning chill Monday to apply for food stamps to recoup losses from last month’s floods.
More than 5,000 households from the seven-county area affected by the floods have already been approved for disaster assistance, said Marielle Sainvilus, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services. But thousands more are still in need, Sainvilus said, which is why the federal government has extended its application deadline through Wednesday.
* Boeing, machinists union to resume talks
* Aldermen bash city’s spending of millions on public relations
The aldermen on Monday cited a recent Tribune article detailing how City Hall spends $4.7 million on salaries for more than 50 public information officials and has paid millions of dollars more to public relations firms.
Ald. Michael Zalewski (23rd) noted that the city is laying off almost 1,000 laborers, tree trimmers and other employees to plug a $469 million budget deficit.
“When we are prioritizing these cuts, are these [public information] people that are being looked at, or are we just going after laborers and people that are out there getting dirty every day?” Zalewski asked Daley aides who testified on the proposed budget.
* Stroger sitcom: ‘All in the Family’
It’s easy to poke fun at Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and his tendency to hire friends and family to fill county jobs. But every once in a while taxpayers can see firsthand why it’s nothing to laugh about.
Take the story of county purchasing agent Carmen Triche-Colvin, as reported in the Chicago Sun-Times on Monday by county reporter Mark Konkol.
* New Illinois Bar Foundation president
* 10 reasons why newspapers won’t reinvent news
The chance to act with foresight in advance of the coming wave came and went, and now these once-proud press flagships are swamped, broken and sinking.
- Blind Eye - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 8:55 am:
No mention of former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge being arrested by the FBI this morning on federal civil rights charges?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 8:58 am:
Patience.
- Blind Eye - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 9:03 am:
Damn; I can just never seem to snatch that pebble from your hand!
- Wumpus - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 9:34 am:
Rich, am I stupid? I know I have a lot to learn and enjoy learnign from all on this site. But if property taxes are too high, why spend the money to set up a committee or department to help people pay said taxes? WOuld it be crazy simply to lower taxes? Even on certain folks?
Please tell me if I am stupid. I can take it. I know I can be silly, but this just defies me.
- MOON - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 9:55 am:
WUMPUS
There are several reasons why real estate taxes on homes are too high.
The primary culprit is the various taxing bodies! They never consider or enact a plan to cut their budget. The only thing they know is spend, spend and spend.
The second reason home taxes are so high in Cook is because Houlihan has shifted the burden to home owners. Prior to his taking office, the commercial property owners paid the overwhelming majority of taxes. Now the homeowners pay approximately 50% of all taxes collected!
- Judgment Day Is On The Way - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 10:22 am:
“But if property taxes are too high, why spend the money to set up a committee or department to help people pay said taxes? Would it be crazy simply to lower taxes? Even on certain folks?”
This is the only option that Cook County has for this year’s (2007 taxes, pay in 2008) tax bills. For other counties, it’s already too late. Due dates are all past in all the other collar, and even outer collar counties. The tax amounts are based upon the budgets (levies) submitted from all the different tax districts. It’s the money the districts budgeted for operating, and for repayment of any bonded indebtedness for this current budget year.
Too late for “lowering taxes” for this year’s tax bills. That horse is already out of the barn. The only options are (a) What is proposed; or (b) File tax rate objections. And on (b), good luck with that one - it’s a process not for the faint hearted.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 11:51 am:
Am I the only one who finds it rather Kafkaesque that Cook County is hiring more judges to handle foreclosures? Is that what the taxpayers want?
- Wumpus - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 1:21 pm:
wordslinger-rules are rules. I am hope they will get them handled properly and enforce the eviction rules to help Dart do his job properly.
I would think the taxpayers want people to read the fine print on their mortgage documents and stay out of these silly ARMs, as well as getting mortgages that they can afford. I understand people have lost jobs, etc. and that has contributed to the forclosures.
- The Mad Hatter - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 2:57 pm:
There’s an 11th reason for the demise of newspapers: loss of credibility. Bias has been allowed to seep into nearly every article, resulting in a public perception that today’s papers (indeed all mainstream media) amount to little more than propaganda. People used to read or tune into the news to get a truthful version of what was happening. Today they know they’ll not receive a truthful version of anything, so why bother? Making matters worse is that media have been so focused on the bottom line that they’ve failed to see that loss of credibility is a chief reason for their demise. To rework a cliche: the trees got in the way as they tried to see the forest, so they cut down the trees and couldn’t find the forest.
- Amy - Tuesday, Oct 21, 08 @ 4:45 pm:
wordslinger……yes!
perhaps what the article means is that judges are shifting. as it is the number of cases handled per judge is low and most of them waltz out of court early. time to make them work harder.