[HMFIC]

Yeah but who cares?

Schiavo, Michael Jackson, Oscars, Emmy's, Grammy's, Steroids in baseball, No NHL, are FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR more important.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

“Nation building begins at home.”

A few blocks from my house there is an area of intensive residential and commercial redevelopment, including a 16 screen multiplex, a half-dozern sit-down chain restaurants, and several high-rise condos with half-million dollar plus units. They are sited there primarily because of their proximity to excellent public transportation into down-town Chicago: a walk of less than a block to both a RTA “L” stop and a C&NW station. The underpasses supporting both lines are in badly deteriorated condition, one of them is shored up by a web of “temporary” I-beams set on footings partially blocking the street over which the trains pass.

This year, just when some of this property started to come on line in the tax base and help to close my cities budget gap (we have already been through several rounds of cost-cutting, including maintenance reductions that are costing us more, long term, them properly maintaining the same infrastructure would have), a local Private University (Northwestern U) bought one of the newer buildings for administrative office space. This made the property tax-exempt, and reduced tax receipts by more than $1M a year, which of course will have to be covered by local business and homeowners.

So we’re getting hit from every direction by public and private users who take advantage of infrastructure they expect others to maintain.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

“Nation building begins at home.”

A few blocks from my house there is an area of intensive residential and commercial redevelopment, including a 16 screen multiplex, a half-dozern sit-down chain restaurants, and several high-rise condos with half-million dollar plus units. They are sited there primarily because of their proximity to excellent public transportation into down-town Chicago: a walk of less than a block to both a RTA “L” stop and a C&NW station. The underpasses supporting both lines are in badly deteriorated condition, one of them is shored up by a web of “temporary” I-beams set on footings partially blocking the street over which the trains pass.

This year, just when some of this property started to come on line in the tax base and help to close my cities budget gap (we have already been through several rounds of cost-cutting, including maintenance reductions that are costing us more, long term, them properly maintaining the same infrastructure would have), a local Private University (Northwestern U) bought one of the newer buildings for administrative office space. This made the property tax-exempt, and reduced tax receipts by more than $1M a year, which of course will have to be covered by local business and homeowners.

So we’re getting hit from every direction by public and private users who take advantage of infrastructure they expect others to maintain.