Comments on: Data points from the Windy City

By: andyb

andyb — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:07:57 +0000

srlucado,

After living in Cook County for 30 years, I moved in the 90’s to a suburb, just 1 1/2 blocks outside of Cook. It was my personal tax-and-spend emancipation day. I now live in a Republican-run county that budgets according to expected revenues, and my property taxes have gone up roughly in line with CPI, give or take a percentage point, over the last decade. It can be done, spending can be kept in check. Our garbage is still collected, the streets are paved, there are food banks still in operation, people are still treated humanely, police and fire protection is terrific, hospitals continue to treat people. It’s all pretty normal. And I get to look over the Cook County border with glee whenever I cast my gaze eastward. By the way, my parents were marries at St. Hyacinth’s!

By: airth10

airth10 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:23:24 +0000

Chicagolander,

That’s really a data point you’re talking about there. Anyway, you’re probably paying to little in you property tax.

By: Chicagolander

Chicagolander — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:40:51 +0000

I live in the Chicago suburbs. Friday my new property tax bill arrived. At a time of steep declines in real estate, stagnant wages, etc., guess how much it has risen this year (we are reassessed every 3 years)? 25%.

Did you get that? Twenty-five percent. Overnight. My property taxes have nearly doubled in about 4 years, since I moved here.

Forget the 10% sales tax. This is the story in Chicagoland.

By: srlucado

srlucado — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:39:31 +0000

I was born in Chicago. I attended the University of Illinois at Chicago. I had a lot of fun in Chicago. I was, at age 24, one of the youngest administrative staff members of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. I met my wife in Chicago, and I was married in Chicago, at St. Hyacinth’s.

But all that being said, I got the hell out of Chicago more than two decades ago, and while I miss some things (Italian Beef sandwiches and pizza), I wouldn’t move back on a bet.

It was in the process of becoming a socialist state 25 years ago, and it’s only gotten worse and worse – higher taxes, more crime, bigger and less-effective government, fewer rights, more corruption. (In fact, my former landlady’s grandson became an alderman, right up until his indictment and subsequent conviction.)

Put another way, “That’s not the Chicago I knew.”

And that’s not what I want for America.

Scott

By: BlueRidgeForum » Is Sarah Free At Last? A “Republican Woodstock” in LA

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:40:12 +0000

[...] to be sure no one will run out of talking points, here are some “Data points from the Windy City” courtesy of Roger Kimball at Arma [...]

By: andyb

andyb — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:46:17 +0000

Apparently airth10, you can neither read nor add, because I just counted 11 facts or links to statistics in Roger’s piece. It took you all night to come up with that rejoinder?
And since you seem to enjoy quick hit & runs, here’s a Chicago-centric story you’ll really like:
On a purely personal, selfish basis, I should vote Democratic this and every election cycle. You see, I am in a quirky corner of the business world that actually tends to do better when Dems are in power, because we have greater opportunities when there is economic dislocation. So with the possibility of 4 years of Obama and an all Democrat Congress, the future is looking pretty bright to me, on a professional basis only. And if that were not enough, our business ALSO benefits from very favorable tax-treatment, all thanks to…yes, you guessed it, A DEMOCRAT!!!!(or more accurately, a long line of Democrats). I know, it’s deliciously ironic, a conservative like me, in a business that prospers when Dems are screwing things up, then gets taxed less than everyone else. Hey, they’re YOUR political choice not mine. How does this relate to Chicago? Well, an old-line Chicago Dem, named D. Rostenkowski, former head of the powerful Ways and Means committee, was instrumental in retaining the great tax treatment that our business enjoys. Years and years of well-placed political contributions to him and subsequent Chicago Dems have secured their loyalty. I was born here, I fully comprehend “the Chicago Way”, as does BO and his crowd.

By: Galen Slade’s Place » Blog Archive » So how’s it going in Chicago, Democrats?

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:37:39 +0000

[...] http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/10/04/data-points-from-the-windy-city/ [...]

By: BigHerm

BigHerm — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:58:20 +0000

In the last ten days the following have been reported in the two Chicago daily newspapers;

A city worker had a swimming pool built at his house with cement to be used for runway expansion at O’Hare.

The same city worker-mobster-had a Com Ed generator dispatched to said poolhouse during the August power failures at city expense. The generator was supposed to be sent to O’Hare for backup power.

The Governor is being investigated for having his house renovated by Tony Rezko. The Governor bought an old home in a gentrifing neighborhood and rehabbed the home. The Governor cannot produce documentation that proves that he paid for the renovations. Not even a cancelled check!

The hometown presidential candidate secured a grant for $100,000 from the FHA to built a park in an underserved neighborhood. They erected a cheesy prefab gazebo-probably from Menards-and absconded with the rest of the cash. Nobody knows where it is, watch the video on the Sun Times web page, it is infuriating.

There have been approximatley 2600 murders in Chicago since the Iraq war began, and approximately 7,000 non-lethal shootings in the same period.
The shootings are hard to verify because the police are being pressured to underreport shootings.

I am astonished that the national media does not cover any of the above.

When Obama was questioned about the culture of corruption he said that sometimes it gives him “pause”

Unbelievable!

By: John Bonaccorsi

John Bonaccorsi — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:35:08 +0000

Right-o, Sean. Just make sure you don’t get off at the wrong Metro station.

By: Sean Casey

Sean Casey — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:14:24 +0000

Wow. That was all really interesting.

See you fools at the inauguration.