Thursday, October 11, 2007

Why Would Anyone Want to Live in the City?



The Mayor does not even know:




'It's too much for the average person'



CITY HALL | Daley's call for record property tax hike stuns aldermen

October 11, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com
Chicagoans would be saddled with the largest property tax hike in the city's history -- and pay more for everything from liquor, parking, telephone service and city stickers, to bottled water, auto leases and DVD rentals -- under a $293 million tax wallop proposed by Mayor Daley on Wednesday.



With rising home prices, stagnant incomes, highest gas prices in the nation, one of the worst commute times in the nation, government corruption, the falling dollar, rising taxes, failing public schools, reduced police enforcement in the taxpayer's neighborhoods, why would anyone with a brain choose to live within the borders of Chicago? Because of the restaurants? The Bean? The bars?? C'mon.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're right....let's all move!

Anonymous said...

wouldn't it be great if every one moved at the same time!?

Anonymous said...

i can't wait till the yups feel the squeeze and move back to naperville, buffalo grove etc...

The North Coast said...

I live in the city because I love the convenience, the architecture, the lake, the cultural amenities, and being able to live my entire life and procure everything I need within 4 blocks of the Red Line.

What you save on cheaper suburban housing is more than offset by the cost of commuting, which will only go higher. Look for $4 a gallon gasoline soon.

Additionally, property taxes in Naperville (DuPage County)are stratospheric, as is also the case in many suburban municipalities, so the only reason to live in these places is because you have kids in school.

However, having said all that, the city is becoming much too expensive in the matter of taxes, owing, I believe, to having been turned into a quilt of TIF districts that are siphoning off each hike in property taxes, to the detriment of all our essential services.

Additionally, Da Mare's monument-building projects such as the criminally wasteful Block 37 el superstation that was to cost $250MM (that could buy a whole new rail line)are a permanent drain on the city's coffers.


Chicago now has nearly 150 TIF districts, and the residents are sleeping while the tax base is being stolen by corporate interests. Your taxes are being hiked to pay for the renovation of the Mundelien Center and other buildings on the Loyola Rogers Park campus (Loyola Devon TIF), as well as for the redevelopment of the LaSalle Financial district ($500 Million LaSalle Central TIF)in addition to the all the failed TIFs of the past 10 years. No one talks about the $100 Million March First TIF that busted out completely within 5 years- does anyone remember how it was supposed to turn Chicago into a hi-tech mecca to rival Silicon Valley?

If you are a suburbanite, don't think for a minute you will escape the corporate welfare jauggurnaut. Every municipality is engaged in a race to the bottom to see who can attract the most redundant regional shopping malls and power center by subsidizing this development with your property taxes. This is how you have a new Walmart or Target or HD with one only 5years old standing empty three miles down the road.

We are all being destroyed by local tax hikes.

stuckinthecity said...

Additionally, property taxes in Naperville (DuPage County)are stratospheric, as is also the case in many suburban municipalities, so the only reason to live in these places is because you have kids in school.
--

Yes, but isn't that the point? Most people end up procreating, by accident or on purpose.

The condo market has been driving the taxes here in Chicago and Cook County. Like in Lakeview, where one run-down house on one lot has turned into 3 or more new construction condo taxed at the sales price.

Once all the condo owners start having kids they will realize that the are stuck in a jam. The area public school suck so they will want to flee back to the burbs. But they will quickly learn that they cannot sell unless they bring $$$ to the table because they are under water.

What to do then??

Anonymous said...

4.00 gas...wow. and that is just the begining. maybe daley realizes this and knows he has a captive audiance. but then why does he not invest heavily in public transportation infastructure? that would be the one thing above all else that would make this city liveable and profitable in a peak oil world.

The North Coast said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows the term "peak oil", anon.

Not that I ever intended to bring up the dirty term in this particular forum.

However, since you brought it up, you can't help but notice how city services, CTA particularly, have deteriorated during Da Mare's tenure.

What is really laughable is that Daley prides himself on his "green" credentials. One boot-licking moron writing for Conscious Choice adoringly referred to Daley as the Great Green Augustus of Chicago (barf), a designation about as appropriate for this waste-and-spend 50s-style old Dem as lauding Newt Gingrich for his "family values".

Unknown said...

Yes, please move out! i need the city less crowded and prices of properties to come down