QUOTE OF THE DAY
Daily Herald: Group makes last push for Butterfield tax request
With the election less than a week away, a residents group is reminding residents the fate of a vacant lot on the northeast corner of Butterfield Road and Route 53 near Glen Ellyn lies in the hands of a few thousand voters.
Butterfield Park District wants to purchase and preserve the roughly 2.4-acre lot next to its headquarters, but only if voters approve a ballot question that would allow for the district to borrow nearly $3 million.
Officials say $1.5 million of that would go toward the purchase of the land, which is currently in the possession of the Naperville-basedConservation Foundation.
WirePoints: ‘Illinois Math’ Ridiculed, Deficit for Illinois’ Biggest Pension Jumps by $5.9 Billion
Another sad installment on Illinois’ pension fiasco was released today. But this time, the actuary ridiculed the state’s pension accounting and coined a wonderful new term, “Illinois Math.” And, because most of the report could be generalized to other Illinois pensions, it provides some great insights about an entire pension system gone berserk.
Specifically, the state’s largest pension, Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System (“TRS”) released its actuarial valuation for the 2014 fiscal year, which ended June 30. The full report for is linked here and a summary presentation is here.
Chicago Tribune: Governors, raining taxpayer $ on Illinois
The announcements from Gov. Pat Quinn’s office arrived via email bearing the official state of Illinois seal, signaling Real Government Business. But we all knew what they really were: campaign-ish announcements disguised as Real Government Business.
Did you notice the resulting Quinn-friendly headlines this week?
Monday: 500 additional jobs at Coyote Logistics in Chicago.
AEI: Uber is transforming the way people travel, live, and socialize, and Big Taxi is doomed
The New York Times has a great article about how Uber is changing the night life scene in Los Angeles (“Los Angeles in the Rider’s Seat“), here’s an excerpt:
Ryan O’Connell is part of a growing contingent of urbanites who have made Ubering (it’s as much a verb as “Googling”) an indispensable part of their day and especially their night life. Untethered from their vehicles, Angelenos are suddenly free to drink, party and walk places. Even as their business models are evolving, these ride-sharing services, which include Lyft, Sidecar and others, have upended the social habits of the area, and rallied its residents to be more peripatetic.
A night out in Los Angeles used to involve negotiating parking, beating traffic and picking a designated driver. Excursions from one end to the other — say, from the oceanfront city of Santa Monica to the trendy Silver Lake neighborhood on the eastern side — had to be planned and timed with military precision, lest they spiral into a three-hour commute. More often than not, they were simply avoided.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel’s top attorney: Watchdog had no right to sue
City Hall’s top lawyer Friday gave a hint at his legal strategy in defending Mayor Rahm Emanuel and key aldermen in a lawsuit the City Council’s internal watchdog filed against them, saying Legislative Inspector General Faisal Khan did not have the right to file the case in the first place.
Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton said Khan would first need permission from him to file any lawsuit in his official capacity, as Khan did nine days ago. The suit accused the mayor and aldermen of hindering his investigative abilities by not properly funding the office.
“He did have to have my authority, and he didn’t have it,” Patton said when asked about the suit by aldermen during testimony on Emanuel’s proposed 2015 budget. “That is one of our bases for contending his lawsuit is unauthorized.”
Chicago Tribune: Big money in play in Southern Illinois Supreme Court retention
One of the many downsides of an elected judiciary is that voters typically have little information about the candidates whose names appear on the ballot.
That’s because judges are supposed to be impartial — and apolitical. They’re supposed to make decisions based on the law, not to appease voters or campaign donors. So you don’t see judges stumping as pro-choice, for example, or brandishing their business-friendly credentials. Their campaigns stress experience, competence, integrity, fairness.
It’s a different story now in Southern Illinois, where voters are being bombarded by information — bad information — about state Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier, who’s seeking retention from the 5thJudicial District.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
