My Blog

Author: jbosco

  • Meeks vs. Tax Law

    Meeks says he’s long been mindful of the rules laid out by the Internal Revenue Service, but it’s clear he chafes at restrictions that prevent churches and other charitable groups from endorsing and contributing to political campaigns.

    “I am running for office, and you know that. … I can take all the money I want from the National Rifle Association, from the pharmaceutical companies, from the riverboat people, from the tobacco industry and from the liquor industry. I can take all the money. … I can take it, it’s legal. But I can’t take one dime from a church,” he told the Salem Baptist congregation.” Something is wrong with that picture.”

    Churches are prohibited from such political activity as a condition of maintaining their highly beneficial tax-exempt status with the IRS.

    (Full story here.)

    Well, if Meeks don’t like the law, then he can incorporate his church as a for-profit, begin paying income tax and property tax, and maybe even go public and deal with the SEC filings and disclosures.  They he can give his money to whomever he likes, and as much of it too.

    But for a guy who a few years ago admitted that his “church” was going to buy a jet plane to complain about his tax treatment is laughable.  Open up the books reverend and let’s see where all the money’s coming from and going to.

  • FOP vs. The People

    The stage is set for a confrontation over Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis’ upcoming plan to reallocate police resources from lower-crime districts to those that need more officers.  Days before the plan is expected to be unveiled, the Fraternal Order of Police is serving notice that it intends to strictly enforce a union contract that could severely limit Weis’ options.  …  “It would be a mistake to believe you can just move personnel at a whim without regard to the agreements the union has with the city. We will enforce the contract to the best of our ability.” FOP President Mark Donahue said Friday.

    (Full story here.)

    The reallocation plan is a poorly thought out bad idea that naturally would not be required if the CPD was operating at its fully authorized operational capacity. i.e. If it wasn’t 2,500 cops short.

    That said, it is the city, through the Superintendent of Police, that tells officers where to go, not the FOP.  If the FOP had it’s way half of the department would work the Marine Unit and the other half would patrol Lincoln Park Zoo.  You would not be able to find a cop south of 18th Street or West of Western.

    This makes me think that FOP is part of the problem and not part of the solution.

  • Parent to Blame for Education Problems?

    An Associated Press-Stanford University Poll on education found that 68 percent of adults believe parents deserve heavy blame for what’s wrong with the U.S. education system — more than teachers, school administrators, the government or teachers unions.  Only 35 percent of those surveyed agreed that teachers deserve a great deal or a lot of the blame.  Moms were more likely than dads — 72 percent versus 61 percent — to say parents are at fault.  Conservatives were more likely than moderates or liberals to blame parents.

    (Full story here.)

    If only it were this simple.  Assign blame and kick someone in the rear to get moving.  I can’t believe the Gates Foundation spent good money on this.

    Of course some parents are to blame, as are some students, some teachers, lots of administrators, and nearly all politicians.  Parents who think that school is a baby sitting service are dropping the ball.  Same goes for those parents who are generally uninvolved in their children’s lives outside of school.

    My take is that the vast majority of parents are doing the best the can with the skills and financial resources they have.  Naturally there are a few who are not.  But the real question is how to improve everyone’s schools whether or not the parent is involved?

  • Illinois, Worst for Retirement

    The list, with Illinois leading the pack, comes from website TopRetirements.com. According to John Brady, president of TopRetirements.com, the 10 states earn this dubious distinction largely because of three factors: fiscal health, taxation and climate.

    (Full story here.)

    Fiscal health?  We’re bankrupt.

    Taxation?  We’re taxed to death.

    Climate?  We’re heading into 5-6 days below freezing.

    Yep, we hit the tri-fecta.

    Just think, if they added crime and corrupt politicians into the mix we could have had the quinella.

  • Little do to in Property Tax Battle?

    In an article with technical problems over at the Sun-Times, Terry Savage writes under a headline, “Little you can do in property tax battle”:

    While home values are down, many homeowners are shocked by the increases in second-half-of-the year tax bills. Fingers are pointing at the assessor’s office, the Cook County Board and the state’s tax equalization factor.

    (Full story here.)

    I disagree.  There is plenty you can do.  You can vote out of office every corrupt self-serving politician who’s served more than two days in office and create a fresh start.

    On the city level you get that chance in less than 90 days.

  • Berrios Puts Family on Payroll

    Just days into his tenure as Cook County assessor, Joseph Berrios has hired his son and sister to work for him.

    …

    Carmen Berrios, the assessor’s sister, is director of taxpayer services at Berrios’ new office. She is making about $86,000, the same salary she made at the Board of Tax Review, where she headed up taxpayer outreach, Berrios said.  Joseph “Joey” Berrios, the assessor’s son, now is a residential property analyst, similar to the job he held at the Board of Review, where he also made about $48,000 a year.

    (Full story here.)

    When are people going to say enough?  When is our do nothing Attorney General and Cook County State’s Attorney going to investigate what’s really going on inside these offices?  It’s just amazing, simply amazing.

  • Fioretti Anti-Building Protection

    Powered by a solar-powered device akin to a car battery, the fences send 7,000 volt jolts every 1.3 seconds into the hands of people who touch the fences, which have never proved fatal in the states and cities that allow them….

    The systems are allowed in California, other major cities and Illinois suburbs including Bolingbrook, Elmhurst, Rockford and Schaumburg, city officials said. They also are allowed under state law at railroad facilities in Chicago, Burke said.

    Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd Ward, opposed the measure.

    “I’m not convinced this is even useful in the city of Chicago,” he said. “I don’t think this is good for us.”

    (Full story here.)

    What I trimmed from the article said that these fences would NOT be allowed on the public way.  So it would be impossible to get zapped unless you were already someplace you didn’t belong.

    It’s time for everyone, including Alderman Fioretti to realize the theft is a huge expenses to businesses.  Criminals try to steal anything and everything.  And if you cannot secure your property then you will move — outside the city — to someplace where you can.

    Further, with the police department 2,500 officers short it takes even longer to respond to calls.  So it’s not like alarms (which are over regulated themselves) are the answer.  The alarm can sound, but when seconds count the police are just minutes away.

  • Post Objection Blogging

    I’m back!!

    Had a little hiatus from posting there.  Turns out that Alderman Fioretti’s guy objected to my petitions so I had to get some legal work done in order to stay on the ballot.  But I think I have all that behind me now; we should be rolling full steam ahead.

    Also, just as an aside, I will get the objection posted up on the website in a few days.  Followers have the right to know what’s happening.

  • Media on TIF does not understand TIF

    Media tries, fails to explain why TIF is so confusing:

    [E]ven Mr. Orr and top aides [are] unsure exactly how much money is in Chicago’s TIF coffers.

    …

    There are now 158 TIF districts in Chicago, and they generated $519 million last year, Mr. Orr said. In all, there may be a shade over $1 billion in unspent TIF money.

    While Mr. Orr contends it’s a “travesty” that most Chicagoans are clueless about all that money, one can’t dispute that TIFs are central to development, especially downtown. And it’s hard to dispute how they allow municipalities to support development without raising property taxes.

    (Full story here.)

    Well, let me be one to dispute.

    First off, the “travesty” is the city bookkeeping is so bad that we cannot even tell the citizens how much money is in the accounts.  That’s front page news and a good reason to toss every last elected bum out at their arse.

    Second, it is also unacceptable that over $500 million is placed into the TIF’s annually for dubious reasons.  These are funds that could be used to put more police on the street, improve failing schools, or simply to shore-up our pension liabilities or now annual budget shortfall.

    But more to the point, TIFs are not central to development.  TIFs were invented in California in 1952.  Illinois didn’t create its TIF statute until 1987.  How did we develop prior to 1987?

    The Chicago TIF truth is that dozens of brand-name companies have received millions and millions of tax dollars from TIF funds.  UPS, CNA Insurance, MillerCoors, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Willis Insurance (the “Willies Tower” people), Quaker Oats, United Airlines, and CareerBuilder and just a few.  TIF dollars also went to support a local Mercedes dealer to build new dealership on some of the most valuable land in the city.  Oh, ya, and the Wrigley people to build on the best peninsula in the river (payback for helping with Millennium Park.)

    The simple truth of TIF can be explained in one simple graph.

    TIF Graph
    TIF Graph

    Click on the image to expand.

    TIFs are a way to rob the person to actually invests in a neighborhood, the home or business owner.  A family moves into a neighborhood effected by a TIF and part of their property taxes goes not fund their police, their schools, their garbage collection or other city services, but rather to improve the lifestyle of the rich-and-famous and politically connected.

    TIFs are inherently evil and should be done away with.

  • Rahm on Education: Not Daley’s Fault

    Rahm Emanuel made a campaign promise last week that if elected mayor, he would install a new math and English language curriculum in Chicago’s public schools by the end of his first term.

    …

    Mr. Emanuel made clear that he meant no disrespect to Mayor Richard M. Daley, who assumed control of the city’s public schools 15 years ago and has said changes in public education are his proudest accomplishment.  Gery Chico, the mayoral candidate who was city school board president, recently angered Mr. Daley by saying that the efforts to improve schools have stalled.  Mr. Emanuel instead echoed Mr. Daley’s mantra about the schools. “There is no doubt we’ve made great strides,” Mr. Emanuel said, “but you don’t rest on your laurels.”

    Full story here.

    Kudos to the Chicago News Coop for getting this story.  I think it’s hilarious.  Rahm just simply refuses to say anything bad about da Mare.  At first it was just a little odd; now it’s straight-on entertainment.

    The city’s broke and broken.  We’re out of money and have no plan to get out of debt or bring much needed jobs back.  But I digress.

    Did anyone ask Rahm what this “new curriculum” is called?  Who sells it? How are we going to pay for it?  How are we going to train our existing teachers to use it? And, how are we going to make sure the teachers are not just slipping back to teaching the “old way?”

    Further, much like Chico’s plan (my comments here) how are we going to measure the success or failure of the new curriculum?

    In Chicago we don’t worry about measuring success.  We just move the chairs around, talk about how much we “care”, have our picture taken with smiling kids from the West or South side, and continue on as if there is no problem.

    It’s embarrassing that the electorate stands for it.  People get the representative democracy they deserve; we deserve better that this.