Oso planning to go pro
Indiana as a state actually has been booming for some time. They attracted a Toyota plant near Vincennes, have wildly successful pharmaceutical plans and have a very pro-business climate. Gary/Lake County, Muncie and Seymour have been hurting but the state as a whole is prosperous. It's government is conservative and runs a surplus year in and year out.Potential investors in property, plant and equipment don't look at the state, hold their nose and wonder how they are going to be soaked to pay off a $300 billion-plus pension shortfall.
dgies,Thanks for the good conversation starter. You make some excellent points. But I do have to quibble with a few (because, of course I do).1. I agree that the pension shortfall is a significant issue but it's a) not unique to Illinois, b) not as dire as often portrayed (no, the state's not going bankrupt) and c) not impacting corporate relocations as you suggest and c)In fact, as I posted earlier, Chicago for 10 straight years has led the nation in corporate relocations and expansions, despite these very well publicized issues.As for Pat Quinn ... he proposed a pension fix that he knew would fail - because it was clearly unconstitutional - to make it appear as if he tried something and then could wash his hands of it. Proposing legislation that's sure to fail doesn't deserve credit. It was a profile in political cowardice. All Quinn did was kick the can down the road.Though, I admit, he did less damage than Bruce Rauner, whose sole solution was to sit on the state budget for two years - far deepening the crisis while creating new ones - in a doomed-from-the-start attempt to bust the unions.2. Agree.3. Agree 99%. Illinois has way too many local governments, though in reality it's a bigger issue downstate with single-school districts and the like, than it is with urban townships. Where you're wrong is with the Bears. What's happening there is very much about the team trying to use its leverage to screw over the school districts and other local governments. That they want the property's assessment frozen at its current level (pre-$5 billion redevelopment) for the next 40 years - 40 years! - is madness and the school districts and municipalities would be doing their existing taxpayers a huge disservice to not to push back against that. The need for government services to that property is going to rise exponentially, but the Bears are arguing they should pay no more for those (via property taxes) than they would for a vacant piece of land.4. This is all sounds well and good, but in the real world it's easier said than done. And, frankly, pretty misleading. Their are literally thousands of Chicagoans involved in anti-violence initiatives across the city. Your implication that they sit back and take it is plainly wrong.But beyond that, saying they should "rise up and do something about it" is a fine platitude, but what does that mean. What are some actionable steps you suggest?
Indiana as a state actually has been booming for some time.
Indiana receives $1.37 in federal funding for every tax dollar paid, which makes up 33% of state revenues. Sounds like socialism to me.
https://www.wpr.org/tourism-counties-rural-wisconsin-population-growth-migrationAn excellent article
Source?Here's what I found:https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal-government/
I am way too lazy to dig into what goes in to "Dependency Score". Strikes me as odd, though, that Rhode Island is ranked 20th despite only getting 77 cents on the dollar back (i.e., they are a giver, not a taker).Other than that, I bet the correlation is extremely high with states that are "rural"...which is also a pretty good proxy for states that vote red.
Good story about how incredibly difficult it is to convert office buildings to housing units (rentals or condos). Easy to say this is the solution, incredibly hard to make it happen.July 4, 2023American Cities Have a Conversion Problem, and It’s Not Just OfficesPiles of regulations, or “kludge,” and a culture of “no” are limiting the ability to turn building blocks into something new.https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/upshot/american-cities-office-conversion.htmlThe cumulative effect today, if you want to turn an office into an apartment, or even turn your back porch into an enclosed home office? The building code says no. Or the zoning does. Or the neighbors do. Or a phrase in a decades-old state law does. Or the politicians asked to change that phrase decline to.“What a mess we’ve created for ourselves,” said Emily Talen, a professor of urbanism at the University of Chicago who has studied zoning, or “the mother lode of city rules.”
So change the code. It isn't written in stone.
I guess you’ve never tried this … it is almost impossible. Too many vested interested that use the code to their advantage.
Dude, you live in Madison, the land of the NIMBYs. Changing codes and zoning is damn near impossible, especially with all of the "stakeholders".
Capital will be behind rapid changes to code if that's what they need to not lose their shirt on their RE investments. Per WCs point, the trade unions will see dollar signs with all the conversion work.My bet is that code changes will happen quickly if they are actually a blocker. Who says no?
Dude, you live in Madison, the land of the NIMBYs. Changing codes and zoning is damn near impossible, especially with all of the "stakeholders".(Geu, hur, boomers, gur, hur.)
Not to mention that that every structure more than 20 years old is always deemed to have some grand historic importance that makes it too much of a landmark to be replaced.
Beat me to it. If there is money to be made, and there is a problem that needs to be addressed, the code will be changed.
So, office conversion mean money will be made. So those that worry about environmental impact, health considerations, gentrification of neighborhoods, reduction in market value from excess supply, congestion, changing demographics, and all other like issues will be summarily stream rolled for that profit.Keep talking like this and you'll be invited to get interviewed on Fox News.
LOL. Brother, they always have been, what makes you think we would magically swap away from Capitalism to a system with actual planning, efficiency, and equality?Society can achieve all of those 'problems' but chooses not to. Why do you suppose that is? Greed. It's a sin to you Catholics, but often ignored.