O'Hare Expansion

I’d like more details on this or this. I tried finding the "quick-takings" law and couldn’t locate it on the General Assembly Homepage. I’m probably not searching correctly. But I’m confused as to why there would be such an uproar about a 24x16 ft parcel. It seems as though it should be an issue between the developer and Chicago. And in as much as Elk Grove will be out that fraction of tax revenue, the city should compensate by paying a present value formulation of future taxes for 50 years? 100? Whatever.

This wouldn't be an issue if there could have been some sort of fix for the Peotone proposal (high speed rail or something) or maybe a Rockford airport (with high speed rail).

No scoreboard update on this one. Judgment is being withheld. For now.

Unions v. the People

Not that the Wal-Mart saga is new, but here we have a classic example of perverse incentives interfering with the government trying to do the people's work (of course if we believe the innuendo in the story). It's basic economics, there is no free lunch. By obstructing economic activity the unions are enriched and in this instance, South Side shoppers and would-be Wal-Mart employees are injured (and as always citizens of Chicago). If unions are so great, they shouldn't be scared of competition from non-union employers. Under competition the union would be forced to improve itself or add more value for its membership.

I think I'm going to start a scoreboard, if I can figure out how to do that. Every time we see some sort of rent seeking or inside dealing we can add points. In this instance the score would read, Unions 1 - People 0. But it doesn't have to be unions v. people, it can be a specific company, politician, individual ward, another state, another interest group, your mom... you get the point.

First Comments on Chicago’s 2006 Budget

It takes a little time getting used to looking at government financials. But ultimately it’s all dollars and cents. The sheer size of this budget is daunting and trying to keep things straight can be tough. A couple things caught my interest, which may be telling about how new to government operations I am.

1. The city issues bonds every year. I have no clue if this is common among municipal governments or not. But from a private enterprise point of view it seems odd. Bonds are long-term debt used to fund long-term projects. It seems that much if not all of the proceeds are matched to capital improvement projects, which is good, but it just seems excessive. I’m sure there are lots of capital improvement projects to be done, so maybe its just my naiveté that makes me feel that way.

2. The city divides its activities into two categories, governmental activities and business type activities. The business type activities consist of water, sewer, Midway, O’Hare, and the Skyway. Governmental activities are everything else (general government, public safety, streets and sanitation, transportation, health, cultural and recreation). I’m not certain if the CTA is counted in transportation. If it is, it seems like it should be transferred to the business activities side.

3. The business activities break even (probably due to the fact that their services can be charged back to users) and the governmental activities all show deficits. When all is said and done, the city lost $365MM based on GAAP or $580MM based on fund accounting (I think it’s similar to cash based) in 2006.

4. By far the largest expenditures on an ongoing basis are General Government and Public Safety spending, $2,088MM and $2,300MM, respectively. Although on a budgetary basis general government and public safety were only responsible for $861MM and $1,756MM, I wonder what the difference is. I’m curious if Public Safety spending is only police and fire, and if not what else is in there. And I’m just plain curious as to what is in general government spending.

5. For whatever reason, I noticed in the notes the Modern Schools Across Chicago program (MSAC). It smacked of one those inconsistent Bush Administration bills, the Clear Skies Initiative but it really means more pollution. I have no proof that that’s what it is but I noticed it. I’ll be looking more into the MSAC.

That’s all for now.