I’m sure the Tribune opinion editors will hear a lot about this. Here’s another one!
Apparently, all it takes is a name and maybe a connection to get a sizable opinion piece into the Tribune. I’m referring to Forrest Claypool’s praise of Mayor Richard M. Daley (“Chicago’s renaissance under Richard M. Daley is at risk,” Aug. 6).
Chicago will pay dearly for the parking meter debacle — for a total of 75 years. Daley’s pension “holidays” helped lead to today’s woefully underfunded public pension plans. Chicago has one of the smallest football stadiums in the country; the renovation of Soldier Field has left taxpayers owing more than $500 million as the Bears look to leave. The city is as geographically segregated as any in the country.
Daley had a rubber-stamp City Council, and a wave of convictions of crony aldermen happened during his administration. As for contracts going to politically connected outfits …
— Gerry Shacter, Buffalo Grove
Daley’s pockmarked record
Everything was not roses during the decades of the most recent Daley as mayor of Chicago. Firstly, I recall 1995, the excessive heat wave that so affected the West and South sides. Richard M. Daley may have invested in communities, but the communities most affected by red lining seem to have been neglected. Mayor Lori Lightfoot actually invested in the West and South sides.
Yes, downtown looks pretty good. But CTA trains still go only to 95th Street. And there are no toilets in any CTA stations that I know of. Renovations at 95th Street did not include public toilets. As a person who donated a kidney, that is significant for me.
Daley ended the Cabrini-Green housing project. He promised to help those displaced. But that fell by the wayside. Those who got the land on which Cabrini-Green stood benefited richly.
Claypool should take off his rose-colored glasses.
— Janice Gintzler, Crestwood
Parking meter deal omitted
Forrest Claypool’s self-serving op-ed is really something. There is not one word at all on one of the biggest debacles in Chicago’s history that helped create the financial hole the city is in, which will persist for decades: the parking meter disaster.
It is hard to think of a more reckless and irresponsible action by a mayor of a major city.
— Conrad Truedson, Oak Brook
CPS should admit it’s bankrupt
The July 30 op-ed from Kids First Chicago officials (“How to confront Chicago Public Schools’ financial freefall”) presents several options for raising taxes to pay for Chicago Public Schools debt, but they missed the obvious fix. The reality is that CPS is bankrupt. If we just admit that, we can file for bankruptcy protection and eliminate the crippling debts at the heart of our crisis.
CPS now pays a whopping $800 million in debt service payments every fiscal year. That’s $800 million that goes to banks instead of our kids, and it grows every year.
For decades, we’ve wanted everything right now. We spend tomorrow’s money today, over and over again, until we’re giving $800 million a year to banks for the cumulative privileges. One floated plan is to take out payday loans just to meet CPS’ existing bills. This is the late stage of the debt cycle, and it gets only worse.
There is an escape hatch, though, in Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code. The U.S. Trustee Program would open our books and help craft an equitable path forward, prioritizing kids, teachers and taxpayers over all of the old debt. We could realistically clear most, if not all, of that $800 million a year without touching pensions.
Is Springfield on board? Well, “Please let us wipe out our debts” would almost certainly go over far better than “Give us a billion dollars annually or else.” That’s our best pitch now, and it’s a laugher.
Remember these loans’ interest rates. CPS admits it is “the largest junk bond issuer in the United States.” Interest rates are determined by risk, and the lenders here all knew the risks of default. At the rates we borrowed, default could barely be considered a risk — default was assumed.
There is no shame in admitting that you’re bankrupt. The only shame is in continuing to pay $800 million a year to hedge funds while our schools languish. You don’t go to a bankruptcy lawyer to become bankrupt any more than you go to a doctor to become sick. You go to a bankruptcy lawyer because you’re bankrupt and don’t want to be anymore.
We must choose between taking out payday loans, shooting property taxes to the moon or seeing the doctor. Let’s go see the doctor.
— Charles Kinzer, Chicago
No benefit to pension merger
As I read and reread and read again the David Greising column “Merging teachers’ pension funds may help increase CPS revenues” (Aug. 2), I fail to see any benefit to the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) or any other systems.
TRS already suffers because the state has repeatedly not contributed its full amount. Now John Cullerton wants to add the Chicago pension system debt to the TRS.
He would increase income taxes via a surcharge to help pay the combined debt. His Tier 2 plan apparently is flawed and needs work; now, he wants to add another flawed plan.
Illinois needs good teachers. Quit messing with the system to bail out Chicago.
Look at the history, address the problem and correct it.
Here’s an idea: Merge the Chicago teachers pension system with the pension system for the state senators and representatives.
— Don Mueggenborg, Lemont
Zero tolerance for doping
As we’ve watched the Olympics these past days, we’ve heard over and over how some athletes were banned from competition four years ago, but are once again allowed to compete in the same sport to represent their countries.
We are witnessing a cycle in which the athletes are banned from Olympics in one given year but are declared “clean” and allowed to compete four years later still profiting from the enhanced body strength and physical characteristics the drugs help them develop. This is an unfair advantage over those athletes who developed strong, healthy bodies through years of dedication and hard work.
Honor and sportsmanship must be returned to these games, and Michael Phelps, who earned 23 gold medals honestly, is leading the crusade to have this Olympic drug ban made permanent. The International Olympic Committee has four years to acknowledge the permanent effects of drug abuse and establish a lifetime ban. Only then will we see honest athletes achieving the rewards from their years of training, and only then will we see the return of the true Olympic spirit.
— Mary Ann McGinley, Wilmette
Overpopulation a reality
I agree wholeheartedly with letter writer W. Muellner of LaGrange Park who said that the world needs fewer people, not more (“World needs fewer people,” Aug. 5).
Even my arithmetic-challenged mind realized long ago that if a mother and father produced four healthy children, and each of these children grew up to produce four more children and then …
Mother Earth is a small planet, though our imaginations and misperceptions may tell us otherwise. Countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are densely populated to the point where the elderly, sick and disabled are cast into the street rather than housed and afforded medical treatment. And “elderly” can mean someone as young as 60 years old who, for some reason, loses the ability to contribute in a meaningful way to a household or society.
Let us also not forget that human beings are the primary cause of climate change, a phenomenon that becomes more real and urgent with each passing year.
I do not propose to know how the world will respond to overpopulation. Perhaps JD Vance has some ideas. But make no mistake. The specter of overpopulation definitely looms and threatens. Just do the math.
— Kathleen Melia, Niles
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