NorthSideSox72 Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 So a few years back, Mayor Daley set a goal for 20% of Chicago's energy needs to come from green/renewable sources. And it wasn't smoke and mirrors at the time - a deal was in the works for taking power from a wind farm in NW IL, and the city was already in a contract to use methane fume from garbage dumps for part of ComEd's energy. Well, it appears now that Daley and the city council have backed off their original plans. Nary a single watt of energy is currently coming from anything outside the normal nuclear and coal sources. It seems that the windfarm fell through because the company sent the manufacturing contract to Philadelphia instead of Chicago (and of course, Daley is pretty fierce about keeping business in Chicago). And the methane contract ended in 2004 and wasn't renewed. Discussion questions: --Is it the place of municipalities to push this agenda? Or is it national concern, or a state concern, or all the above? --Does anyone think that Daley will ever again get serious about this? --Which is more important for the long term success of Chicago - a turbofan contract, or getting 20% of its energy from green sources? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 It just blows my mind that this man gets 75-80% of the vote every single time he runs for reelection, and everyone decent is scared to run against this guy. I know the "Daley has done a lot of good" PR machine is big in Chicago, but in reality the guy's administration is incredibly corrupt, and you can't tell me when he tells us point-blank that he knows nothing about it, he isn't lying. It is incredibly expensive to live in Chicago. Sales taxes alone are a quarter tick under 10%, while any food downtown has an additional 2% tacked onto it. Property taxes are astronomical, and yet all we hear about is how broke the city/county is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted November 20, 2006 Author Share Posted November 20, 2006 QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 08:54 AM) It just blows my mind that this man gets 75-80% of the vote every single time he runs for reelection, and everyone decent is scared to run against this guy. I know the "Daley has done a lot of good" PR machine is big in Chicago, but in reality the guy's administration is incredibly corrupt, and you can't tell me when he tells us point-blank that he knows nothing about it, he isn't lying. It is incredibly expensive to live in Chicago. Sales taxes alone are a quarter tick under 10%, while any food downtown has an additional 2% tacked onto it. Property taxes are astronomical, and yet all we hear about is how broke the city/county is. I don't disagree on any particular point. Chicago is expensive on taxes, and I have zero doubt about the corruption in city government under his leadership. But the guy is a fierce competitor, and does an incredible job bringing business to Chicago. Plus, the city works - potholes get fixed, grafitti gets taken care of, etc. That has made Chicago one of the most liveable cities in the U.S., and has allowed for this renaissance we have seen in Chicago in the past 20 years. So, people look the other way, and are willing to pay a little more in taxes, knowing that the city works better than most, and that there will always be jobs here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Kickass Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Cities are in a bit of a bind, financially, generally. Because of commuters. They work in the city and consume a lot of its resources, yet they don't own property or spend a lot of money in the city often. That's something that is common city to city. New York, for an example. There's a lot of bs that you can call Daley on. I just don't think that higher taxes and a budget crunch is one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 12:29 PM) Cities are in a bit of a bind, financially, generally. Because of commuters. They work in the city and consume a lot of its resources, yet they don't own property or spend a lot of money in the city often. That's something that is common city to city. New York, for an example. There's a lot of bs that you can call Daley on. I just don't think that higher taxes and a budget crunch is one of them. I do believe you can pin at least a lot of it onto Daley directly because the bloated size of his government and the corruption costs happening are going on under his watch. Plus if you discount commuters, you have to add back tourists who take their money earned elsewhere and dump it directly into Chicago's economy, both directly through spending, and indirectly through the highest in the nation local tax rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted November 20, 2006 Author Share Posted November 20, 2006 QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 12:37 PM) I do believe you can pin at least a lot of it onto Daley directly because the bloated size of his government and the corruption costs happening are going on under his watch. Plus if you discount commuters, you have to add back tourists who take their money earned elsewhere and dump it directly into Chicago's economy, both directly through spending, and indirectly through the highest in the nation local tax rates. Highest in the nation? That seems hard to believe. Property tax rates are higher in a number of other places, last I read. I'm not sure about sales taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleepyWhiteSox Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Yep, I'm definitely much more concerned about the amount of corruption over how "green" daley is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 01:06 PM) Highest in the nation? That seems hard to believe. Property tax rates are higher in a number of other places, last I read. I'm not sure about sales taxes. I don't know about property taxes, but I remember when they passed the 2% "litter tax" it put Chicago at the top for sales taxes. I know their basic sales tax is 9.75%, which I don't believe anywhere in the US surpasses either. Their sin taxes are also extremely high when compared to the rest of the countries big cities from what I remember reading the last time they jumped the taxes on cigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 I thought there was a cap to sales tax imposed at the federal level that states and local municipalities had to abide by? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Kickass Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 02:23 PM) I don't know about property taxes, but I remember when they passed the 2% "litter tax" it put Chicago at the top for sales taxes. I know their basic sales tax is 9.75%, which I don't believe anywhere in the US surpasses either. Their sin taxes are also extremely high when compared to the rest of the countries big cities from what I remember reading the last time they jumped the taxes on cigs. Utica, NY comes close at 9.5% sales tax. NYC is actually under 8.5% surprisingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory Pratt Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 It's a shame that Daley doesn't use his power to significantly Greenify the City. He certainly has the power to do it. He can do anything in this town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted November 21, 2006 Author Share Posted November 21, 2006 QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 01:04 PM) It's a shame that Daley doesn't use his power to significantly Greenify the City. He certainly has the power to do it. He can do anything in this town. I'd bet that if Chicago gets the 2016 Olympic bid, we'll see that wake back up again. And maybe with some state or federal help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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