From: rackow@skeeve.mcs.anl.gov (Gene Rackow)
Newsgroups: chi.general
Subject: Re: Casion--Vote (really chicago and $$)
Date: 22 Jan 93 13:24:06 GMT
Distribution: chi
Organization: Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, Illinois

In article <9301209336@drktowr.chi.il.us> magus@drktowr.chi.il.us (Louis Giliberto) writes:
>Gene Rackow (rackow@skeeve.mcs.anl.gov) wrote:
>: Agreed, IF it wasn't for the fact that every time the people of the 312
>: area codes do something, they expect/demand funding from the people of the
>: 708, 815, and other areacodes of IL to bail them out.  The day that our
>: communities no longer subsidize the chicago machine will be the day we
>: can say let 312 decide.  Chicago gets alot more money from the state
>: compared to what they pay in compared to any{maybe almost any} other IL city.
>
>And Chicago pays more to the state than any other IL city.  It also provides
>the plowing, repairs, etc. that keep the airports you like to fly in and
>out of open, the water supply that many suburbs drink from, not to mention
>the police protection for the suburbanites who like to go down to
>Water Tower, Division, and the other "tourists traps".

Beep..Wrong answer...  For the burbs to get water from chicago, we have to pay
extra for it.  We do not get it for free.  The burbs are forced to do a 
balanced school budget on reduced amounts of money in part because chicago can't
seem to submit a balanced budget.  Why is Ohare even IN Chicago?  Look at
a map sometime and tell me why that little bit of gerrymandering went on.  It's
not that Ohare is or would be a burden to the city coffers.
Chicago also was able to help promote the idea that sports is a way out of
the getto by getting big donations from sports teams and shoe companies.  The
smaller towns did NOT get a dime from foot locker.  (yes doing things to
keep kids in school is a good idea, but looking at how much I am paying
to not only keep MY kids in school, but many in chicago as well hurts.
I will not go to another foot locker.  If they really wanted to help, 
they could have made a state wide donation to help ALL schools with sports
programs.  Our schools had to cut several sports because of lack of funds.  
Did the Bulls/Bears/Cubs/foot-Locker care? Not a bit.  It's the poor little
inner city kids that need a way to get out of the poor area of town.)
Chicago also has a much higher percentage of kids in private schools than
we have in many of the burbs or down-state towns.  Why does it cost so much
more to run chicago schools on a PER-KID basis than it does anywhere else?
>
>Hey, I'm all for seperatism.  Let Chicago not pay anything to the state
>in the form of taxes and the like, and we won't ask for any money from
>the state.  Then let the suburbs get their own airports, TV stations,
>business centers, etc.  
I would love to see how long chicago would last if it wasn't for the money
the state gives them.

Humor mode on..
Chicago pays money to the TV stations and stores so they stay in operation.
So many places would love to move into an area that pays them to do
business in their town.  I have a money loosing business, lets go into
chicago where they will pay me to keep it in operation...  I can use
the city money to show a profit then go buy a boat.. ;-)
Humor mode off.

Every time I go into the city, I pay extra for that "priveldge".  I pay
an additional 1+% in item taxes.  I pay $$ to park or ride the train/bus.
If at the airport, I pay even more in taxes and fees, plus the add-ons
they have on ticket prices.  Let's not forget how much I indirectly pay
to the city through the airline.  They pay landing charges, gate fees, etc.
The only reason there are so many TV/radio station IN chicago it that
from there they are able to broadcast to the burbs and into Gary and it's
burbs.  That way THEY have a bigger audience potential and can charge more
in advertising fees.  Some of which have to be payed, guess where... To the
city.  Putting a radio/tv tower in places like Joliet, Naperville, Aurora
allows them to broadcast over alot of corn fields as well as real listners.
Corn stalks are not good customers though they do have big ears.

>
>The reason Chicago gets more money is two-fold: 1) it generates more money,
>and 2) it has more services to support many of which non-Chicagoans take
>advantage of.  Next time a suburban company has a business client fly in,
>have him fly into Aurora or Milwaukee and commute from there and see how
>long he stays a client.  Drink some water pumped out of your ground instead
>of water cleaned by Chicago's water department (which doesn't have a lead
>problem like most of the suburbs I might add).
>
>But I get it now.  You want a suburb of 40,000 to get as much money
>as a city of a couple of million.  Seems fair to me.

I don't think you under stand what I said.  It's not that I think that a
city of 40,000 should get as much as chicago.  I do think that we should get
a close approximation of what we send into the state.  For every dollar
I pay in state taxes, only about 15 cents, if lucky, comes back to the city in
which I live.  I then get raked over the coal by our local gov't for more.
I have to pay $100 for just basic school fees for middle school kids (each).  
Then if they want to be in sports or other clubs, thats another $30 ($60 next
year) per sport/activity.  My water and sewer bills tripled in the last 2 years.

Now we are hearing that those wonderful idiots of the chicago machine
are asking for additional money to subsidize/build a new airport using
data that is 10 years old.  Rehab sports stadiums.  Build a casino. ...
Yet the chicago schools are broke and loosing money every hour.  The
mass transit system is crying poor.  The police force is NOT getting
the additional people it wants/needs.  Teachers are getting the shaft. 
Just WHERE is MY money going.

>
>Don't be silly.
I'm not being silly.  Anyone who thinks that the city of chicago can
stand on it's own is another story.

--Gene

>-Louis
>
>--
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> Louis J. Giliberto, Jr.   ! magus@drktowr.chi.il.us
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