Video gambling rejections rile downstate lawmaker

quote:

Jacobs [hayseed] said it's unfair for communities to expect to benefit from projects funded by other communities and said Chicago should be no different. Jacobs said if his plan to get money out of anti-gambling communities fails, he'll tell local communities that approved video gambling to undo those votes so they don't end up paying for everyone else's projects.

So, Chicago and the collar counties haven't paid for the other Podunk Junctions in this fine state? This guy Jacobs sounds like quite a piece of work.

Maybe he should just give the money back that he got from the video game lobby and say "Sorry I failed."

Well the guy does have a point.

The state has allocated 31B to do all of this but if everyone opts out. Where is the money going to come from.

So the state will just be that further in debt.

And Chicago does get a lot more money from the state than it pays in.

I think Springfield just did not think the bill through and tried to get a revenue stream that most voters are against. Shoved through by the video game lobby and the unions for road projects. Now they want to punish communities for thier bad bill. All these idiots need to be voted out.

I'm surprised Chicago has opted out.

I think they're hoping for land based casinos and thinking they will get a bigger cut of the action.

But Video poker has a lot of money going to the state.

So if Video poker is here already a Casino will
be able to get less money.

taxpayer - I admit I have no hard numbers but I cannot see a situation where a city of almost 3 million would get more money than it paid. Recall, we're talking about sales, income, corporate taxes here. Add the collar counties and man, it's not even close.

You don't think Chicago taxes have paid for a few bridges in East Moline over the years?

As I have stated before, the whole premise of basing a $31 billion "capital project" on the backs of sweaty, desperate people gambling their paychecks away in dim bars is just obscene.

The people down in Springfield do indeeed need to go. What the heck were they thinking? Especially Pat Quinn.

I actually like Quinn, as a person. Not as a politician - he caves to everybody and is exactly what we do NOT need in the Field of Spring right now.

Chicago already has an ordinance banning video poker. So, they have already "opted out" - years ago.

This guy Jacob wants them to rescind their ordinance.

Like you I have no hard numbers. But the Chicago public schools get something like 30-40 of their money from the state.

Since Chicago has a higher poverty rate than most of the suburban towns it gets more in Medicare and welfare spending.

Chicago has been able to keep its property taxes lower than most suburbs because of the money it gets from the state.

Since Chicago has more political clout than a lot of downstate areas I would guess they would get a lot more money.

What an ordnance can't be changed.

Funny though that when the geniuses in Springfield were writing this it never occurred to them that Chicago was not going to partake in it.

I predict that Chicago will NOT roll back their video poker ordinance.

quote:

Chicago has been able to keep its property taxes lower than most suburbs because of the money it gets from the state.

Not exactly Chicago, but Cook County - my sister who lives in Berwyn just saw her property taxes go up by over $500. Maybe it had something to do with Home Rule Berwyn raising their 2009 levy rate by 16%? If they had to abide by the tax cap ["PTELL"] they could have only raised their rate by one-tenth-of-one-percent. Or, a dime versus $16.00.

This Home Rule wildcard should be of concern to ALL taxpayers that have at least one of these HR districts on their tax bill.

So far, most DuPage towns that have Home Rule have shown some restraint. Well, except for Bolingbrook, which also raised their property tax rate 16%.

Rolling Meadows just pulled a 15.5% increase but they're in Cook.

I had a house in Chicago for a number of years so it was quite a shock when I moved out here and saw what property taxes where like compared to say Chicago.

I think historically Chicago has had lower property taxes. Mostly because a lot of its infrastructure was already built and as its population declined it needed less.

But its been going up in part because of increasing personel costs. Believe that in Chicago eighty percent of the budget goes
for that .

Bolingbrook is mostly in Will don't know if that makes a difference.

I agree Chicago is not going to change its ordnance why should it. It gets all the benefits with none of the costs.

Again it does show how dumb are legislators are.

I found the link below to be an absolutely fascinating “white paper.”

It’s a report from the BBC entitled “ Why do people vote against their own interests?” Although focused on recent and current U.S. elections and issues, it’s written from a disinterred third-party European perspective.

(It was originally a radio broadcast, but it seems the audio file has expired and only the transcript remains.)

If you are at all interested, be sure to read the whole thing. At first blush it may appear to be left-leaning... but there’s plenty of blame — and praise — to go around for all sides.

Unfortunately, the destination audio for the link near the bottom of the report — “Turkeys Voting for Christmas” (a song, I think) — also seems to have expired.

A critique of the report is also online.

But whose interests are really being gained here.

Politicians like to say that we're doing this for the people but in reality they tend to benefit.

They gain more power and wealth. The government becomes bigger grabs more and more resources which they will distribute to their friends and colleagues.