Perfect Storm of Taxes
- Chicago already is one of the most expensive cities in the world -- No. 7, according to a report by financial firm UBS.
But the cost of living soon could rise even more, if Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets his way.
The Windy City mayor is pushing a $500 million property tax increase, the largest in the city's history, as a way to balance an almost $700 million deficit.
On top of that, surrounding Cook County just raised the sales tax to the highest in the nation, at 10.25 percent, while considering a hodgepodge of other fees. And the state of Illinois faces its own budget crisis, and will likely need to raise taxes to get out of it.
"There is almost a perfect storm of tax increases coming forward in Chicago," said Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation. "And people who live in the city are in a state of shock."
What was that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Rahm is right there with the democrats Tax-and-Spend playbook and he's nailing it step-by-step. Detroit is right around the corner.
Labels: city politics
posted by SCC at 12:33 AM
70 Comments:
Keep it illinois demorats, see ya's!
There are lots of very nice cities with lower property taxes. The houses are less expensive too. There are dozens of states with low or no income taxes. Look around, and make a move while you are still young.
The only news outlet that blamed the city's mess on the mega asshole mayor Daley, was Crains. People should be outraged at him for what he did. No one should ever honor him ever! He is the worst mayor ever! He was in charge for 22 years! He caused the mess. And then walked away with all his $$$ and pensions. Jerk!
Chicago is only number 7 in the world for being a great city. A good tax increase could move Chicago up one or two points as one of the great cities of the world. Everyone knows that you have to pay more to live in one of the World's Great Cities. The greater the city, the more it costs to live there.
Just now -- another attempt to sell off the old Main Post Office just fell through.
I know, the "realtors" insist that everything is roaring here, drive out the poor to make room for the rich, "Chicago is the next San Francisco where no one but Mark Zuckerman and the Googlers can afford to live," it's so great that everyone packs in from Lake Forest and Highland Park to get "culture," etc.
Right. SF is having Dotcom Boom/Bust II -- and does anyone remember Houston's Enron Bubble?
Ten years ago this month, the company that once dominated Houston collapsed in a cloud of debt. But its ghost still haunts the city—and America.
December 2011
"Enron...presaged a new attitude of ethically dubious financial elitism, which helped drive the excesses of the mortgage crisis. The company’s highfliers saw ordinary people—who couldn’t possibly be as smart as they were—as chumps, deserving of whatever punishment they got. (Remember the tapes that surfaced of Enron traders mocking poor grandmothers in California?) This thinking also infected Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, and other Wall Street firms. Even the American public itself seemed to take its cue from Enron. From Miami to San Diego, people roped themselves into astronomical mortgages and debt loads, as if they too believed that only a hopeless loser couldn’t afford a McMansion and a BMW. Who cared what was actually on your balance sheet? You deserved to live like an investment banker. Massive debt was just a minor drawback. If it was good enough for Citi, it was good enough for the average joe."
http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/enron-ever-after/
This still won't balance the budget.
You wankers need to think BIG!
Really stick it to those big corporations in downtown Chicago. Tax them, tax their employees, tax their customers!
What will they do?
Move?
Leave this beautiful, loving, crime-free paradise?
You know how hot it is in the South in January?
It never even gets close to freezing, much less below-zero.
If you move to California, you will miss the Chicago tornadoes and blizzards.
You'd be forced to golf 12 months a year.
No one will ever leave. You can really stick it to the man!
It looks like what is coming is a city of Very Rich and Very Poor. Well-paying tech jobs and corporate HQ's are here with probably more on the way, given Rahm's connections. Section 8 residents and seniors with no other options aren't going anywhere. The middle class/working people will be forced out. It might take a couple years but this is what's coming.
Excuses to raise taxes. Rahm quit spending our money. And homes under 250,000 won't be affected and the same won't pay garbage pickup? . I'm tired of carrying the same group of people. You raise my taxes you raise everybody's!
And if he's raising taxes why the hell are we also going to pay for garbage pick up, take it out of the taxes he's raising.
Open the flood gates to these greedy politicians.
Show me all the money he spent, show me no more free give always, show me the tif money balance and show me how he plans to stop wasting money, then we can talk about taxes.
Should a lawsuit be filed against this guy or what?
After watching Detroit, after talking to the lawyers that handled Detroit, this guy is running the playbook right AT Detroit's bankruptcy.
Obviously this is the goal, speed up the process and do what Detroit did to get to file bankruptcy, then have your friends set up the law so you can file it.
Emanuel's speeding towards it, and he's using Detroit's playbook on how to do it.
Shouldn't this deliberate action be illegal somehow?
At any rate, all creditors are treated equally in a BK. So whatever happens, a BK haircut is far better than taking it up the ass for this scumbag and THEN having more taken away in a BK.
During the election, Rahm's machine hung Chuy with the albatross of cosigning for the largest tax increase since Harold. The spin machine went into hyperdrive to hammer the message on a daily basis, even though the increase was really needed at that time.
It pales in comparison to this one. This tax increase is a game changer.
Last one to leave, turn off the lights.
What was that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?
If they've been doing this and gotten this result before, you can bet that they intend the same result again... and someone is in a position to profit from it.
Every news cast I've seen so far about the budget says the same thing, Rahm has to do it to cover the city's pension payment to both the Police and Fire Pension Funds.
Every article I've read slants the story onto the greedy coppers and firemen being the cause of all this.
And then there are the new taxes being proposed. Garbage pick-up and recyclables. But hey! Don't you fret, because on these Rahm has got your back. As long as your home is not assessed at $250,000 or above, you don't have to worry about paying, as long as you don't live on the North Side, that is.
Thank God I only have 1 year left to go. But more to the point, thank GOD I planned ahead and put as much money as I could afford into deferred comp and my Roth over the years, so when the pension goes bust, I'll have something to live off of.
We're regressing in pay at an alarming rate. How is it legal to force residency, and then subject it's employees to alarming tax codes?
It's the politicians was of keeping their jobs. Give everything to the mindless voters while screwing those who have independent thoughts and just may oppose you.
Well, if the cops and firemen would just agree to give up their pensions, then all will be well
One would think that a high ranking official of the illustrious Civic Federation of Chicago would have enough power to add at least one more vowel to his name. Until then, your opinions don't mean squat.
One would think that a high ranking official of the illustrious Civic Federation of Chicago would have enough power to add at least one more vowel to his name. Until then, your opinions don't mean squat.
I was going to write something lengthy about this post but decided it's not worth the time.
I'll just say that the "tax and spend" reference at the end of the post is fine with me as long as the "spend" is payment owed to our pension plan.
Stay safe.
Starve the beast. Don't let the government tax you to death.
1) Buy in Indiana, Wisconsin or on-line
2) Pay cash
3) Avoid paying for discretionary city/county/state services when possible
4) Be vigilant - avoid city/county/state "gotcha" fines, "convenience fees," etc.
5) Leave Illinois
This was actually the lead story on www.foxnews.com about 7PM last nite.
I got an email from Alderman Michele Smith 2 days ago about the budget meeting this morning. She said she was very "concerned". She said she was "going to ask the tough questions". Said to email in question that we wanted answers to.
So I replied and said, yeah, I'd like to know why the $1+ Billion dollars in the TIF funds cant be applied help this problem.
Funny, I never heard back from her.
She claims to be the staunch advocate for the residents of the ward. That's horseshit. She is nothing but a boot-licker for Rahm.
Corruption and high taxes, and the Illinois voters don't even come close to voting any of our local idiots out. The Republican presidential candidates may sound like a bunch of buffoons, but compared to our local Dems, who is doing the real damage?
Well, it makes me not difference; I shop and gas else where. I use an out of state address for some things - like the phone bill to avoid the extra 911 fee. Yea, I rent - not own, and maybe the rent will go up. But overall, Chicago ain't nickle-and-diming me.
Got to love it. They raised the value of my home to 251,300. Anything below 250,000 doesn't pay. Guess just enough to tax me.
Has anyone asked the 9 1/2 fingered prick what (besides sticking it to retirees) "programs" has he proposed to CUT. No talk of reduced benefits anywhere but retirees, and now guess what.....REBATES... that's right, the city is giving low income families REBATES!!...the welfare class wins...everyone else..pony up or as the 9 1/2 fingered prick would say "fuck you..pay me"...any one read the classifieds....more TIF's being created in Shitcago. pages 55-56-57 of the Slum-times..you can't make this shit up.
after all the "daleys" did you guy still elect one as alderman....
And daley is still free.
Fuck you.
Put Christy Weber on a diet.
Pay my pension.
Don't forget: CPS looking at laying off 5000 employees!
http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/7/71/977732/ctu-5000-cps-layoffs-devastate-schools-trigger-teacher-strike
WE ARE Fucked.
More news from Rahm I. Emanuel's great Sanctuary City --
"ATLANTA, Oct. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Pest control leader Orkin released its top 20 rattiest cities. The markets are ranked by the number of rodent treatments the company performed in 2013.
"1. Chicago"
"Chicago has also been named the top city for bedbug infestations for two years in a row and general pest infestations..."
"Chicagoans can call 311 or go online to report a rat infestation."
Starting in City Hall?
I'm convinced the political goal is to tax all the taxpayers out of the city.
Here, a small rat drags off a slice of pizza much bigger than itself.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/09/21/pizza-rat/72579216/
A metaphor for our life and times in Chicago...
What happened to Rahman with the blue pullover mohair sweater when campaigning against chuychuy Garcia .
Tears in his eyes , admitting he rubbed many the wrong way , give me a chance , I will change . Yeah he changed all this for the illegals , new schools , free ,free , free everything . Work , water bills doubled , 2,000 less police officers on patrol , new captain , deputy chief spots for his supporters . The working stiff , higher property tax , garbage fees . Yes he still has three men changing light bulbs , drivers for tree trimmers , garbage trucks , etc they do nothing but sit all day . Yes sir ladies and gentlemen you are the Suckers paying for this mismanagement . One man beat cars , kids shot down like animals . It's all for the children .
Instead of raising taxes how about this old fashioned idea of jobs and economic growth expanding an actual tax base. The overall tax base and the number of employed taxpayers is dwindling and financial collapse under democrat rulers is on the horizon. Look at the number of vacant building and those neighborhoods that look like bombed out Dresden during the Second World War. Look around at the number of unemployed zombies in disadvantaged milling around aimlessly in modern day urban America. As irrefutable evidence, witness those endless depression area food pantry lines much like those in Eastern Europe under communist rule. This is the modern day transformation of America in an era of Hope and Change. Lots of public schooled unskilled labor with lots of time on their hands to commit crimes,consume booze, accomplish nothings and puff on prohibited marijuana cigarettes.
Putting the tax squeeze on the working class by those democrats who once identified with Joe Six-Pack,is not the answer. Presidential candidate Joey Biden had it right by identifying the solution with that three letter word, J-O-B-S. Economic prosperity rises all boats and the cruise-ship sized yachts of the democrat elites. Where is the politician's common sense approach to create prosperity for the masses not just themselves? It has gotten so bad that the poor in this city can't read and write English. Multicultural divisiveness, entitlement dependency and class envy is the daily game our elected ruling elites play. What a sad state of affairs.
rahm is quoted as saying, "Raise proerty taxes or layoff police, and firefighters."
Hey rahm, or, cut benefits to entitlements. The real taxpayers are loosing the benefit
of the money taken for your taxes.
It's time the city council had some "skin in the game."
The council needs to be cut 20 members.
Then you will beable to cut streets and san.
Not as many doorbell ringers will be needed.
Liar Rahm was arguing for a tax increase to build new schools for "the children."
Bullshit! It is to award new construction contracts to the favored firms that kickback to the politicians. Hey, Rahm, you liar, didn't you just close fifty school buildings? If there is overcrowding, how about bussing students to the empty schools? It seems as if Chicago has a surplus of empty classrooms already and you want to build more schools? Not enough graft in bus contracts to keep your donors happy?
How about the sweetheart contract that you gave to David Axelrod? $45 million dollars for consulting on police hiring?
Again the democRats , communist party of Chicago raise taxes on the backs of lower middle class , middle class workers .
Blames Police & Fire departments .
Not one word or mention of the Cost of running a Sanctuary City for the Last 25 years , free wifi , subsidized telephone , electric ,gas bills ,new schools , former catholic schools now rented out by public schools . Yes folks ,this is because of the Illigeal Immigrants in our Sanctuary city .
Where is the outcry from our alderman .
No talk of reducing number of alderman , men on city crews that loaf.
Wake up people , vote out every cook county and Chicago elected official . The time for outsiders is now .
What about a recall for mayor , where are the democratic thugs that demanded a recall of gov. Scott walker in Wisconsin
Unions demand a forensic audit of city books .
"It looks like what is coming is a city of Very Rich and Very Poor....seniors with no other options aren't going anywhere."
9/22/2015 01:57:00 AM
Just you wait.
'We're homeless at Heathrow': They look as if they're off on holiday, but this middle-class couple are living in an airport after losing their £500,000 home
"Katrina Smith, 62, and Alan Lane, 71, ended up sleeping rough at Heathrow...Had planned retirement in Dorset, buying a three-bed house to grow old in...But the couple, who have been together for 28 years, found themselves homeless after a string of bad decisions and some even worse luck...Sent emails to almost 100 charities, Almshouses and housing associations...No one - not even their local council - was able to help them find a home...'It seems there is no place for us in the world and that hurts,' says Alan.
"Katrina and Alan are not holidaymakers. They are homeless, rootless, a hair’s breath from destitution; two of a growing band of middle-class rough sleepers at Heathrow, who choose the safety, warmth and relative comfort of its terminals over the freezing cold and danger of the streets.
"Alan used to be a corporate high-flyer. Little more than a decade ago he was earning £80,000 a year as a communications consultant for a string of multi-national companies.
"Katrina, too, was among the elite of her profession. As a nanny, she cared for the children of the celebrated and wealthy: she looked after actor Dennis Waterman’s daughters Hannah and Julia when they were young. For 30 years she raised the offspring of London’s movers and shakers.
"Katrina and Alan, who have been together for 28 years, are able, intelligent and articulate. Yet they have fallen through Britain’s welfare safety net. It is 18 months since they lost their home in Poole; the last vestige of their security and the base that pinioned them to the everyday world of work, supermarket shopping, breezy walks along the coast and supper parties with friends.
"Now they live hand-to-mouth, eking out their days in limbo. They try to sustain cheerfulness, normality and hope. They try to be inconspicuous..."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2943251/Homeless-Heathrow-look-holiday-truth-middle-class-couple-living-airport-losing-500-000-home.html
Remember -- if you need help, call 311.
*
He didn't say "layoff police and fire or raise taxes." He was making a point and giving examples. He also said the city wouldn't run right if they were to lay off city jobs.
They are raising taxes 18% but We get a 1.5% raise? Our bills are going up a lot faster than our raises. With this huge property tax raise the state can vote in our 3% cola that was promised to us and they stoled from us.
To all the pos that voted for the tiny dancer and put signs on their front lawns. O yeah u know who u are. What do u think now. Idiots !!!!
Yeah Rahm threatens to lay off police and fire ? We are so short now that would be an impossibility. We are scraping now trying to put 300 on the street.
now he says lay off 3,000 cops and 2,000 firefighters..ha ha ha ha ha ha snake plisken approves!
Lets be fair. I worked VRE in 010 recently. My team responded to a call for an assist at an on view shots fired and search of the neighborhood for the perpetrating gangbangers. I was shocked to find people living in garages, attics, utility boiler rooms and any available living space. Not to mention used car lots with a dozen or so cars in disrepair parked in vacant lots in residential zoned areas. Some of these lots had heavy duty trucks and construction equipment parked between residential housing. Don’t forget all the out of the garage car repair and unregulated cooking facilities. Why aren’t the inspectors writing up violations for zoning and building codes promoting fairness? Proper property taxing assessment must be applied uniformly as not to give some communities an unjust tax advantage and denying city coffers the much need sustenance. The properties have a half of dozen or so apartments but pay a hell of a lot less in property taxes than a housing code compliant matchbox sized home on the Northwest side. An online property tax check revealed many inaccurate property descriptions and several fenced off lots owing back taxes occupied for storage and commercial parking. If you don’t believe me, access the Cook County Assessor’s office and see for yourself. A housing inspector once told me he was forbidden to write up code and zoning violations by order of city hall and the alderman. The same lack of enforcement and fines seem to be happening in 009, 012, 004,008 and even parts of 007. These areas seem to have Card Blanche doing whatever the alderman dictates as an acceptable derivative of code compliance and worthy of enforcement and when and where to turn a blind assessment eye. Proper property descriptions and zoning enforcement means a fair and equitable taxing system. Taxpayers demand justice!
This retired greedy police officer from the 1960 - 1980 worked shifts , weekends , holidays overtime for straight time .
Why you ask because of a promise , good pension , paid health insurance for my family while I worked and in retirement .
Now look at my pay in the 1960 - 1980 and compare that to Alderman pay and benefits . That part time alderman job , now makes more than a police officer , better pension , health care , yes they are anti second amendment , but passed an ordinance so they can carry a gun , many have body guards , along with the mayor ,all paid for by U.S. Chumboles . Crooked , they should wear cameras and recording devices , be required to carry a city telephone with GPS tracking to show the tax payers how hard they work and where they spend their time .
Chicago crook county Illinois home for the illegals and link card crowd .
Where are the community activists ?
What is the cost over the last 25 years to taxpayers to pay for benefits to illegals because Chicago is a sanctuary city ?
What is cost for free child care , breakfast , lunch programs , after school care ?
What is cost for political body guard details over the last 25 years , let them hire private security .
Patrolman retire at commanders pay. Ouch , patrolman retire as a government specialist at sergeants pay , political handouts .
Captains , unnecessary rank , no test , draining the pension .
Prevailing rate wages for city employees that are carpenters , electricians , plumbers , stationary engineers , some work short hours , sleep at work , no watchdogs .
Aldermen have no skin in the budget game. They have given up or sacrificed NOTHING. They are the cause of this mess with know nothing Richard Daley and his crime family.
More than $500 million dollars going to a parasitic operation that produces nothing. Can't wait to see what happens when that money is taken away from consumer spending for actuak goods and services.
I sense like so many of the stories that one can find under Rahm's name using Google we will soon read how this new tax program "came up short"
END THIS "GOLD BRAID" PENSION INSANITY.
It's just legalized lifetime BRIBERY for clouted suck asses.
It would be much more honest---and clear---if Rahm would stop talking out of his politcal ass and state his proposal in plain English: "I'm raising everybody's rent." Because that's exactly what he's going to do. What the hell is a landlord supposed to do other than pass the cost on to the renter? Most property owners are just average working people.
People will lose their houses. People will lose their apartments. People will lose their businesses. City services will suffer and neighborhoods will crumble---hell, they're already crumbling. Most people will have less, if any, disposable income and meals will be smaller, fewer and cheaper. Businesses will get out of Dodge and entry-level jobs will become scarce.
This property tax will hurt absolutely everyone in the city---not just those that own property. These politicians are sick in the head.
But, hey, we're a world-class city like Detroit, so we got that goin' for us. F*ck the Democrats.
Impeach/recall Rahm!!!!
Indict Dick M. Daley!!!!
Stop calling it a tax for police and fire pensions. It's a corruption tax. Period. The Democrats have pillaged this city and state. Stealing becomes"borrowing" and pensions become scapegoats. This was inevitable. Now it's time to pay. Beginning of the end. When Chicago becomes Detroit, we'll have no one to thank except the politicians and dumb ass voters who elected them.
I'm on Vacation in Wisconsin Spending Money, Sales tax here is 5.5%.
I call his bluff ! Start laying off, I dare ya !! Just a big mouth trying raise shit with the citizens. Rahms father shouldve slapped the shit out of him years ago !!
People with homes valued under 250k will not pay the property tax increase. Looks like the same people who devour police, fire and numerous other resources will once again keep taking without having to pay. So relax Englewood residents, you will retain an over abundance of undeserved police presence without any cost. So feel free to shoot your guns off, engage in drive-bys, hoard medical treatment when injured by self-initiated violence and take the toddlers with at 1AM to purchase late night fast food with your Link card. This is living!
Will Detroit’s Dubious Bankruptcy Affect the Future of Municipal Finance?
http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/01/09/will-detroits-dubious-bankruptcy-affect-the-future-of-municipal-finance/
Judge Says Cities in Bankruptcy May Reject Pension Contracts
http://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-says-cities-in-bankruptcy-may-reject-pension-contracts-1412202138
Detroit Pension Cuts From Bankruptcy Prompt Cries of Betrayal
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/detroit-pension-cuts-from-bankruptcy-prompt-cries-of-betrayal
Rahm Emanuel let a good crisis go to waste by repeatedly failing to address the city's fiscal problems all throughout his first term. Four years were wasted and the debt increased because Rahm continued the scoop and toss tactics of his political ally and mayoral predecessor Richard Milhous Daley.
Close half the fire houses? 2000 police lay off?
WOW this guy is simple but most voters can barely grasp a household budget let alone a trillion dollar scam budget.
May be Garry salary should be cut also making more than the mayor is kinda silly! Who make more than a CEO of a company sure as hell aint the head of security.
Channel 7 reports an increase of Church Burlaries in the Englewood , fails to describe offenders .
Are they covering up for the white burglars in englewood .
I'm kind of happy about it. Money for my pension. Way more money from pension than the cost of these new taxes.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
They are raising taxes 18% but We get a 1.5% raise? Our bills are going up a lot faster than our raises. With this huge property tax raise the state can vote in our 3% cola that was promised to us and they stoled from us.
9/22/2015 12:36:00 PM
How thick is your skull? These people are trying to take your whole PENSION away. They do not care about your COLA. They want to end your PENSION. Wake the hell up.
Close half the fire houses? 2500 police lay off?
But don't stop spending on projects like Maggie Daley Park and DePaul"s basketball stadium.
Kinda happy about it??? Kinda like dragged down the street by a car and losing half your scalp but your kinda happy about it because you needed a haircut anyway??? Big win pal!! News flash... They never didn't have the money for the pensions! THEY have it now but have better ideas for it so they need more to be able to cover both! Your previous pension contributions are being played on by some tourists kid at Maggie Daley park and in some clouted assholes bank account
I am SOOOOO glad I sold the apartment building I owned in Chicago. Between the taxes, the building code engineered for extortion and the courts engineered for the shitbag tenants I'm free of a nightmare. Never looking back.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Don't forget: CPS looking at laying off 5000 employees!
http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/7/71/977732/ctu-5000-cps-layoffs-devastate-schools-trigger-teacher-strike
WE ARE Fucked.
9/22/2015 09:55:00 AM
Good! Let them do it! You get all the parents and guardians pissed about their kids not in school they will put the heat on the politicians just because they can't pawn their spawn to the schools while they go about their "normal" lives! More people should get good and pissed and start letting the elected representatives know that they suck. This is chicago and that won't happen!
10:16 p.m. shut up moron, you re nowhere near what the topic is. If you re more concerned with the race of some burglars getting reported than our taxes going up and the city going to hell, then you've got a problem.
We came very close to losing pension benefits like the COLA. Without that COLA your pension turns to shit in 20 years. I don't think a lot of people really realize that. The pension (and the ability to retire early) are really the only things that separate us from other blue collar workers. They want to raise the taxes to fund my pension? Yeah, I'm happy, very happy.
Anonymous said...
"It looks like what is coming is a city of Very Rich and Very Poor....seniors with no other options aren't going anywhere."
9/22/2015 01:57:00 AM
Just you wait.
'We're homeless at Heathrow': They look as if they're off on holiday, but this middle-class couple are living in an airport after losing their £500,000 home
"Katrina Smith, 62, and Alan Lane, 71, ended up sleeping rough at Heathrow...Had planned retirement in Dorset, buying a three-bed house to grow old in...But the couple, who have been together for 28 years, found themselves homeless after a string of bad decisions and some even worse luck...Sent emails to almost 100 charities, Almshouses and housing associations...No one - not even their local council - was able to help them find a home...'It seems there is no place for us in the world and that hurts,' says Alan.
"Katrina and Alan are not holidaymakers. They are homeless, rootless, a hair’s breath from destitution; two of a growing band of middle-class rough sleepers at Heathrow, who choose the safety, warmth and relative comfort of its terminals over the freezing cold and danger of the streets.
"Alan used to be a corporate high-flyer. Little more than a decade ago he was earning £80,000 a year as a communications consultant for a string of multi-national companies.
"Katrina, too, was among the elite of her profession. As a nanny, she cared for the children of the celebrated and wealthy: she looked after actor Dennis Waterman’s daughters Hannah and Julia when they were young. For 30 years she raised the offspring of London’s movers and shakers.
"Katrina and Alan, who have been together for 28 years, are able, intelligent and articulate. Yet they have fallen through Britain’s welfare safety net. It is 18 months since they lost their home in Poole; the last vestige of their security and the base that pinioned them to the everyday world of work, supermarket shopping, breezy walks along the coast and supper parties with friends.
"Now they live hand-to-mouth, eking out their days in limbo. They try to sustain cheerfulness, normality and hope. They try to be inconspicuous..."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2943251/Homeless-Heathrow-look-holiday-truth-middle-class-couple-living-airport-losing-500-000-home.html
Remember -- if you need help, call 311.
*
9/22/2015 12:13:00 Pl
Things are not always as they appear, read this link
Casinovamp.com/casinoblog/whats-happened-
to-the-alan-lane-and-katrina-smith-go-fund-me-campaign/
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I'm kind of happy about it. Money for my pension. Way more money from pension than the cost of these new taxes.
9/22/2015 11:17:00 PM
You are so clearly planted here by Rahm's camp, it isn't worth responding further.
"Things are not always as they appear, read this link
Casinovamp.com/casinoblog/whats-happened-
to-the-alan-lane-and-katrina-smith-go-fund-me-campaign/"
9/23/2015 09:40:00 AM
A gambling website no one ever heard of is doing detailed investigative journalism?
Hope I didn't get a virus there.
Anyway, as you say, interesting -- but may be "the exception that tests the rule." Lot of other homeless there -- on our side of the pond, heard on radio yesterday that homelessness is up 13% in LA...
Someone just posted here -- "010, I was shocked to find people living in garages, attics, utility boiler rooms and any available living space."
9/22/2015 01:45:00 PM
Despite what some claim -- mostly bankers and real estate agents -- the economy is not good, and illegal immigration on top of that sure isn't helping. There was another big Obamawave of Central American "unaccompanied alien children" through the Mexican border last month, and just wait until the wave from the Middle East and Sudan (civil war split the place in half, one half has oil and the other doesn't), etc. gets here.
Presidential candidates are vying with each other in word games of how many they want to let in -- they always act like these are Precious Moments figures to collect, line up on a shelf, see how many you can get. Just nuts. We can't take care of our own properly today.
Just received my proposed 2015 assessed valuation notice for 2015. It went up 33%. This, combined with the $500 million plus additional city levy and sure to be maximum CPS levy increase, WTF?
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