Chicago is Broke!

So why are they spending money like this?

• The city could soon be operating its first intercity bus terminal with strong Chicago branding — if everything goes according to plan.

  The city has taken the first step toward getting money to buy and rehab the Greyhound bus station at 630 W. Harrison St. That’s after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s contentious 2026 budget process, during which Ald. Bill Conway (34th) surprisingly discovered $50 million in line item funding for the project.

  The Department of Planning and Development held a public meeting last week on expanding the Canal/Congress tax increment financing district to include the Greyhound station. That meeting was required to move forward with allowing TIF money to be used to buy the property.

How many other mysterious "line item finding" surprises are there in the Chicago budget? We're guessing hundreds, not quite misappropriated, but spent in such a manner as to be disguised and difficult to locate for the casual observer.

The Chicago budget runs to hundreds upon hundreds of pages, mostly in small print, obfuscated in all sorts of legal jargon and government language meant to conceal spending on unneeded, redundant, politically toxic programs that wouldn't pass by voters - except voters have been lied to, dumbed down, guilt-tripped, or driven away from oversight by making the process tedious and mind numbing. 

The running gag used to be to write the spending bills like stereo instructions, the most boring manual ever created. It's a joke, but nowadays, as the money runs out, no one is laughing.