Regarding the article “Aides’ pension costs create rift article” (April 10), I was shocked when I read that part-time aldermanic aides can receive a pension as long as they work at least 700 hours in a calendar year (14 hours a week, assuming a 50-week year). The aldermen are complaining about having to fund this expense from their budget. Do they realize that it is rare for part-time employees, let alone full-time employees, to get a pension? Part-time city employees should not be getting a pension! What other employer would offer this?
The city of Chicago is already bankrupt because of its pension liabilities. When is this going to stop?
How many employers continue to offer a pension plan to full-time employees? The city should exit from providing pensions and instead offer a 401(k)-type plan.
— John Bernhard, Chicago
Taxpayers are on the hook
The recent front-page article on aides’ pension costs was quite informative and clearly described the dispute between the aldermen and the mayor regarding pension payments. The debate centers around whether the pension contributions should be paid for from Chicago’s general fund or the ward expense accounts. These payments are actually made by the taxpayers, and the real debate should be: Why do taxpayers provide pensions to workers who work as little as 14 hours per week?
— Richard Arehart, Orland Park
Make houses more affordable
A major element of the American Dream is that our children will have it better than we did. A key part of that is generational wealth, children benefiting from what their parents have accrued in their lifetime. And usually the biggest driving force for that is homeownership.
Coincidentally, one of the chief complaints that brings charges of racism and the need for equity is the lack of generational wealth. Yet, what is happening in our country today is a push for higher-density housing (apartments) rather than single-family housing (“Pritzker’s housing proposals: More four-flats, looser rules,” April 12). We need to make houses more affordable, not build more apartments.
There are two proposals that I have to fix this.
Where I live, the trend is to tear down houses that are for sale and build monster houses that only the very wealthy can afford. I have proposed that the village require a certain amount of time for houses to be on the open market before developers can contact the sellers or vice versa. This would make a lot more more affordable houses available.
My second proposal is that the entire property tax system needs to be reworked. The value of one’s property has no correlation to one’s income or one’s ability to pay a tax on it. The easiest way is to shift more of these taxes to an income tax; public school funding makes up about two-thirds of the property tax.
We are losing sight of the American Dream. It’s hardly talked about anymore. We have lowered our expectations. Why? We spend more time celebrating other cultures rather than our own. So the newer generations don’t know what they have been given, and that’s how you lose it.
— Larry Craig, Wilmette
Keep Chicago gritty, inclusive
In these unsettling and trying times in our nation, I thank Leslé Honoré for the poignant words in her poem “Emerald City 2050” (“Chicago will reap the rewards of seeds planted in 2050,” April 12). Her words are uplifting and optimistic and tell a story of people working together for a better future.
Let’s keep Chicago a unique city — one with grit and one with inclusion.
— Sam Solomon, Deerfield
No respect for lunar voyage
The landing of Artemis II gets a one-paragraph notation (“Artemis safely splashes down,” April 11) on the bottom of the front page with four negative and depressing articles covering the rest of the page. Shameful editorial priorities to not make the first lunar voyage in more than 50 years the full front page!
— Joan Rojek, Mokena, Illinois
Respite thanks to explorers
For four solid hours Friday night, I watched the TV coverage of Artemis II’s return to Earth. Not once did I hear the words Democrat, Republican, war, bombs, negotiation, oil, murder or conflict. What a relief!
Thank you, NASA.
— Mike Calcina, Chicago
Powerful op-ed on Iran, US
Melody Moezzi’s April 16 op-ed (“It’s not Persian civilization I’m worried about”) is the finest column I have seen in the Tribune in many years.
Powerful, eloquent and right on target.
— Joel Jeffrey, Wheaton
River Park was everything
The editorial by Sue Grapenthien Fullman about LaFollette Park really struck home for me (“LaFollette Park was at the center of my universe as a kid,” April 11).
When I was a youngster in the 1960s, River Park on the Northwest Side was my home away from home. Just like in the op-ed, we played Little League baseball (seven diamonds), swam, attended day camp and had Sunday picnics with friends and family. As the Chicago River runs through the park separating it in two, we were always told not to go down by the river.
As the cultural ethnicity of the neighborhood has changed, so has the park. Where once three baseball diamonds stood, now is a soccer pitch ringed by a running track. The river is now accessible for kayaking and fishing. A native garden has been planted on both sides of the park, while walking paths have been installed. On the east side of the park, only one baseball diamond remains.
Chicago has more neighborhood parks than most cities in the U.S. The park field houses have always been a waypoint for diverse immigrants, to help them become Americanized. The neighborhood parks are central to each and every citizen. Our large parks such as Grant, Lincoln, Humboldt and Garfield are great, but it is the small neighborhood parks that keep communities together.
In these small local parks, you see parents and grandparents watching their children playing in the playgrounds or participating in sports. Parks are a place to meet friends and enjoy this beautiful city.
— Cary Riske, Grayslake
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