I've posted on this theme before, but I'm constantly amazed how much of a connection there is between my daily life and municipal bonds. Across the street from this office sits an old brick industrial facility that was supposed to be turned into a townhouse/condo development. Unfortunately, the developers borrowed $15 million but sold only 1 unit, and now the property sits in foreclosure, owned by a very unhappy bank. So, the Park District, with land that presses right up to the property, would like to use the building for offices, conference rooms, exercise rooms, and also some green space after tearing down part of the structure. They need $6 million to acquire the property and, therefore, want to issue $6 million of municipal bonds. Next Tuesday, Forest Parkers like me will vote yea or nay to allow the Park District to raise our property taxes slightly in order to create the money needed to retire a $6 million bond issue. I'm kind of tired of seeing the old, useless structure across the street, and green space is a rare commodity in this densely-packed community. I plan to vote "yea." Senior citizens will probably vote "no," based on their argument that "we don't use it; why should we pay for it?" Nice to see how much today's seniors care about the youth of their community--as if an extra $75 a year in property taxes is really going to impact anyone.
On another note, I see that the Cubs are threatening to move their spring training facility from Arizona to Florida. I invite you to read this article from the Bond Buyer yourself. As before, you will see that municipal bonds impact our daily lives, far outside the scope of the Series 7 Exam. The Bond Buyer article is at:
by the way, the proposal passed, so now it's up to the Park Board to get the huge project going. It's going to be loud as heck around this office for a while. Oh well.
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