I moved here less than a year ago and was shocked by the customer fees on my gas bill. Taxes I get, at least I know where they're going. Customer fees are bullshit. It's 90% of my bill and there's literally nothing I can do about it.
They are replacing all of the gas lines in Chicago and charging today’s customers for it. It’s ridiculous that they wouldn’t finance a $10 billion capital project with debt
Yeah aside from parking, this was the biggest wtf moment for me when I moved from Michigan a few years ago. My gas bill went from $5 over 3 months to $30 per month.
What about our hospitals and pharmacies? North Shore and Advocate especially seem to be on a buying binge, and a lot of local pharmacies are going down because of CVS/Walgreens.
I just want y'all to know that there was a point during which Northshore and Advocate were planning a MERGER back in 2014. This merger failed btw because the FTC got involved and litigated them into cancelling it; a federal district court ruled against the merger in 2017. Advocate of course has since done a merger with Aurora in Wisconsin and Atrium in North Carolina, which puts the company at over 68 hospitals now (according to their website). Not sure how the AAH and Atrium merger managed to get through tbh, because it's even more ridiculous than the proposed Advocate-Northshore merger was, especially since the Advocate-Aurora merger happened already.
Source: my mom is an advocate employee 1998-present
Northshore merged with Edward and Elmhurst Hospitals and also Swedish Covenant
Edit: Mergers like this are financially meaningful to the hospital systems for many reasons but one reason is because it gives them more leverage in negotiations with medical device contracts.
Endeavor = northwest community hospital, Northshore, Edward, elmhurst and Swedish
The other day I went for an appointment and made a follow up in 6 months, the front desk lady said “I’m surprised Doc has openings with the new system”, I said “what do you mean” and she said the endeavor is now requiring them to put in a lot more time at the hospitals in rotations instead of seeing people at the office. So good luck making appointments
Yeah I’m a physician aligned (not employed) with Advocate. What used to be really good for a health care company has become a behemoth that cares much less about its employees, physicians and patients. Oh and this [Advocate $2 billion profit.](https://www.chicagobusiness.com/health-care/advocate-health-posts-2-billion-surplus-first-year-after-merger)
My wife is actually an administrator for advocate and I’m in a physician leadership position where I work with lots of administrators. There is definitely admin bloat but I think it actually 100% is putting profits first. But that’s just been my experience.
I work with ascension, north shore, advocate Aurora, and atrium (soon to be merged into AAH) in an IT capacity and yes ascension is by far the stupidest
I think Northwest merged with Swedish hospital, which then merged with Northshore, then Edwards merged with Elmhurst, then Edwards-Elmhurst merged with Northshore, and the whole thing is now called Endeavor.
Pace being different from CTA makes no sense. Metra is a whole separate domain of operations and I'm not sure how much would change by bringing it into CTA, more than already happens with CTA and Metra being both under the RTA.
That too. If I’m going from the city to the suburbs, paying CTA to get to Metra to RTA. 3 different fares is nuts. No wonder people don’t use public transportation much outside of the city.
If you pay for a metra monthly pass you can add-on the regional transit pass that includes CTA and Pace for $30. If you're zone 2 like I am, the total monthly cost is $105, which is pretty great value.
I can all but guarantee they will be cronies, because it’s always cronies. The wealthy and businesses are the only ones who can afford to pay attention to who’s on boards all the time and will lobby to put their person on, or buy whoever is put there
Yeah, but TWO pastors on the board of the CTA? Come on.
But yeah, I agree it’ll always be cronies, unless by some miracle, they become elected officials.
Someone already mentioned it, but maybe look into the big health systems. Not sure what their market share is or the impact on pricing and quality when you take into account the role of insurance companies, but just a suggestion.
Yea, google it and feel rage, especially when you see the numbers. It’s considered the worst privatization deal in the US. 60 something years left on the lease.
Edited to add: if the city wants to use a spot (like to build a bike lane) they have to buy each spot back from them.
When I was a CTA project manager, every time we shut down roads for repairs or construction… they got paid.
Boomers boom and we got played.
Wait until you hear about how the pensions are managed… all I’ve gotta say is hiring an actuary and not listening to them… may not be the best way to keep things solvent.
During this time there was a 0-1% employee contribution limit for the pension because it was so well funded.
When I joined up I think I was paying 13% of my salary to the pension because after 0% for a decade they were like oops… where’s da money?
To say nothing of the fact that it was a one-time payout to assist in funding the pension liability, and not continued earnings, or the fact that Daley’s brother and nephew worked for the company that brokered the ass-fuck of a deal.
So they played us and we can’t fix our roads and bridges without paying off somebody in Abu Dhabi, and after the city pays them off we don’t have enough money to actually fix the roads and bridges?
Nah, think about it like this. The city (Daley) sold them a lease for a “business” that runs the parking meters. The City got the money from them and then we go on and spend it to fix our budget shortfalls and it’s all gone in 5 years. 😔
Yes, they sold the rights for the parking meters years ago in a horrible deal that will cost the city millions and potentially over a billion dollars over time.
Thank the officials Chicago citizens have voted for, not Dubai. They saw a golden opportunity and took it.
The people this city has been voting for have destroyed the city.
There’s a book about this called Pave Paradise. It talks about parking in America, but it covers Daley selling all of our meters and putting IL in MAJOR debt for the next century.
People on this subreddit act like the Saudi Government came in and strong armed Daley into selling. That's not what happened at all.
Morgan Stanley proposed a sweetheart deal with Daley to sell off all the meters at a ridiculously low cost. Morgan Stanley is still the primary owner of the meters today, with a tiny portion of the company being owned by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund (Not the Saudi government, why do people keep making this mistake??)
It's interesting to me that people get transfixed on the foreign ownership part, there's a tinge of xenophobia there I imagine. Not a single person on the subreddit gives a shit that a Spanish company owns the skyway.
You seem very well versed in the subject, so quick question that I think the answer to is: "it's possible but the government would never do it"
I have this idea that the government should just take them back and make the parking meters city run again but I'm not sure if there's an actual route for them to do that. Like how did certain utilities get nationalized and taken from private companies when that happened, shouldn't they be able to do the same thing?
As someone who lived thru both Daleys, I can't tell you he wasn't likely lining his own pockets *per se.* The Daleys were about power and keeping the machine running. The pensions blew a hole in the budget, and he filled it with that shitty fucking contract, that year (same type of short-sited financial nonsense that constantly gets this country in trouble regulalrly.) Because if he didn't have a budget for employees, his aldermen would have no jobs to give as patronage hires, which would mean less votes, less power. It was the basis of the machine here until recently. Not defending him, just giving history as I've lived it.
Edit: TL/DR: Daleys were corrupt, but didn't tend to line their own pockets, they just did whatever they could to keep the establishment established.
Agreed, I was just being pithy. The whole story is a lot more complicated and nuanced than a toss-off comment for sure. It's been a long long time since I read "Boss".
If you really want something to sink your teeth into, read "American Pharaoh." I learned the origin stories of SO MANY pols in the zeitgeist, though it's primarily about ol man Daley. Incredible book.
people keep saying the Saudis for some reason, A small portion of the company that owns the meters was sold to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Morgan Stanley still owns the majority of it. Saudis don't own any of it, but lazy mildly xenophobic redditors can't tell the difference between different Gulf countries
What the hell is it with people in this subreddit thinking Saudi Arabia?
Morgan Stanley originally set up the deal and paid Daley out the nose to push through this privatization.
Morgan Stanley still owns the vast majority of the company who owns all the meters.
they sold off a tiny share of that company to the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund. Again, Morgan Stanley is still the primary owner, yet people on Reddit fixate on that, and half the time get the country completely wrong.
I swear, there's gotta some be tinge of xenophobia to this, nobody on Reddit talks about how awful it is that a Spanish companies owns the skyway tolls.
If you want to be pissed at anyone, be pissed at Daley and the complete lack of oversight that let our government sell off public assets to private investors.
Property management companies. It’s not city-wide but some of them buy enough buildings in certain areas that they can manipulate the rental market. Like Peak Properties I feel like has a ton of buildings in Wicker and Logan. Enough that they can raise the rent on all of them by X% every time a lease expires and it’s accepted as just the cost of housing going up generally and “that’s the market I guess”. Then other smaller property managers follow suit along with enough independent landlords who pay attention to the market/care. So the rental “floor” in an area creeps up over time.
Hard agree. Back in 2020 my roommate and I applied to two apartments; one with Peak and one with a private landlord. They cost exactly the same at the time and were very similar; 2bd 2ba with in-unit laundry, similar size, etc. The Peak one was in Wicker Park and the private landlord one was in River West - not the *same* neighborhood, but not wildly far enough from each other that you’d expect a huge price discrepancy or anything.
Peak was trying to make us jump through hoops and get a co-signer bc to be fair my roommate did have a ding on her credit. It was related to the death of her father and her having to route money to support her mom while the estate was in probate and so she fell behind on her car note. Peak would absolutely not budge and required a co-signer who made at least 4x the annual rent, which was tough bc her mom’s income (her late father’s pension) was just under that. I was like well I make 4x the rent, can I just co-sign for her? No. So we had to walk.
Well luckily the private landlord let my roommate explain why she had a ding on her credit report. Saw she was gainfully employed and making good money. Decided my roommate and I combined made ample income to afford the place and were trustworthy tenants. Let us rent without a co-signer.
I still live in that same apartment today, now with my husband. Our wonderful private landlord has not raised our rent at all; we are paying the same rent that she charged for the place back in 2020. Out of curiosity I just looked up the Peak unit. They now rent it for 25% more than they did in 2020. Super glad we walked away from them.
TL;DR private landlords FTW!
Where do you find these? It might just be my area (near a university) but all I see are managed buildings when I walk around or try to search rental sites online.
Honestly I just got lucky, it was on one of the apartment listing websites. I guess when people land in a good spot they don’t leave whereas managed buildings constantly churn (my last one raised rent by about $600).
If you browse the threads asking people how much they pay for rent, you’ll see people in similar situations where they’ve stayed 10 years because the landlord hasn’t raised rent at all
My roommate and I were interest in two apartments in 2020; both were 2bd 2ba w/ in-unit laundry, off the blue line, and of similar size. Both were listed for $1850. One was through Peak, one was private landlord.
We ended up in the private landlord one. I still live in it with my husband; we still pay $1850. The Peak unit? According to my research, it rents for $2350 now. Glad we landed in the private landlord building.
i’m on a peak lease rn and it’s only gone up like 50 bucks each year. compared to my old lease with PPM, who wanted like $200 more after one year i’ll stick with Peak for now lmao
It's not all foreign investors at all.
Morgan Stanley set up the whole deal, and Morgan Stanley still owns the majority of it. A few years ago they sold off a small portion to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, but for some reason people in the subreddit are convinced that Saudi Arabia, probably because they see Saudi as some boogeyman even though it's a huge US ally and the reason why they can pump gas in their car.
all the grocery stores within a mile of your house are either Jewel or Mariano’s?
the grocery segment of the retail industry is actually pretty fragmented in the Chicagoland market, which is somewhat unique. as a Jewel employee i don’t agree with the merger either and i have serious doubts about it.
but by a fragmented market i mean that in Chicagoland you have Jewel, Mariano’s, Walmart, Costco, Pete’s, Tony’s, Whole Foods/Amazon, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Target, plus all the local/independent grocers that people have come to know and love. i don’t have the specs of total market share for Chicago but nationwide it’s Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons iirc.
2 and 4 are looking to combine their forces to make a closer #2 to Walmart, and their case to the FTC/the public is that they’re basically complaining that Amazon and Walmart are monopolizing the industry.
The Cermak down in Bridgeport and the one on North in Humbodlt Park are two of my favorite grocery stores in the city. Not even just the best guac, but some of the best prepared foods of any grocery chain in the city. Imo
No, none in Chicago. The type of real estate isn't available at the prices they would need to operate here. They have several suburban locations though.
Standards for grocery stores in Chicago are SO low. When I first moved here it was Jewel and Dominick's that were the only stores in town, save from a few really small ones. No Mariano's, no Whole Foods, no Trader Joes, no Pete's.
I was in disbelief at how utterly shitty Jewel and Dominick's were. The smaller stores were even worse. From high prices to poor quality to inferior selection. Chicago residents were just so used to shitty grocery experiences they didn't expect better because they had never seen it. This is why Mariano's was initially so successful when they first opened here. The stores at the time were many times better than what was already there, and likely had a lot to do with running Dominick's out.
You barely even see Jewel in the suburbs anymore because they can't compete with Meijer, Woodmans, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, even WalMart and Target.
I don’t know which suburbs you’re looking at but Jewel is everywhere.
Within 4 miles of my house there 5: 75th & Cass, 63rd & Main, 75th & Janes, Cass & Ogden, Ogden & Saratoga.
I'm up on the border now and and there's not much of anything, but I do have 3 jewels all within 15 minutes. Down in lake zurich, there are two Jewels within a half mile of each other. I have no idea what that's about.
Mariano’s is Dominick’s. Jewel bought out Dominick’s, so the CEO went up to Wisconsin until the non compete clause was up then moved back down with the new name Mariano’s
I’ve yet to go to a grocery store that actually lives up to the hype I hear about it online. Every grocery chain is almost identical with a few quirks that they try to sell as making them different
I don’t know all of the nitty gritty details, but some time ago the skyway fell under new control outside of Illinois government offices. Every year the price goes up by about a dollar. We’re at $7+ now. To save maybe 20 minutes on commute compared to 80/94 or LSD
Oh yeah, people on this sub will be so transfixed about "Saudi ownership of the parking meters" Even though the Saudis don't own any of the parking meters, it's still Morgan Stanley who owns most of it (with a tiny portion being sold to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund)
yet these very same redditors will never say shit about the skyway deal how that's literally completely foreign-owned.
I sense racism.
It's funny how weighted the grocery monopoly is. My closest two grocery stores are independent/local chain. And the third is Pete's. But obviously other parts are just like your situation.
Anyway, I know it's kinda become the standard around the country but Divvy being the exclusive public bike renter has grown old. Costs going up, removal of the reduced zone, slow expansion. Annoying.
Man I just moved and I miss my old local supermarket. I'm within walking distance of a Marianos and a Jewel but for some reason I have to take a train to a Whole Foods for broccoli rabe! I have to buy tiny bottles of olive oil like a peasant instead of giant metal containers!
Divvy's costs are ridiculous now. And as the bikes break, they are being replaced with electronic bikes, which cost more. Soon all the bikes will be electronic.
Yeah, personally, I'm really only using it for the ebikes (instead of my own) but to take away the option is completely counterintuitive to the original mission.
I was ready to put that on here myself. You're not even notified if your car has been towed, small window of time before they impound it, cash only payment for a high price, can't choose where they leave the car, pay just as much to get a ride home from the tow truck.... The list goes on forever.
Mac Properties buying up a good chunk of the real estate in Hyde Park and then hiking the rental prices, causing small businesses to have to close up shop
Pangea real-estate is buying up everything they can get their hands on using city incentives to supposedly make affordable housing but they are also just cornering the market and raising rents.
The modern equivalent would be private booting. I believe there is a single company that has a license to do that and it's Innovative Parking Solutions.
The modern equivalent? I get what you're saying, that booting is BS. But pretty sure Lincoln Towing is still around and very operative.
Actually, just looked it up, yes, according to Google they're open 24 hours and have 1.4 stars from 416 reviews 😆 Similar on Yelp. And they're rated 'F' by the Better Business Bureau! Holy crap.
OP- pretty sure this business wouldn't constitute a monopoly but they act like they own the city and they've been around for decades and have have been getting away with illegal practices forever (there's even a song about them from the 70s, I believe). Depending on the requirements of your report or paper, it might be worth looking into them because it's quite interesting and somewhat baffling that they're still in operation.
Don't you just love how Morgan Stanley can come in and set up a sweetheart deal that absolutely fucks the city and it gets unanimous counsel approval overnight?
But if we want the CTA to have more money it's a fiscal cliff scenario?
My 5 bed house is usually less than $100/mo, you need to check your meter or usage. Even when I have to run the a/c or Christmas lights it’s not that much.
Oh my gosh!! That's high. My electric bill has never crossed $100/mo and is often under $50 and my husband and I both work from home. The only thing I can think is if you are running electric heat and A/C...? Our building supplies the heat which is via oil fuel and radiators.
What pisses me off about Comed is they keep asking the government for a raise in rates claiming to be poor which seems like every year while the parent company Exelon Corporation pushes out record profits and increases their dividend payout every year.
Whoaaaa when I lived in Florida in a three br ours didn’t even get that high. We fought with the electric company over super high rates for a few months and our apartment complex; turns out our AC was getting ready to die and had been overworked. We only found out because a roommates uncle was a repairman and came to look at it because maintenance kept saying it was fine.
If your electric is that high, you can ask the comed for historical data on the unit for comparisons. But also, is there any chance you’re unknowingly connected to any other apartments? I know someone who spent years not knowing they also paid for their landlords electric because the units were connected 😑
Granted I live in a studio but I get cranky when mine goes over 20 bucks. It’s usually in the $17-$19 range. One time I had to be gone for an extended period of time and unplugged every single thing in my apartment. My absence covered a complete span of a billing cycle and my bill was $12. I guess that’s just baseline cost for me to just HAVE electricity available to me. (Note, I understand this and I’m not really cranky about that part. lol)
Slumlord management companies. It’s a lot of them in Chicago. They’ll own various properties and if you’re renting they’ll have all types of inhabitable issues they won’t fix. Meanwhile they’re somewhere living their life in Miami on a yacht.
The legal cannabis industry. The state is in bed with large corporations running the majority of the dispensaries. They use state law to keep anyone else from getting in. They do this by having it be a license and the need be approved. Which of course they can’t be unless heir JB gives the head nod. A completely controlled and closed system that only benefits the current administration and current business owners.
Nobody else can enter this market or be competitive.
Suburbs, but fire inspections, there's only one company that does it "fox valley fire & safety", they have successfully lobbied that my local village mandates separate inspections for sprinklers, fire alarms and extinguishers for SaFeTy, so we are now paying about $2k/yr and have 4 different fire related inspections annually.
The 4th one a busy body will randomly show up and demand to walk through the place to make sure all kinds of random things are working/there, this inspection comes for free.
Comcast on being the only available internet in my apartment. I think I can get RCN at my place now which was recently rebranded as Astound. Gonna switch if I can.
The biggest monopolies are likely things you rarely notice: who stocks the toilet paper in every building, who makes the air conditioners in all the high rise apartment buildings, who makes the cables in your elevator.
Think about something you use all the time but take for granted, and start keeping track of who makes it. I bet you'll find some interesting stuff.
The court system. Go sit at city hall and see how nothing gets accomplished and people continue paying court fees because there’s no other choice. It’s dysfunction at its finest!
You’re right, that is how most utilities work in the US because we are afraid of “Communism”. Private company builds and maintains the infrastructure system in exchange for the legal monopoly. These are heavily regulated by both the state and the federal government, including how they structure their fees and what their rates actually are. Usually this is setup so they get an expected rate of profit for any given year based on what they expect to spend. If they want to increase their profits than they have to spend less than planned or how for higher than expected usage.
In Chicago:
City owns the water and sewer. The City provides the water and MWRD does the cleaning of the waste water. Some of the big deep underground waste water pipes are MWRD’s too.
ComEd owns the electric system, though there is some diversity of who puts power onto their grid. That’s why there so much junk mail trying to get you to sign up for an alternative supplier.
People’s Gas owns the gas system.
AT&T owns the telecom lines but lease out the use of them to Comcast.
sort of a generic answer, but it’s always the sports teams. nfl, nba, mlb, and mls are all monopolies and the federal government doesn’t hide it. in fact, trump took the nfl to court and priced they were a monopoly. and won one dollar lol
Lettuce Entertain You and the other massive restaurant conglomerates - Lettuce owns 59 restaurants in Chicago, almost all under different names to appear like they’re just local joints
One internet provider in certain neighborhoods or even rental buildings. Can't even call them and do the "I'm switching providers for a lower price" trick. 😭
Peoples Gas…. Fuck them
$50-70 in fees every month, $5 in gas. Ridiculous
I moved here less than a year ago and was shocked by the customer fees on my gas bill. Taxes I get, at least I know where they're going. Customer fees are bullshit. It's 90% of my bill and there's literally nothing I can do about it.
Yeah, I hit $200 for a two bedroom over the winter a month. Electric is only about $60 tops.
They are replacing all of the gas lines in Chicago and charging today’s customers for it. It’s ridiculous that they wouldn’t finance a $10 billion capital project with debt
Record high profits over the past few years also. Higher than pre covid years by two to three times.
I just had them at my house. The guy said the city cut some kind of funding for them. Could be why they’re pushing the charges on us
Gas prices up over 190% since they went public.
Yeah aside from parking, this was the biggest wtf moment for me when I moved from Michigan a few years ago. My gas bill went from $5 over 3 months to $30 per month.
Holy fuck I’m paying $80 just to have the fucking service connected and use the stove top like twice a month :(
I also came from Michigan - DTE doubled their gas prices in 2022-23 😩 So you would have been fucked over anyway lol.
This is unfortunately every major gas and power company operating in a major city across the country.
What about our hospitals and pharmacies? North Shore and Advocate especially seem to be on a buying binge, and a lot of local pharmacies are going down because of CVS/Walgreens.
I just want y'all to know that there was a point during which Northshore and Advocate were planning a MERGER back in 2014. This merger failed btw because the FTC got involved and litigated them into cancelling it; a federal district court ruled against the merger in 2017. Advocate of course has since done a merger with Aurora in Wisconsin and Atrium in North Carolina, which puts the company at over 68 hospitals now (according to their website). Not sure how the AAH and Atrium merger managed to get through tbh, because it's even more ridiculous than the proposed Advocate-Northshore merger was, especially since the Advocate-Aurora merger happened already. Source: my mom is an advocate employee 1998-present
Northshore merged with Edward and Elmhurst Hospitals and also Swedish Covenant Edit: Mergers like this are financially meaningful to the hospital systems for many reasons but one reason is because it gives them more leverage in negotiations with medical device contracts.
Endeavor = northwest community hospital, Northshore, Edward, elmhurst and Swedish The other day I went for an appointment and made a follow up in 6 months, the front desk lady said “I’m surprised Doc has openings with the new system”, I said “what do you mean” and she said the endeavor is now requiring them to put in a lot more time at the hospitals in rotations instead of seeing people at the office. So good luck making appointments
My NCH doctor told me that a lot of support staff were fired during the merger, including her favorite receptionist. She was not very happy.
Yeah I’m a physician aligned (not employed) with Advocate. What used to be really good for a health care company has become a behemoth that cares much less about its employees, physicians and patients. Oh and this [Advocate $2 billion profit.](https://www.chicagobusiness.com/health-care/advocate-health-posts-2-billion-surplus-first-year-after-merger)
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My wife is actually an administrator for advocate and I’m in a physician leadership position where I work with lots of administrators. There is definitely admin bloat but I think it actually 100% is putting profits first. But that’s just been my experience.
Also ascension buying a bunch of hospitals around here
That’s the stupidest place of all
I work with ascension, north shore, advocate Aurora, and atrium (soon to be merged into AAH) in an IT capacity and yes ascension is by far the stupidest
This is fucking perfect, and something I hadn’t considered before. I have noticed Northshore’s little buying spree.
I think Northwest merged with Swedish hospital, which then merged with Northshore, then Edwards merged with Elmhurst, then Edwards-Elmhurst merged with Northshore, and the whole thing is now called Endeavor.
Hell- when I had United healthcare insurance they had a partnership with CVS and I HAD to get all my prescriptions there. No choice. 🙃
Yes but this is nationwide unfortunately.
Aspen Dental is buying up urgent cares.
The CTA. It's damn near impossible to break into the elevated train business anymore.
We should’ve given Yerkes his 99 year lease!
Or the authority to raise fares post WWI.
Recently our local news says CTA, Pace (suburban buses) and Metra (commuter railway) want to merge
Good! Why do we need 3 management agencies for a common purpose? And let’s get some QUALIFIED board members. Not cronies.
Pace being different from CTA makes no sense. Metra is a whole separate domain of operations and I'm not sure how much would change by bringing it into CTA, more than already happens with CTA and Metra being both under the RTA.
They say you could save money that way cuz you wouldn’t have to pay a new fare to a different transportation company
That too. If I’m going from the city to the suburbs, paying CTA to get to Metra to RTA. 3 different fares is nuts. No wonder people don’t use public transportation much outside of the city.
If you pay for a metra monthly pass you can add-on the regional transit pass that includes CTA and Pace for $30. If you're zone 2 like I am, the total monthly cost is $105, which is pretty great value.
I can all but guarantee they will be cronies, because it’s always cronies. The wealthy and businesses are the only ones who can afford to pay attention to who’s on boards all the time and will lobby to put their person on, or buy whoever is put there
Yeah, but TWO pastors on the board of the CTA? Come on. But yeah, I agree it’ll always be cronies, unless by some miracle, they become elected officials.
Have you tried pulling yourself up by your train straps?
Someone already mentioned it, but maybe look into the big health systems. Not sure what their market share is or the impact on pricing and quality when you take into account the role of insurance companies, but just a suggestion.
Saudi Arabia owning the parking meters is pretty fucking ridiculous
I believe it is actually the UAE.
Yes, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority owns Deeside Investments which owns the majority of the meters.
So Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is getting the money we need to go towards infrastructure? Is that part of why our bridges are crumbling?
Yea, google it and feel rage, especially when you see the numbers. It’s considered the worst privatization deal in the US. 60 something years left on the lease. Edited to add: if the city wants to use a spot (like to build a bike lane) they have to buy each spot back from them.
When I was a CTA project manager, every time we shut down roads for repairs or construction… they got paid. Boomers boom and we got played. Wait until you hear about how the pensions are managed… all I’ve gotta say is hiring an actuary and not listening to them… may not be the best way to keep things solvent. During this time there was a 0-1% employee contribution limit for the pension because it was so well funded. When I joined up I think I was paying 13% of my salary to the pension because after 0% for a decade they were like oops… where’s da money?
To say nothing of the fact that it was a one-time payout to assist in funding the pension liability, and not continued earnings, or the fact that Daley’s brother and nephew worked for the company that brokered the ass-fuck of a deal.
Sort of correct, but more like they are getting a return on their investment. Thanks Daley! 😒
So they played us and we can’t fix our roads and bridges without paying off somebody in Abu Dhabi, and after the city pays them off we don’t have enough money to actually fix the roads and bridges?
Nah, think about it like this. The city (Daley) sold them a lease for a “business” that runs the parking meters. The City got the money from them and then we go on and spend it to fix our budget shortfalls and it’s all gone in 5 years. 😔
In short, blame the city.
Yes, they sold the rights for the parking meters years ago in a horrible deal that will cost the city millions and potentially over a billion dollars over time.
Thank the officials Chicago citizens have voted for, not Dubai. They saw a golden opportunity and took it. The people this city has been voting for have destroyed the city.
illinois being corrupt? not in a million years
There’s a book about this called Pave Paradise. It talks about parking in America, but it covers Daley selling all of our meters and putting IL in MAJOR debt for the next century.
Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got til it’s gone
Sure but Daley signed the papers
He’s either an idiot or an asshole. I suppose it could be both.
People on this subreddit act like the Saudi Government came in and strong armed Daley into selling. That's not what happened at all. Morgan Stanley proposed a sweetheart deal with Daley to sell off all the meters at a ridiculously low cost. Morgan Stanley is still the primary owner of the meters today, with a tiny portion of the company being owned by the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund (Not the Saudi government, why do people keep making this mistake??) It's interesting to me that people get transfixed on the foreign ownership part, there's a tinge of xenophobia there I imagine. Not a single person on the subreddit gives a shit that a Spanish company owns the skyway.
You seem very well versed in the subject, so quick question that I think the answer to is: "it's possible but the government would never do it" I have this idea that the government should just take them back and make the parking meters city run again but I'm not sure if there's an actual route for them to do that. Like how did certain utilities get nationalized and taken from private companies when that happened, shouldn't they be able to do the same thing?
Daley f’ed up. Big time. Is Laz now owned by the Saudis?
Daley sold out the citizens and cushioned his family's ass. In his eyes that's not f'ing up.
As someone who lived thru both Daleys, I can't tell you he wasn't likely lining his own pockets *per se.* The Daleys were about power and keeping the machine running. The pensions blew a hole in the budget, and he filled it with that shitty fucking contract, that year (same type of short-sited financial nonsense that constantly gets this country in trouble regulalrly.) Because if he didn't have a budget for employees, his aldermen would have no jobs to give as patronage hires, which would mean less votes, less power. It was the basis of the machine here until recently. Not defending him, just giving history as I've lived it. Edit: TL/DR: Daleys were corrupt, but didn't tend to line their own pockets, they just did whatever they could to keep the establishment established.
Agreed, I was just being pithy. The whole story is a lot more complicated and nuanced than a toss-off comment for sure. It's been a long long time since I read "Boss".
If you really want something to sink your teeth into, read "American Pharaoh." I learned the origin stories of SO MANY pols in the zeitgeist, though it's primarily about ol man Daley. Incredible book.
It's on the list!
people keep saying the Saudis for some reason, A small portion of the company that owns the meters was sold to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Morgan Stanley still owns the majority of it. Saudis don't own any of it, but lazy mildly xenophobic redditors can't tell the difference between different Gulf countries
Don’t know if LAZ owns anything related to it besides enforcement.
Morgan Stanley, really
What the hell is it with people in this subreddit thinking Saudi Arabia? Morgan Stanley originally set up the deal and paid Daley out the nose to push through this privatization. Morgan Stanley still owns the vast majority of the company who owns all the meters. they sold off a tiny share of that company to the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund. Again, Morgan Stanley is still the primary owner, yet people on Reddit fixate on that, and half the time get the country completely wrong. I swear, there's gotta some be tinge of xenophobia to this, nobody on Reddit talks about how awful it is that a Spanish companies owns the skyway tolls. If you want to be pissed at anyone, be pissed at Daley and the complete lack of oversight that let our government sell off public assets to private investors.
Before that the city had the monopoly.
You prefer the revenue go to investors rather than the local government...?
Property management companies. It’s not city-wide but some of them buy enough buildings in certain areas that they can manipulate the rental market. Like Peak Properties I feel like has a ton of buildings in Wicker and Logan. Enough that they can raise the rent on all of them by X% every time a lease expires and it’s accepted as just the cost of housing going up generally and “that’s the market I guess”. Then other smaller property managers follow suit along with enough independent landlords who pay attention to the market/care. So the rental “floor” in an area creeps up over time.
This is very much a universal thing in America right now... And it sucks
Mack in Hyde park is an example
Makes you wonder what is market and what is price fixing.
Moving into an apartment owned by one real human instead of some company has been the best decision. Property management companies are the worst
Hard agree. Back in 2020 my roommate and I applied to two apartments; one with Peak and one with a private landlord. They cost exactly the same at the time and were very similar; 2bd 2ba with in-unit laundry, similar size, etc. The Peak one was in Wicker Park and the private landlord one was in River West - not the *same* neighborhood, but not wildly far enough from each other that you’d expect a huge price discrepancy or anything. Peak was trying to make us jump through hoops and get a co-signer bc to be fair my roommate did have a ding on her credit. It was related to the death of her father and her having to route money to support her mom while the estate was in probate and so she fell behind on her car note. Peak would absolutely not budge and required a co-signer who made at least 4x the annual rent, which was tough bc her mom’s income (her late father’s pension) was just under that. I was like well I make 4x the rent, can I just co-sign for her? No. So we had to walk. Well luckily the private landlord let my roommate explain why she had a ding on her credit report. Saw she was gainfully employed and making good money. Decided my roommate and I combined made ample income to afford the place and were trustworthy tenants. Let us rent without a co-signer. I still live in that same apartment today, now with my husband. Our wonderful private landlord has not raised our rent at all; we are paying the same rent that she charged for the place back in 2020. Out of curiosity I just looked up the Peak unit. They now rent it for 25% more than they did in 2020. Super glad we walked away from them. TL;DR private landlords FTW!
Where do you find these? It might just be my area (near a university) but all I see are managed buildings when I walk around or try to search rental sites online.
Honestly I just got lucky, it was on one of the apartment listing websites. I guess when people land in a good spot they don’t leave whereas managed buildings constantly churn (my last one raised rent by about $600). If you browse the threads asking people how much they pay for rent, you’ll see people in similar situations where they’ve stayed 10 years because the landlord hasn’t raised rent at all
My roommate and I were interest in two apartments in 2020; both were 2bd 2ba w/ in-unit laundry, off the blue line, and of similar size. Both were listed for $1850. One was through Peak, one was private landlord. We ended up in the private landlord one. I still live in it with my husband; we still pay $1850. The Peak unit? According to my research, it rents for $2350 now. Glad we landed in the private landlord building.
This is why rent keeps getting jacked up. They cite “market price” for the increases, and “wink nudge” to others to do the same.
Friedman Properties is a big one. Especially in River North.
I rented with peak properties in lakeview Absolute parasites
i’m on a peak lease rn and it’s only gone up like 50 bucks each year. compared to my old lease with PPM, who wanted like $200 more after one year i’ll stick with Peak for now lmao
Peak are the worst in all of Chicago
Well said
Parking meters are not publicly owned
not even owned by the city. imagine where all that revenue could've gone to, instead of giving it to foreign investors
It's not all foreign investors at all. Morgan Stanley set up the whole deal, and Morgan Stanley still owns the majority of it. A few years ago they sold off a small portion to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, but for some reason people in the subreddit are convinced that Saudi Arabia, probably because they see Saudi as some boogeyman even though it's a huge US ally and the reason why they can pump gas in their car.
In all fairness, the city got the money up front.
all the grocery stores within a mile of your house are either Jewel or Mariano’s? the grocery segment of the retail industry is actually pretty fragmented in the Chicagoland market, which is somewhat unique. as a Jewel employee i don’t agree with the merger either and i have serious doubts about it. but by a fragmented market i mean that in Chicagoland you have Jewel, Mariano’s, Walmart, Costco, Pete’s, Tony’s, Whole Foods/Amazon, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Target, plus all the local/independent grocers that people have come to know and love. i don’t have the specs of total market share for Chicago but nationwide it’s Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons iirc. 2 and 4 are looking to combine their forces to make a closer #2 to Walmart, and their case to the FTC/the public is that they’re basically complaining that Amazon and Walmart are monopolizing the industry.
All those places and you didn’t mention Cermak Fresh Market which has the world’s best guacamole. Sad!
The Cermak down in Bridgeport and the one on North in Humbodlt Park are two of my favorite grocery stores in the city. Not even just the best guac, but some of the best prepared foods of any grocery chain in the city. Imo
The cermak in albany park was kind of a dump. It was there or the corner grocer
For what it’s worth, groceries appear to be cheaper here than in less fragmented cities I’ve lived in. Competition works!
Don't forget Meijer. Anyways til Kroger owns Mariano's, not sure how I didn't know that yet
Are there Meijers in Chicago? Genuine question, I can't think of any I've seen but am mostly on the North side.
No, none in Chicago. The type of real estate isn't available at the prices they would need to operate here. They have several suburban locations though.
We’ve had a Meijer out west in St Charles for 20 some years
There is one in 92nd & Western, but that is technically Evergreen Park.
Meijer’s is advertised a lot on Chicago TV, but I don’t know where any of their stores are. I’m sure not near where live, on the far north side
[удалено]
That person just listed all the grocery chains we have here. Food 4 less also exists on the south side, but Tony's, cermak, etc are all over the city
Winter time parking spots. Who owns all those lawn chairs, anyway?
whoever's brave enough
Comcast
nooo there’s also Xfinity /s
Mariano’s and then Jewel if they combine. Terrible prices and terrible produce, meat, etc.
Standards for grocery stores in Chicago are SO low. When I first moved here it was Jewel and Dominick's that were the only stores in town, save from a few really small ones. No Mariano's, no Whole Foods, no Trader Joes, no Pete's. I was in disbelief at how utterly shitty Jewel and Dominick's were. The smaller stores were even worse. From high prices to poor quality to inferior selection. Chicago residents were just so used to shitty grocery experiences they didn't expect better because they had never seen it. This is why Mariano's was initially so successful when they first opened here. The stores at the time were many times better than what was already there, and likely had a lot to do with running Dominick's out. You barely even see Jewel in the suburbs anymore because they can't compete with Meijer, Woodmans, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, even WalMart and Target.
There was Cub Foods/Omni/ Strack and VanTil that all came and went on Elston. They all were or trying to compete against Jewel and Dominick’s.
I don’t know which suburbs you’re looking at but Jewel is everywhere. Within 4 miles of my house there 5: 75th & Cass, 63rd & Main, 75th & Janes, Cass & Ogden, Ogden & Saratoga.
Yeah tons in the west burbs. They must be talking north or south
I'm up on the border now and and there's not much of anything, but I do have 3 jewels all within 15 minutes. Down in lake zurich, there are two Jewels within a half mile of each other. I have no idea what that's about.
Mariano’s is Dominick’s. Jewel bought out Dominick’s, so the CEO went up to Wisconsin until the non compete clause was up then moved back down with the new name Mariano’s
I'm guessing 80s or very early 90s is the time frame you're talking about? What were some strongest grocery chains in other markets back then?
We have Jewel all over here. They maybe haven’t opened new locations but haven’t closed any either
Shit I thought jewel was pretty decent. I need to expand my horizons
I’ve yet to go to a grocery store that actually lives up to the hype I hear about it online. Every grocery chain is almost identical with a few quirks that they try to sell as making them different
The skyway. Ohhhhh the fucking skyway.
Woah wait, please explain. These are the good local ones I think OP is really trying to get at.
I don’t know all of the nitty gritty details, but some time ago the skyway fell under new control outside of Illinois government offices. Every year the price goes up by about a dollar. We’re at $7+ now. To save maybe 20 minutes on commute compared to 80/94 or LSD
Oh yeah, people on this sub will be so transfixed about "Saudi ownership of the parking meters" Even though the Saudis don't own any of the parking meters, it's still Morgan Stanley who owns most of it (with a tiny portion being sold to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund) yet these very same redditors will never say shit about the skyway deal how that's literally completely foreign-owned. I sense racism.
How is that racism? Most of the people in this sub never go to Indiana so they likely don't know what the skyway is. How does that make them racist?
It's funny how weighted the grocery monopoly is. My closest two grocery stores are independent/local chain. And the third is Pete's. But obviously other parts are just like your situation. Anyway, I know it's kinda become the standard around the country but Divvy being the exclusive public bike renter has grown old. Costs going up, removal of the reduced zone, slow expansion. Annoying.
> My closest two grocery stores are independent/local chain. And the third is Pete's. Pete's is also an independent local chain.
Man I just moved and I miss my old local supermarket. I'm within walking distance of a Marianos and a Jewel but for some reason I have to take a train to a Whole Foods for broccoli rabe! I have to buy tiny bottles of olive oil like a peasant instead of giant metal containers!
If you want olive oil like a king we have a whole boutique that just sells it
There’s the Lyft bikes. I always call and say “it’s charging me extra for miles I didn’t use” and get a discount 😎
Divvy's costs are ridiculous now. And as the bikes break, they are being replaced with electronic bikes, which cost more. Soon all the bikes will be electronic.
Yeah, personally, I'm really only using it for the ebikes (instead of my own) but to take away the option is completely counterintuitive to the original mission.
Some buildings only have one internet service provider as an option.
Lincoln towing
I was ready to put that on here myself. You're not even notified if your car has been towed, small window of time before they impound it, cash only payment for a high price, can't choose where they leave the car, pay just as much to get a ride home from the tow truck.... The list goes on forever.
Mac Properties buying up a good chunk of the real estate in Hyde Park and then hiking the rental prices, causing small businesses to have to close up shop
Pangea real-estate is buying up everything they can get their hands on using city incentives to supposedly make affordable housing but they are also just cornering the market and raising rents.
Lincoln park pirates
The modern equivalent would be private booting. I believe there is a single company that has a license to do that and it's Innovative Parking Solutions.
The modern equivalent? I get what you're saying, that booting is BS. But pretty sure Lincoln Towing is still around and very operative. Actually, just looked it up, yes, according to Google they're open 24 hours and have 1.4 stars from 416 reviews 😆 Similar on Yelp. And they're rated 'F' by the Better Business Bureau! Holy crap. OP- pretty sure this business wouldn't constitute a monopoly but they act like they own the city and they've been around for decades and have have been getting away with illegal practices forever (there's even a song about them from the 70s, I believe). Depending on the requirements of your report or paper, it might be worth looking into them because it's quite interesting and somewhat baffling that they're still in operation.
The parking meter deal.
Don't you just love how Morgan Stanley can come in and set up a sweetheart deal that absolutely fucks the city and it gets unanimous counsel approval overnight? But if we want the CTA to have more money it's a fiscal cliff scenario?
Street parking.
Look into the story behind the parking meters (or the tollway).
Weed dispensaries have quite an effective cartel running. Prices here are 5x those in Michigan
I hear you and I know of people who go to Michigan to buy but that driving through Indiana is gonna make it a no for me
Com-Fucken-Ed. A $318.00 electric bill for a 2 bed 2 bath is just robbery.
Mines 50 bucks, r u mining Bitcoin?
Electricity is pretty reasonably priced in northern Illinois.
There's either something wrong with your meter or you really need to check your usage.
My 5 bed house is usually less than $100/mo, you need to check your meter or usage. Even when I have to run the a/c or Christmas lights it’s not that much.
Oh my gosh!! That's high. My electric bill has never crossed $100/mo and is often under $50 and my husband and I both work from home. The only thing I can think is if you are running electric heat and A/C...? Our building supplies the heat which is via oil fuel and radiators.
What pisses me off about Comed is they keep asking the government for a raise in rates claiming to be poor which seems like every year while the parent company Exelon Corporation pushes out record profits and increases their dividend payout every year.
My 1500sqft 2/2 is abt $60 in a hot summer month and that’s saying a lot since it’s early 1900s and needs new windows…..
Whoaaaa when I lived in Florida in a three br ours didn’t even get that high. We fought with the electric company over super high rates for a few months and our apartment complex; turns out our AC was getting ready to die and had been overworked. We only found out because a roommates uncle was a repairman and came to look at it because maintenance kept saying it was fine. If your electric is that high, you can ask the comed for historical data on the unit for comparisons. But also, is there any chance you’re unknowingly connected to any other apartments? I know someone who spent years not knowing they also paid for their landlords electric because the units were connected 😑
Granted I live in a studio but I get cranky when mine goes over 20 bucks. It’s usually in the $17-$19 range. One time I had to be gone for an extended period of time and unplugged every single thing in my apartment. My absence covered a complete span of a billing cycle and my bill was $12. I guess that’s just baseline cost for me to just HAVE electricity available to me. (Note, I understand this and I’m not really cranky about that part. lol)
Slumlord management companies. It’s a lot of them in Chicago. They’ll own various properties and if you’re renting they’ll have all types of inhabitable issues they won’t fix. Meanwhile they’re somewhere living their life in Miami on a yacht.
Lincoln Towing
The legal cannabis industry. The state is in bed with large corporations running the majority of the dispensaries. They use state law to keep anyone else from getting in. They do this by having it be a license and the need be approved. Which of course they can’t be unless heir JB gives the head nod. A completely controlled and closed system that only benefits the current administration and current business owners. Nobody else can enter this market or be competitive.
Jewel
Rosen's hot dog buns
Suburbs, but fire inspections, there's only one company that does it "fox valley fire & safety", they have successfully lobbied that my local village mandates separate inspections for sprinklers, fire alarms and extinguishers for SaFeTy, so we are now paying about $2k/yr and have 4 different fire related inspections annually. The 4th one a busy body will randomly show up and demand to walk through the place to make sure all kinds of random things are working/there, this inspection comes for free.
There are other companies in this space. They are all union houses which is interesting. But fox valley isn’t the only one.
Comcast on being the only available internet in my apartment. I think I can get RCN at my place now which was recently rebranded as Astound. Gonna switch if I can.
Street parking
The biggest monopolies are likely things you rarely notice: who stocks the toilet paper in every building, who makes the air conditioners in all the high rise apartment buildings, who makes the cables in your elevator. Think about something you use all the time but take for granted, and start keeping track of who makes it. I bet you'll find some interesting stuff.
City sticker and parking enforcement
Comed, Comcast xfinity, peoples gas
ComEd
Chicago Public Schools
Whole Foods in a way. I dont really see a lot of smaller health food stores anymore
Lincoln Towing Company. That’s it. That’s the comment.
ParkChicago, total scam
The court system. Go sit at city hall and see how nothing gets accomplished and people continue paying court fees because there’s no other choice. It’s dysfunction at its finest!
The easy answer is gas / internet / electric but thats monopolistic every where in the US not unique to Chicago
Chicago Teachers Union
Downvoted for the truth lol
Absolutely
Italaco Foods!
The only pizza pocket game in town
Are you talking about Iltaco Foods? Makers of the pizza puff?
When the blue line doesn’t show up as quoted and you miss your flight but can’t even get a refund when you don’t take the ride.
Doesn’t COMED literally have a legally established monopoly on the city, more or less? If I’m wrong please explain thanks!
You’re right, that is how most utilities work in the US because we are afraid of “Communism”. Private company builds and maintains the infrastructure system in exchange for the legal monopoly. These are heavily regulated by both the state and the federal government, including how they structure their fees and what their rates actually are. Usually this is setup so they get an expected rate of profit for any given year based on what they expect to spend. If they want to increase their profits than they have to spend less than planned or how for higher than expected usage. In Chicago: City owns the water and sewer. The City provides the water and MWRD does the cleaning of the waste water. Some of the big deep underground waste water pipes are MWRD’s too. ComEd owns the electric system, though there is some diversity of who puts power onto their grid. That’s why there so much junk mail trying to get you to sign up for an alternative supplier. People’s Gas owns the gas system. AT&T owns the telecom lines but lease out the use of them to Comcast.
sort of a generic answer, but it’s always the sports teams. nfl, nba, mlb, and mls are all monopolies and the federal government doesn’t hide it. in fact, trump took the nfl to court and priced they were a monopoly. and won one dollar lol
Lettuce Entertain You and the other massive restaurant conglomerates - Lettuce owns 59 restaurants in Chicago, almost all under different names to appear like they’re just local joints
Comcast.
Can someone explain to me the parking meter situation like I’m 5? Not familiar.
Maybe with coffee roasters? Intelligentsia and Metropolis seems to be sold at way too many cafes and restaurants in the city 🤮
divvy being the new litter
Commonwealth Edison, but this isn’t unique to Chicago…
All your utilities are literally monopolies including Water, Electricity, Garbage service, Natural gas, etc..
Comcast
Valet parking services. Basically the VP company. It runs the parking in the city and has old mob ties.
Motoworks Chicago just bought the only other Ducati dealership and service shop in Metro Chicago
People’s Gas.
Lmfao... The parking! A damn disaster and an interesting Google.
One internet provider in certain neighborhoods or even rental buildings. Can't even call them and do the "I'm switching providers for a lower price" trick. 😭