Twas a dark day in Dallas, November ’63
A day that will live on in infamy
President Kennedy was a-ridin’ high
Good day to be livin’ and a good day to die

November 22, 1963. President John F. Kennedy is shot to death in Dallas, Texas. Everyone from my generation can give you a detailed account of where they were on this day. I was in sixth grade, at recess after lunch, when we first heard of the shooting. An hour later, my class was watching as NBC’s Frank McGee announced the death of the President.

On this date, Bob Dylan is a twenty-two year old folk singer. He’s at the start of a legendary career. Like everyone else, the way he looked at his life, and the world, changed on that November day. Almost sixty years later, Bob Dylan writes about the day that does live in infamy.

A month ago today, Dylan released “Rough and Rowdy Ways.” Now seventy-nine years old, it’s his thirty-ninth studio album and his first of new music since 2012’s “Tempest.” The reviews have been wonderful. Some have claimed it’s his best work since “Blood on the Tracks.” While many of his contemporaries stopped creating new music years ago, it’s uplifting to see that at his age, Bob Dylan still has plenty to say….plenty he wants us to learn. It’s certainly a pleasant and unexpected change from his last three releases of standard tunes.

Although there’s more speaking than singing, Dylan’s voice sounds better than it’s been in years. The music is lovely and the lyrics are accessible. and It’s easy to follow along. It’s a straight forward record. You don’t need to spend a lot of time trying to read between the lines deciphering what he really means to say. It’s well worth the seventy-five minutes of your time to give it a listen.

The jewel of the album is “Murder Most Foul.” It starts by telling the details of the Kennedy assassination and then moves forward into the pop culture of the music that followed. From JFK and LBJ to the Beatles, Woodstock and Altamont. He’ll ask if Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby know the truth about that weekend in Dallas; then out of nowhere asks The Who, if Tommy can hear him. Among others getting a shout out are members of the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, as well as Jazz legends Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk.

Back and forth, up and down, “Murder Most Foul” is a seventeen minute roller coaster ride. Yes, you read that right. It’s the longest song of Dylan’s career, but even for those of us with attention span issues, the time flies by.

I admit that I’m not the biggest Bob Dylan fan. I like his songs, but I like them better when they’re done by other artists. But there’s something about “Murder Most Foul” that gets to me and gets to me deeply. I think most of the baby boomer generation will get the same feels.

Play “Love Me Or Leave Me” by the great Bud Powell
Play “The Blood-stained Banner”
Play “Murder Most Foul”

Related Post: Neil Young “Homegrown”: Four decades later, the music is timeless

Related Post: 50 years ago today-Memories of the JFK assassination

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In late June Cook County released their 2019 property tax rates that are used to determine tax bills. By now you’ve probably already seen your own property tax bill if you live in Cook County. Nevertheless, each year at this time I like to distill the tax rate report that I just linked to down to a few simple concepts. This really helps our buyers evaluate the potential tax consequences of a purchase because, as I’ll explain later, you can’t just look at what a property’s tax bill has been.

Let me give you a quick overview of how property taxes work in Cook County. First of all, they are not constrained. The county can charge whatever they want and they do charge whatever they need. They start with their budget and then spread that out across all the residential and commercial properties in the county based upon what they think the properties are worth. The only thing that prevents the county from raising taxes to astronomical levels is fear of pitchforks and torches.

This methodology also means that increasing or decreasing aggregate property values has absolutely no impact on how much money the county collects. If values go down they just raise the tax rate. That’s how some of the southern suburbs end up in a death spiral. Their property values go down and their tax rates go up and when the rates go high enough that depresses property values even further.

So what happened in 2019? Surprisingly (that’s sarcasm), Cook County is collecting more property taxes for 2019 than 2018 – $616 MM more, which is a 4.1% increase. However, if you look at the table below (you can right click on it to see a larger version) you’ll see that on average residential property taxes didn’t go up by enough to cover that 4.1% increase. Where did the difference come from? You may have heard that commercial property owners have been screaming about their tax bills. They went up by a lot more to cover the difference and it had to do with increases in their assessed values. Fritz Kaegi is working overtime to repent for the sins of Joe Berrios.

Cook County residential property taxes did not go up by that much for 2019.

The tax rate report goes on to show a sample tax calculation for the city of Chicago using the average estimated fair market value. It makes you realize just how convoluted the calculation is but I like to simplify it. If you take all those factors and percentages and multiply them together you see that basically it pretty much comes out to an even 2%, which is about where it’s been running the last couple of years. But then you have to back out the effect of the homeowner’s exemption which is $10,000 x 6.89% = $689. In other words, your tax bill should be 2% of your estimated market value – $689.

The average Chicago homeowner got a 1.74% increase in property taxes for 2019. It could have been worse.

This simplified tax calculation is easier to remember and comes in handy when shopping for a home. People sometimes get mesmerized by a home that has really low property taxes or scared by one with really high property taxes. However, I always tell folks that any deviation from the norm must be the result of a bad market value estimate. Once the county knows what you actually paid for the home the market value is going to be raised if it was low and if it’s too high you can appeal it using your closing statement. So I tell folks that they should ignore the property taxes shown in the MLS (well, not entirely ignore) and assume that in the long run their property taxes will be – and these are the numbers I will be using for the next year – 2% of the purchase price – $689.

Of course, that tax rate is going to have to change in the long run. Guess which direction. But that’s all we have to work with for now so I run with it. If you want you could always assume some annual growth rate too. But then you might just decide not buy in Chicago.

#PropertyTaxes #ChicagoTaxes

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.

In the dozen or so years I’ve been a Chicago Greeter, my tours have stayed near the lakefront — the Loop, the South Loop, Prairie Avenue, Andersonville, Argyle Street, Graceland Cemetery, Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s familiar territory, since I’ve lived within walking distance of the lake for nearly 30 years and rarely venture west of Ashland Avenue.

Recently reading The Chicago Bungalow, a book published by the then Chicago Architecture Foundation in 2001, made me realize what an incomplete picture I give when talking about the skyscraper as Chicago’s contribution to architecture.

“[T]he Chicago architectural contribution most common to the city is one that is attached to no particular architect or single home but to thousands of them — the Chicago Bungalow,” says the book’s first paragraph.

Now the bungalow, as many of you know, is not unique to Chicago. Basically a modest 1½ story residence with a sloped roof, the style housed working-class families across the country. I grew up in a 1927 bungalow in Joliet. But it differed from the Chicago Bungalow. What makes the Chicago Bungalow deserving of a capital B are certain characteristics, including a brick exterior, an off-center front porch and entrance, and a rectangular shape (narrower than it is long) that fits on a typical Chicago lot.

Given my roots in a bungalow and in the working class, I’m surprised that local bungalows didn’t attract my attention sooner. That’s likely because you have to go outside the lakefront neighborhoods to realize how much they dominate Chicago’s built environment. There are few bungalows in the parts of Chicago that were developed before the first world war. What came to be called “The Bungalow Belt” emerged between 1910 and 1940 in a crescent shape on the outskirts of the central city. More than 80,000 bungalows — one-third of Chicago’s single-family housing stock — went up in areas developed for working-class people seeking to leave the city’s core.

I decided to put together a Chicago Bungalow tour because of their historical significance. Bungalows offered home ownership to the working class for the first time. The simple homes offered affordable comfort. Well-built and sturdy, they had modern conveniences such as plumbing, electricity, and heating; lots of natural light; warmth in the winter; and thoughtful, utilitarian design. Moving into a bungalow meant upward mobility.

While ethnic neighborhoods were characteristic of the inner city, class-based neighborhoods became more common in the Bungalow Belt. Newly constructed bungalows in Portage Park — the neighborhood I chose for a tour — cost between $5,000 and $6,500, which would have been manageable for working-class families in the 1920s, according to The Chicago Bungalow. Insurance companies, building and loan associations, and banks created low-cost mortgages so that people could buy a bungalow for the cost of renting.

But what would I show people on a two-hour walk? Isn’t the rap against bungalows that they look pretty much alike, that seeing block after block of bungalows is monotonous?

Not true. Although bungalows were constructed from stock plans, their exteriors were individualized by using brick in multiple colors and patterns and creating different designs with the limestone trim. Since bungalows differed more on the outside than the inside, I could give a tour even without being able to take people into a home. Showing a typical floor plan and photos from The Chicago Bungalow could take care of the interior. On the exteriors, differences in brick and limestone, the positioning of the front porch and entrance, and the windows (bay windows, leaded-glass windows, dormer windows) are fodder for comparison. We could also look for the rare clay tile roofs (most bungalow roofs were asphalt singles) and original garages.

Choosing from among the 13 Chicago Bungalow Historic Districts for a tour, I settled on the one in Portage Park because it’s easy to reach from the Loop on public transportation and walkable, with dozens of bungalows on a few contiguous blocks. The district is well preserved, attesting to the pride owners continued to take in their bungalows even as other styles and bigger houses became the stuff of prospective homeowners’ dreams.

Now when visitors ask for an architecture or a Chicago history tour, I can offer the Chicago Bungalow as an option. Having been persuaded that little else says Chicago so well, I hope that the Chicago Bungalow lands on many visitors’ must-see lists.

*****

ANTI-TRUMP COMMENTS: 123RD IN AN ONGOING SERIES

“One of the many painful aspects of the Trump presidency is that it has sown fundamental doubts about our nation. A candidate can win without showing the slightest sign of competence or conscience. A dangerous, corrupt commander in chief can stay in office no matter what. The voters can’t always be trusted, and the Electoral College compounds the disaster. Maybe the Constitution isn’t a work of genius.”
— Jill Lawrence, USA Today

Hector is a 13-year-old, gentle, sweet, easy to walk, 14-pound, male tan Shih Tzu/Silky Terrier-mix looking for a loving guardian.

Little Hector sleeps on a cushy dog bed for most of the day. He loves his walks and has a happy pep in his step. He easily goes up and down stairs. But, he never gets on beds or other furniture.

He is absolutely fine with most other dogs and completely ignores cats.

Hector wears a belly band in the home because he needs to pee quite often.

He had his remaining four teeth cleaned a couple weeks ago and had the rest extracted. He is just about deaf, neutered, up-to-date on vaccines, microchipped, heartworm tested negative and on monthly prevention.

His adoption fee of $200 benefits the Friends of Petraits Rescue and includes his leash, collar, bed, belly bands and favorite food.

To meet and possibly adopt Hector, please e-mail [email protected] for an adoption application.

He is currently being fostered in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.

Stinko. Rotten. Wretched. Unforgiveably self-conscious.

As I understand it, you folks in Chicago didn’t get to see ESPN’s broadcast of the White Sox-Cubs exhibition game Sunday night. It was blacked out.

But I got to see it. At least some of it until I was absolutely sickened by it. I happened to be in Virginia visiting my son Don and his wonderful family, when I heard him say,”Dad! Dad! The White Sox are on.”

Don is a Sox fan like me so we sat down together as the Sox were losing 2-0. Lucky for us, we got to see the big Sox offensive explosion (as promised) and turn the score into a 6-2 lead.

That remarkable inning seemed like a footnote to the broadcast team of Jon Sciambi, Rick Sutcliffe and Chipper Jones. While the action on the field was unfolding, the three were blah, blah, blahing  about almost everything except the game.

Little about the players coming to bat or insightful kinds of discussion of the strategies on the field–the kind that White Sox play-by-pay announcer Jason Benetti and analyst Steve Stone do so well. An occasional “he’s out” interrupted whatever they were discussing. 

Sometimes we couldn’t tell who was batting. I thought I saw AL batting champion Tim Anderson hit a single, but then he showed up being interviewed out of uniform by the Terrible Trio. Maybe we missed something, because they made the game so uninteresting that we talked among ourselves.

It’s as if they were doing a radio talk show because, well, you know, sports fans would rather hear talk about the game than see the game itself.

Like I say, my mind kept wandering during the broadcast because I didn’t know what was going on, so maybe I’m not being fair to ESPN.

But what I know is that if Benetti and Stone were doing the game, I would have been riveted. They are Chicago’s best sports broadcasting team in the more than 70 years that I’ve been paying attention. You Chicagoans should be thrilled that you are blessed with this kind of skill, energy and dedication.

Unlike what I get from ESPN.

I wrote a post yesterday about Lacoste masks and whether they were worth the money: 3 for $50?

Well, the Lacoste face masks sold out. So, it appears, a lot of people thought they were worth the money.

I’m not here to judge. As a matter of fact, I LIKED the masks. I felt compelled to write about them because I, myself, was conflicted about making this purchase. Essentially, this is fashion over form. I love fashion, but I have plenty of form, masks, at home. Do I have a Lacoste mask, with the cool American-Flag-Alligator, no?

I wanted it, but I couldn’t see myself spending the money, so I put the choice in your hands. “I Love Lacoste, But Is $50 For 3 Masks Exploitation?”

You, the public, responded with your money and the masks are now sold out! If you bought these, please send any pics you have wearing them, with any comments about how they function. Whether you like them or not. I would love to hear your feelings.

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