Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, May 4, 2017.
Rahm promises to block the sale of the Thompson Center
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has vowed that he will block the state from selling the Thompson Center in the Loop until he’s sure that local taxpayers won’t have to pay for rebuilding the CTA station below the building. “I’m not going to stick that tab on Chicago taxpayers,” the mayor said at an event Tuesday. “Why would I do that to Chicago taxpayers?” In response Eleni Demertzis, a spokesman for Governor Bruce Rauner, charged that Emanuel is “trying to distract from the real issue—which is the city being greedy and trying to ext or the state taxpayers for more money than what the property is worth.” Rauner wants to sell the state-owned 30-year-old building to generate as much as $220 million in revenue, envisioning a skyscraper as tall as 115 stories. That would be barred by the current rules and would require special approval by the City Council, effectively giving the mayor and aldermen veto power. [DNAinfo Chicago]
