We’re still awaiting details on what’s going into Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2020 budget, but we know at least one thing that won’t be in it.
Crain’s reports Monday that the mayor is dismantling one of her predecessor’s most ballyhooed initiatives – namely, Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago Infrastructure Trust.
The trust was first rolled out in 2012, promising to transform Chicago with mega-projects so enticing that they could be bankrolled entirely by private investors in exchange for a chunk of the profits. Among the trust’s big projects were the installation of 4G on CTA trains, retrofitting municipal buildings for energy efficiency and replacing streetlights with LED bulbs.
But the program never really caught fire and, as a result, Lightfoot is following through on a campaign promise to wind it down.
In other Chicago-area news:
Boeing was hit Monday with a shareholder lawsuit seeking to hold company board members accountable for the lapses of oversight that contributed to the crashes of two 737 Max jetliners that killed more than 300 people.
The lawsuit alleges directors missed repeated red flags during development of the 737 Max automated flight-control systems and then waited months to investigate the role of design flaws in the first of the two fatal accidents. The suit also charges that in its rush to get the 737 Max to market, the Chicago-based plane maker didn’t properly test the new system or adequately train pilots.
And finally, Pork & Mindy’s is no more.
The barbecue joint has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The chain, which debuted in Bucktown in January 2016 and then expanded to locations in Wrigley Field and the Loop, has shut its doors. The news comes just months after its owner inked a deal with the Mariano’s grocery chain to open 20 stores by yearend. A few were up and running before the bankruptcy filing.
Crain’s Headlines is a joint production between WTTW and Crain’s Chicago Business. It airs every Monday through Thursday on the WTTW News program “Chicago Tonight.”
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