Crain's Chicago Business reports:
With an assist from former President Bill Clinton, Mayor Rahm Emanuel Thursday announced formation of what amounts to a Chicago infrastructure bank to fund hundreds of millions of dollars worth of energy-efficient improvements, transportation and other projects.
There's more:
But that's a relatively small piece of what Mr. Emanuel hopes will be a much larger initiative — to be called the Chicago Infrastructure Trust — one that potentially could attract more than $1 billion in investor cash, bank loans and funds from major corporations.
Details on some of this are a little vague. But the mayor's office produced letters of "preliminary non-binding interest" and of "support" from top financial firms. Included are Citibank, which wrote that it is "highly interested" in a $200 million commitment; J. P. Morgan Asset Management, which mentioned a $250 million figure, and Macquarie Group, a worldwide leader in asset management.
What could go wrong with Chicago-style central planning and corrupt unions?
