Welcome to Sailfastchicago.com
…a cool website for everyone who wants to sail fast…
Click here to contact Sailfastchicago.com
Does Your Congressman Hate Sailing Industry Jobs?
Mike Quigley vs. Mortgage Interest Deduction
Mike Quigley vs. Mortgage Interest Deduction
I find this troubling, not only as an avid Lake Michigan sailor, but also as a real estate professional.
The same arguments in favor of home mortgage interest deduction apply to the boating industry, if not more- the boating industry represents the livelihood of many interconnected jobs in building, selling, maintaining and enjoying recreational boating.
View Illinois’s 5th Congressional District (CHI) in a larger map
The Illinois 5th Congressional District map appears to include Diversey Harbor, but not Belmont Harbor.
View Illinois’s 5th Congressional District (CHI) in a larger map
Quigley, Walz, Peters Introduce Bill to End Subsidies for Luxury Yachts
Tuesday, 03 May 2011 13:29WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), along with Reps. Tim Walz (MN-1) and Gary Peters (MI-9), introduced legislation to eliminate taxpayer subsidies for yachts. The Ending Taxpayer Subsidies for Yachts Act will amend a tax provision that allows boat owners to write off their mortgage interest payments if they classify their boats as second homes.
“There’s absolutely no reason why taxpayers should subsidize luxury yachts,” said Quigley. “As we work to address our budget challenges, closing this frivolous tax loophole is a no-brainer.”
“We’re going to have to make some hard decisions to tackle our national debt, but this isn’t one of them,” said Walz. “Closing this tax loophole restores the Mortgage Interest Deduction to its original purpose; helping middle class families realize the American Dream through homeownership.”
Currently, taxpayers are allowed to deduct mortgage interest for up to two homes from their tax returns. Yachts equipped with bedding, toilet facilities, and a kitchen qualify even if they aren’t used as a primary residence. The Ending Taxpayer Subsidies for Yachts Act would limit the tax deduction to only those who use their boats as a primary residence.
“We need to get the deficit under control, and that means simplifying the tax code and eliminating special interest tax giveaways like the Yacht Loophole,” added Peters. “Homeownership is part of the American Dream and we should encourage it, but yacht owners don’t need any special handouts, especially in the middle of a budget crisis.”
In 2004, there were approximately 500,000 pleasure boats in the United States large enough to qualify for the tax break, but only around 100,000 people live full time on boats according to the 2000 Census.
The proposal is included in Quigley’s Reinventing Government: The Federal Budget Part II. The report is due out next week and will include detailed cost-saving recommendations to follow up on Part I, which focused on transparency in the budget process.
Source: Mike Quigley press release
http://quigley.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=480%3Aquigley-walz-peters-introduce-bill-to-end-subsidies-for-luxury-yachts&catid=19%3A2011-press-releases&Itemid=24
Note the discrepancy in the fake analysis? 2000 census figures are compared to 2004 boat statistics (without source reference). Never mind that we just completed a 2010 census, or that the current year is 2011…
Here’s how the media fabricates information:
The Hill directly copies information from the press release, publishing the unsourced numerical data as if it were factual news:
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/159065-house-lawmakers-urge-elimination-of-tax-subsidy-for-yachts
But The Hill is honest enough to inquire, and report:
The IRS doesn’t differentiate between mortgage types so there is no data available to calculate an exact amount of money the legislation would save, an aide told The Hill.
Nor is there any analysis of the jobs and positive economic impact of the original mortgage interest deduction as it currently exists with regard to boat ownership.
Perhaps Quigley and his over-taxing colleagues can examine the studies prepared for justifying the funding of additional harbors for Chicago?
Unfortunately, it seems they would rather perpetuate the false narrative that taxing more is the solution to the economic problems created by government over-spending.
Chicago bridge lifts start today
Chicago bridge lifts start today
By Liam Ford
Tribune reporter
8:36 a.m. CDT, April 16, 2011
Anyone trying to get around downtown this morning may have to wait to cross the Chicago River as bridges go up on the first day of Chicago’s bridge lift season.
Bridge lifts accommodate sailboats moving from where they are housed during the winter months on the South Side, up the South Branch of the Chicago River to harbors along Lake Michigan.
Bridge lifts started along the South Branch about 8 a.m. and will continue until about 2 p.m. They are expected to impact downtown mostly between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
The lifts for boats headed outbound to the lake will take place every Wednesday and Saturday through June 29, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation. They are scheduled to start around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesdays and 8 a.m. on Saturdays; downtown will see bridges going up between about 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, and 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays.
Dating back to the days when the Chicago River and other city waterways carried large amounts of commercial traffic, the city boasts more movable bridges than any other city in the world. Today, the total number of movable bridges is about 36, down from 43 in the mid-1990s.
The first bridge over the river, at Kinzie Street, was built in 1834, the year after Chicagoans elected their first village council. Most of the city’s bridges are bascule bridges, a type of bridge pioneered with the building of the Cortland Street Bridge, built in 1902, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago. A bascule bridge uses giant counterweights attached to the shore ends of two interlocking bridge leaves to raise the bridge.
From Chicago Breaking News:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-chicago-bridge-lifts-start-today-20110416,0,4672423.story
Barack Obama The Sailor Dragging The Anchor
Barack Obama the sailor shows us how to not sail fast.
Looks kinda slow, eh?
Goose Island Renames “312 Beer” to “011 Beer”
Goose Island brewery announced its acquisition by Anheuser-Busch this week.
A stalwart sponsor of local sailing regattas, and the favored choice of local beer drinking afficionados, Goose island was once a proud symbol of business success and skillful brew mastery, throughout the “Windy City” and the entire region.
The news was heralded by the company as a necessary step toward expanding production capacity to meet the ever-growing demand, which surpassed the output of the local brewery facilities.
In answer to beer enthusiasts’ concerns about quality, a spokesperson explained, “a highly scientific analysis of the local beer will allow Anheuser-Busch to manufacture mass quantities of Goose Island beer, much like it currently produces Budweiser today. By carefully studying the flavors of local Goose Island beer, and learning how to duplicate it exactly in large-scale factory production facilities, Goose Island beer made by Anheuser-Busch will actually taste more identical and authentic than beer made by Goose Island ourselves!”
Other concerns, however, were left unanswered. Why couldn’t Goose Island expand its business and its facilities locally? The loss of another successful business in Illinois to acquisition by an offshore foreign interest reflects the unintended consequences of government which over-taxes, over-spends, over-regulates, and over-burdens individuals and businesses of all sizes.
The problem at the national level is demonstrated by the previous loss of Budweiser to an overseas company.
Similarly, the local obstacles to Goose Island’s accelerated growth are largely due to a system of corrupt government and its intrusion into private business enterprise in Chicago, Cook and Illinois over the last 80 years or more.
However, on an upbeat note, Goose Island announced that it will respond to the business changes with a new direction in marketing.
The 312 beer, named after the Chicago telephone area code, was created to identify Goose Island as a Chicago landmark, and differentiated itself by appealing to an initial audience of trendy city dwellers, who were early to discover and enjoy Goose Island beer, even if only by chance, being more conveniently available in the local environs of the city.
“Goose Island beer is no longer a Chicago beer,” remarked the spokesperson. “In fact, we are no longer an American beer. So it no longer makes sense to name our product based on silly rivalries between faux urban hipsters and suburban poser wannabe’s.”
“Chicago itself is a provincial backwater of political crime and corruption, which we no longer can afford to be closely associated with. Look at Illinois- it’s considered a joke by the rest of our own country. Clearly, that is not in our best interest to promote.”
“We must disavow our past local connections. We are now part of the global economy, forced out of both our hometown and our home country by bad policies which thwart true business growth and economic freedom.”
“We have chosen a new product identity, which preserves the original concept. Our new product identity also strengthens and acknowledges our ownership by an offshore foreign company.”
“Today we can announce that 312 Beer will be renamed after the international telephone dialing prefix, and be known as ‘011’.”
When asked if Goose Island had plans to craft a special forty ounce malt to be distributed by the Jesse Jackson family relatives’ Budweiser distributorship in Chicago, the spokesperson said, “no comment.”
Thursday Unveiling for Northerly Island Plan (via Chicago Breaking News)
This may impact Burnham Harbor for boaters and concertgoers, and Meigs Field for pilots…
Thursday unveiling for Northerly Island plan
November 28, 2010 11:04 AM
What’s left of the former Meigs Field would be turned into a nature sanctuary and park, under plans to be unveiled this week by the Chicago Park District and its design team.Plans for what is now called Northerly Island include stripping the old terminal building of its walls, transforming the internal structure into an open-air pavilion. The area would also include an underwater paradise for fish, plants and birds and an eco-friendly concert venue near Adler Planetarium.
“It’s an amazing project,” said Bob O’Neill, president of the Grant Park Conservancy and Advisory Council.
The public meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave.
The design team is led by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, which designed the award-winning Aqua tower, and JJR, a landscape architecture and urban design firm.
Aviation advocates who want to restore Meigs Field as an airport will not likely participate. Steve Whitney, president of Friends of Meigs Field, said the group feels shut out of the design process and therefore will not attend.
“They just want input from the people who support what they want,” he said.
Indeed, park officials are adamant about developing the 91-acre peninsula into a serene and natural playground. The peninsula is on the migratory route for birds flying from Canada to South America.
“The framework plan incorporates designs for a multiseason use, and has green-friendly elements in the design,” Park District spokeswoman Zvezdana Kubat said in an e-mail.
Initial designs for the peninsula — refined from concepts introduced at a public meeting a year ago — include turning the old terminal building into an open-air pavilion free of walls and glass, common and often fatal obstacles for birds migrating through Chicago.
A harbor for aquatic wildlife would be on the peninsula’s east side — opposite the boat harbor on the west side. Rock formations would be built underwater to attract plants, fish and birds.
And architects will unveil a permanent design plan for the temporary 7,500-seat Charter One Pavilion venue, including a “green” roof. Funds from future concerts would help pay for the peninsula’s upkeep, O’Neill said.
“There’s no city in the world that has this opportunity right now,” he said. “You have this enormous area in the front of the city, with the skyline and everything, and to turn that area into a world-class nature area is unprecedented.”
— Erika Slife
via Chicago Breaking News
Chicago Confidential – Chicago Tribune:
Donald Wilson Jr. looks to turn his Chicago Match Race Center into hub of international sailboat competitions
Melissa Harris
CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL
October 28, 2009A 1997 headline in the Tribune declared Donald Wilson Jr. the “whiz kid” of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Now 41, Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW Trading Group, a derivatives trading firm, is trying to turn Chicago into a worldwide center for competitive sailing.
Earlier this year, he launched the Chicago Match Race Center, which has swiftly grown for one reason: Wilson’s wealth. This winter, he’s scouting for corporate sponsors for the center’s 2010 regattas, new members and, most of all, skilled competitors. Wilson won the center’s first regatta here in June.
“Defacto, it’s run as a benevolent dictatorship, because I’m paying for it all,” he said, declining to say how much money he has invested.
In match racing, identical sailboats race head to head on a course, usually with on-the-water umpires.
Wilson began sailing as a teenager in Switzerland and moved back to the United States to attend the University of Chicago, graduating in 2 1/4 years. He once paid $102,600 in a charity auction to observe a prestigious yacht race from onboard, serving as the so-called 18th man.
Wilson rents space for the center from the Chicago Park District at the north end of Belmont Harbor. And, so far, he has purchased eight new racing boats, four boats for umpires and a 70-foot houseboat that acts as a clubhouse. He also is buying four highly coveted boats for a new Olympic women’s sailing event.
The center’s top race this year attracted competitors from New Zealand, Japan and Europe.
“It’s only taken (the center) one year to make an impact on match racing in this country,” said Jake Fish, a spokesman for the United States Sailing Association. “Another interesting thing is that they really take care of their umpires, paying for all of their travel expenses. So they’re attractive for race management as well.”
Chicago Venetian Night R.I.P.?
Clout Street – Chicago Tribune:
Facing the worst financial crisis of his 20-year tenure, Mayor Richard Daley plans to slash city funding for Venetian Night, a festival that his father began as mayor more than 50 years ago.
And that places the future of Chicago’s longest-running public party very much in doubt.
City officials said today they can no longer afford the $100,000 for fireworks or the $200,000 to police crowds estimated at more than 500,000.
“Operational costs exceeded the sponsorship revenue,” said Cindy Gatziolis, spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events.
Leaders of the Chicago Yachting Association, which organizes Venetian Night, said city officials had not informed them of the event’s demise.
Mayor’s Office of Special Events (Venetian Night webpage, already deleted…):
Venetian Night is the longest running event that the City of Chicago produces, and was once a multiple day event that featured a beauty pageant and parade on State Street in addition to the lighted boat parade and fireworks show on the waterfront.
NOOD Regatta – June 19-21, 2009 – Friday Storm
Friday, June 19, 2009
Under the Storm Front
Columbia Yacht Club COLORS Regatta – June 13-14, 2009 – Conditions
June 13-14, 2009
Weather Photos
Saturday:
Saturday Weather
Sunday:
Sunday Weather
Say “Hello” To Big Brother
Navy Pier triples number of surveillance cameras
June 10, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Navy Pier has more than tripled its surveillance network — with cameras so sophisticated, they can pick out a face in a crowd six blocks away — thanks to a $4.2 million Homeland Security grant designed to prevent a lakefront terrorist attack.
The Navy Pier network marks the first installment in a four-year-old plan known as Operation Virtual Shield. It calls for linking 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable into a uniformed homeland security grid, with surveillance cameras capable of spotting suspicious activity from one end of Lake Shore Drive to the other.
Until now, Navy Pier’s nine million annual visitors and surrounding lakefront waters have been watched by 60 black-and-white cameras in fixed positions. They were linked to an even more primitive control center on the pier.
The new network includes 200 rotating surveillance cameras so sophisticated, they can pick up a face in a crowd six blocks away. To speed response times, they’re linked to the 911 center, the nearby Marine Unit and to the Chicago Police Department’s Near North District.
Forty of the cameras are located indoors, including the Winter Garden and Navy Pier garage. The 160 outdoor cameras monitor the main entrance, the east end, and exterior perimeter.
Vince Gavin, director of special projects for Navy Pier, said there’s even a special camera trained on the inlet between Navy Pier and the Jardine Water Filtration Plant, one of Chicago’s most vulnerable terrorism targets because Lake Michigan water is purified for drinking there.
“When a boat penetrates the east end of that inlet, that camera focuses on the boat, a horn will go off and an audible message will go out: “Leave this area immediately. You’re subject to a $5,000 fine by the U.S. Coast Guard,’ “ Gavin said.
“Then, we monitor the boat. If the boat continues, the Marine Unit’s got it. A Marine Unit boat is over here in two minutes.”
Installed in February, the new cameras have already been used to catch at least one pick-pocket and nab someone who was damaging a store that had closed for the night. They can also pinpoint boating accidents and drowning victims or monitor emergency response to Lake Michigan plane crashes.
Parents who take their young children to Illinois’ most popular tourist attraction can also breathe a little easier.
“If we had a lost child, [investigators would ask], ‘Where did you lose him? We can focus in on that area. What was he dressed like? Okay, we’ve got a boy fitting that description.’ You don’t have to run around and up and down. It provides so much of a quick response. … And the facial recognition — it’s as close as I’m looking at you,” Gavin said.
The next round of lakefront surveillance cameras will be installed around McCormick Place, Soldier Field and the Museum Campus, thanks to a $6.8 million Homeland Security grant awarded in 2007.
Seventeen cameras — 11 of them infra-red — will cover the area from Oak Street Beach all the way to 3900 South. That’s because on flat land, there’s a visibility of one mile at night and two miles during the day, Gavin said.
And what about Navy Pier and lakefront patrons who are not comfortable being watched?
“Walt Disney [World] has probably been doing this for years,” said Ray Orozco, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
Chicago Sun-Times: Navy Pier triples number of surveillance cameras
UPDATE:
According to this IBM press release, Navy Pier is “the top-visited tourist and leisure destination in the Midwest, welcoming more than eight million visitors annually”, having “an economic impact of more than one billion dollars annually”.
IBM Press Release: IBM Launches Intelligent Security System at Chicago’s Navy Pier
CBS “48 Hours”: ‘Operation Virtual Shield’ discusses the homeland security impact of Chicago’s camera surveillance system, also highlighting its striking inability to protect against terrorist attacks that remain undetectable or which take place outside of the limited camera surveillance areas.