EB-5 Visa Investments

The link below explains how big New York developers like Kushner and Trump use EB-5. The program was designed to enable a foreign investor to get a long term visa if they invest $500,000 in a rural or poor area and create 10 permanent jobs.  They can locate anywhere if they invest $1,000,000. The investor does not care much about return on investment - he just wants the Visa. The program was initially targeted for entrepreneurs - now developers are using it for major real estate projects.

The investor only gets about a 1 percent return on their $500,000 investment. The developer uses the 500K investment to borrow more money to build apartments hotel with bars, restaurants, etc, in theory generating 10 new jobs for each 500K investment.

So the rich billionaire developer gets 1 percent money to get richer. And President Trump just extended the program which benefits Kushner and Trump. Kushner's sister was hyping the program to Chinese when Trump signed the extension, telling them to hurry up and sign with them since they were connected.

Is this a great country, or what? Draining the swamp. You gotta love it. And we are played for chumps. And some of us think it is just dandy.

From the New York Times

WASHINGTON — It was the first major piece of legislation that President Trump signed into law, and buried on Page 734 was one sentence that brought a potential benefit to the president’s extended family: renewal of a program offering permanent residence in the United States to affluent foreigners investing money in real estate projects here.

Just hours after the appropriations measure was signed on Friday, the company run until January by Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, was urging wealthy Chinese in Beijing to consider investing $500,000 each in a pair of Jersey City luxury apartment towers the family-owned Kushner Companies plans to build. Mr. Kushner was even cited at a marketing presentation by his sister Nicole Meyer, who was on her way to China even before the bill was signed. The project “means a lot to me and my entire family,” she told the prospective investors.

Click to read the full article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/us/politics/kushner-china-visa-eb-5.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-a-beijing-ballroom-kushner-family-flogs-500000-investor-visa-to-wealthy-chinese/2017/05/06/cf711e53-eb49-4f9a-8dea-3cd836fcf287_story.html?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na&utm_term=.d9d828833f17

https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/troymcmullen/2017/05/08/amid-criticism-the-kushner-family-pushes-a-new-jersey-luxury-development/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=dc173dac-09ba-4584-8823-a0370876f610

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447629/eb-5-visa-program-nicole-kushner-meyer-chinese-investors-fraud-abuse

Grapefruit!

I have a close friend who was in the habit of getting into arguments with an older relative, who holds a number of provocative and politically incorrect opinions. Something like Archie Bunker without the pleasant personality.

My friend argues with him. It is hopeless to change his mind, he knows what he knows, and the discussion rapidly turns into a rancorous argument.

I have pointed out to her that she is arguing with a gentlemen who knows what he knows and cannot conceive that there is another legitimate viewpoint. She has no chance of influencing his opinion. And to argue with him also reflects badly on her - Only a fool would argue with a grapefruit. If you argue with someone dumber than a grapefruit, well, then you are also dumber than a grapefruit.

So when the argument starts I just work the term grapefruit into the conversation. This makes her laugh and she see the futility of the conflict. He can't hear well and so does not hear the word grapefruit.

Smooths things over and we avoid having a tedious and disruptive hassle.

A grapefruit does not have to be stupid. In fact, there are a number of very smart folks who are so angry and obsessed about someone or something they don't like that they become grapefruits, albeit smart ones. They know what they know, they cannot accept anyone who has a different opinion, and often become hostile and abusive. This often manifests itself in hatred of political figures, for example hatred of Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama.

It is not a particular vice of either liberals or conservatives.Grapefruititis can strike anyone of any age and any political persuasion. It perhaps gets worse with age, with hardening of the arteries.

It is easy to see others who are grapefruits. It is hard to see ourselves.

Now everyone should want to avoid being a grapefruit. And it is hard to see if you are becoming a grapefruit. Like alcoholism, many people gradually slip into grapefruititis without realizing.

Some danger signs that you might becoming a grapefruit:

• You know all the answers.
• You call other people stupid or liars.
• You are often outraged when you read things you don't agree with.
• You constantly demean elected officials, not with well reasoned arguments, but with name calling.
• You insult people frequently.
• You attack the man, and not the argument. 
• You throw out strong opinions without facts.

Best antidote to becoming a Grapefruit:

• Be tolerant of the view point of others. 
• Think before you write or speak. 
• Practice the golden rule. 
• Use logic, not rants. 
• Eat and drink sensibly, avoid drugs. 
• Get enough sleep. 
• Love often.
• Avoid grapefruit.

Tinley Park sues ex-planner in downtown dispute

This is a horrible thing for the planner and the Village. Sure to worry any professional planner.



Tinley Park sues ex-planner in downtown dispute

Mike Nolan Daily Southtown

Tinley Park is blaming its former planning director for getting the village into a costly legal dispute involving now-abandoned plans to build The Reserve apartments in the village.

Saying in federal court papers that she "acted dishonestly" and was an "unfaithful, disloyal employee," the village claims Amy Connolly also "schemed" to alter development rules covering construction in and around Tinley Park's downtown business district, ultimately embroiling the village in two lawsuits concerning the apartment project, one of which was recently resolved.

Tinley Park's federal lawsuit, filed Monday and claiming Connolly breached her fiduciary duties as a village employee, seeks damages in excess of $75,000.

Her attorney, Patrick Walsh said Wednesday that "all of the allegations of misconduct (by Connolly) are false."

Tinley Park officials recently approved a settlement of the lawsuit brought by The Reserve's developer, Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, under which the Ohio nonprofit won't pursue plans for the 47-unit building.

Per the terms of the $2.45 million settlement, Tinley Park paid Buckeye $75,392 from the village's general fund, with another $684,608 coming from a legal settlement fund held on the village's behalf by its insurer, the Intergovernmental Risk Management Association. IRMA also paid another $1.69 million out of its own fund toward the settlement.

The U.S. Department of Justice last November sued the village over the project, alleging violations of federal fair housing laws. Attorneys for Tinley Park have asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.

Connolly was suspended from her job, which she'd held since the fall of 2007, about two weeks after the Tinley Park Plan Commission tabled a vote on The Reserve. She had played a key role in reviewing plans for the project and had determined it complied with village development rules in place at the time.

Connolly resigned in May of last year to take the job of city development director in Racine, Wis.

This past January, Connolly filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development alleging her suspension by Tinley Park violated federal fair housing laws.

The village contended that the building was, per Tinley Park's Legacy Code, required to have street-level commercial space, while Buckeye maintained that its apartment development had been in compliance with village codes at the time the Plan Commission considered the project.

An amendment to the Legacy Code changed street-level commercial required to street-level commercial permitted — a change since rescinded by the village board — which made it possible for The Reserve to be in compliance with development rules.

Click to read the full article:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/ct-sta-tinley-park-lawsuit-st-0504-20170503-story.html

https://patch.com/illinois/tinleypark/officials-respond-residents-concerns-affordable-housing-slotted-tinley-park


http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/ct-sta-tinley-buckeye-lawsuit-st-0915-20160914-story.html


I hesitate to put this source in the blog post because of their obvious bias and florid prose but they provide a lot of background detail.
http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2017/05/village-of-tinley-park-sues-erstwhile-planning-director-amy-connolly-in-federal-court-for-her-role-in-buckeye-scheme/ 

Zillow's Market Info By Zip Code

The map above shows Zillow's info on my Zip code in Sarasota, Florida. Change the Zip code to yours to see your info.

https://www.zillow.com//sarasota-fl-34243/home-values/?utm_01source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=emo-marketreport-see-full-report

Congress had to pass the bill so people could see what is in it

Source:
http://www.cbpp.org/

Congress had to pass the bill so people could see what is in it. 

We need to fix Obamacare, but this Bill does not do that.

It is a big tax cut for the rich masquerading as health care reform.

Warren Buffett says it is a tax cut for the rich

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/07/buffett-says-ahca-is-tax-cut-for-rich.html

Forbes says it hurts everyone.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2017/05/05/how-gops-healthcare-bill-hurts-everyone/#6d8c33145cf2

It points out the value in having two houses of Congress.  Hopefully the adult part of the Legislature can unscrew this mess.

President Obama's Library

One Big Problem With Obama's Presidential Library

Carving out space in Olmsted-designed Jackson Park for Obama’s presidential library misses an opportunity—and sets a bad precedent.

• KRISTON CAPPS
 
• @kristoncapps
 
• May 5, 2017 
• • 
    

Former President Barack Obama unveils details of his Presidential Center at the South Shore Cultural Center on May 3. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)

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Grammed and rested, former President Barack Obama returned to work this week after a long vacation with First Lady Michelle. His first order of business, before his deep dive into the Democratic Party’s systemic gerrymandering disadvantage, was to introduce his presidential library and center, which is bound for Chicago’s South Side.
.

The Obama Presidential Center, which the president unveiled at a talk on Wednesday in Chicago, comprises a campus designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Based on the preliminary sketches and an architectural model, the vision for the center is modern but unfussy, featuring a vertical lantern-shaped museum and a low-slung library and forum building with landscaped rooftop gardens.

The design is in keeping with the architects’ work: formal and restrained, with a focus on materials and contrasting vertical and horizontal elements. Inasmuch as design can stand in as a metaphor for politics, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien have Obama’s famously cool temperament down. The former First Family picked TWBTA over a group of finalists that number among the top design firms in the world: SHoP Architects, Snøhetta, Renzo Piano, David Adjaye, and Chicago’s John Ronan Architects.

It’s hard to find any objections with the design so far. But the same can’t be said for the site placement: As I wrote back in 2015, it has a critical flaw, one that sets a bad precedent for park use everywhere. Chicagoans may not miss the sports fields on the park’s perimeter that the presidential library will replace. However, there’s a risk here of missing the trees for the forest. Chicago is slowly giving away an historic park when the city and its partners should be creating new civic spaces where there’s opportunity.   

Click to read the story:

https://www.citylab.com/design/2017/05/one-big-problem-with-obamas-presidential-library/525447/

Most Ordinary Americans in 2016 Are Richer Than Was John D. Rockefeller in 1916

by DON BOUDREAUX on FEBRUARY 20, 2016

in GROWTH, HISTORY, STANDARD OF LIVING

This Atlantic story reveals how Americans lived 100 years ago. (HT Warren Smith) By the standards of a middle-class American today, that lifestyle was poor, inconvenient, dreary, and dangerous. (Only a few years later – in 1924 – the 16-year-old son of a sitting U.S. president would die of an infected blister that the boy got on his toe while playing tennis on the White House grounds.)

So here’s a question that I’ve asked in one form or another on earlier occasions, but that is so probing that I ask it again: What is the minimum amount of money that you would demand in exchange for your going back to live even as John D. Rockefeller lived in 1916? 21.7 million 2016 dollars (which are about one million 1916 dollars)? Would that do it?

What about a billion 2016 – or 1916 – dollars? Would this sizable sum of dollars be enough to enable you to purchase a quantity of high-quality 1916 goods and services that would at least make you indifferent between living in 1916 America and living (on your current income) in 2016 America?

Think about it. Hard. Carefully.

If you were a 1916 American billionaire you could, of course, afford prime real-estate. You could afford a home on 5th Avenue or one overlooking the Pacific Ocean or one on your own tropical island somewhere (or all three). But when you travelled from your Manhattan digs to your west-coast palace, it would take a few days, and if you made that trip during the summer months, you’d likely not have air-conditioning in your private railroad car.

And while you might have air-conditioning in your New York home, many of the friends’ homes that you visit – as well as restaurants and business offices that you frequent – were not air-conditioned. In the winter, many were also poorly heated by today’s standards.

To travel to Europe took you several days. To get to foreign lands beyond Europe took you even longer.

Might you want to deliver a package or letter overnight from New York City to someone in Los Angeles? Sorry. Impossible.

Click to read the rest of the story:

http://cafehayek.com/2016/02/40405.html