In this month’s edition of the Economist’s Chicago City Briefing:

The City of Chicago’s $5.5 billion dollar budget proposal is almost a quarter of a billion dollars in the red due to lower than expected real estate tax receipts. It is suspected that Mayor Daley may have to renege on a campaign promise not to raise property taxes. Otherwise, the city might close the gap with a combination of spending cuts, other tax increases such as cigarettes and layoffs of city employees.

The town of Bensenville has won a recent round in its fight to block the O’Hare expansion plans and the city has withdrawn the army of bulldozers and contruction equipment that was poised to demolish about 350 homes and empty businesses.

Elvira Arellano has been deported. She spent a year in sanctuary in Adalberto United Methodist Church on the Chicago West Side. Back in 2002, Ms. Arellano had been convicted of working under a false social-security number at O’Hare in 2002. She was supposed to appear before immigration authorities last year but instead hid out in the church for a year. She was arrested while speaking at a rally in Los Angeles.

The Chicago Reader has been sold to a Florida outfit – Creative Loafing. They intend to lay off Chicago Reader staff and cut the paper down to a single section from three. The sale includes the building on East Illinois Street near Snicker’s Deli.

The Chicago CTA is planning to raise fares and cut service. More information in the Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/501808,cta080807.article

Each month’s edition of the Chicago City Briefing can be found here — http://www.economist.com:80/cities/briefing.cfm?city_id=CHI