“Over one-third of the prisoners currently at Tamms have been there since the first year it was open. [That’s] over nine years, and for many ten full years in supermax confinement.” — Alan Mills, April 24
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Ben Joravsky’s article on the construction of the soccer field in Lincoln Park by the Latin School is based on totally inept financial analysis. Joravsky conveniently fails to use any discount rate in his calculations thereby grossly overstating the value that the Latin School might receive for its access to the field. Even a first-year finance student knows that when valuing any financial deal, a discount rate must be used. This is forgetting about the fact that anyone who is able to pay for 900 hours up-front would get a huge discount even before any discounting for prepayment for years ahead. The absurdity of Joravsky’s arguments are further highlighted by the fact that the Latin School is effectively paying the Park District the equivalent of $2 million cash up-front. I also don’t think the issue that needs to be considered is whether other high schools will have significant access to the field, but rather to ensure that they also have comparable facilities if possible. What is extremely important is that any proper financial analysis will find that the Latin School is in reality subsidizing our Park District rather than the other way around. While the Latin School is a private school, we should welcome this contribution back to our community.
Michael J. Szanto
Re “Old Journalists, New Plan” by Michael Miner, Hot Type, April 24
I think the Beacon is a great project and wish them tons of success. But it’s puzzling to me that Miner is so enamored of a news organization in St. Louis that has yet to publish a single article, and so dismissive of similar outfits that have been operating successfully for years right under his nose in Chicago.
Re “Hell in a Cell” by Jeffrey Felshman, April 24
The main issue that disturbs me here is Miles saying his system is so crappy he can’t tell the difference between an MP3 and a CD, then somebody else says most people don’t care about sound quality…. This is very sad folks. Confucious say “garbage in, garbage out.”
