Sign in

Chris Goodman

@cbgoodman.co
1.7K followers 559 following 5.8K posts

Professor & MPA Director @ NIU. Public finance & local govts. Special districts, mostly. 🚴 📍 Chicagoland 🌐 hello.cgoodman.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 19m
Whether the legislature realizes it or not, this is a water district consolidation bill. Small districts will be unable to do much of this.
bondbuyer.com
Illinois bill would strengthen cybersecurity rules for water utilities
Illinois lawmakers are hammering out legislation to raise cybersecurity protections for local water utilities, a timely effort after cyberattacks this summer.
100
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 21h
I'm gonna be mad if I go out of town for a week and miss Fall in Chicago. Pretty much happened last year and it was a huge bummer.
040
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 29/09/2026
Putting any property tax increases off the table is completely nuts (the others are actually good, no head tax, no counting "new" money from the state). Chicago underuses the PT relative to most places in the state.
chicago.suntimes.com
City Council faction draws line in sand in preelection budget battle with Mayor Brandon Johnson
One year after rejecting the mayor's corporate head tax, 29 opposition alderpersons tried to establish boundaries for the budget debate. At the top of the list — no property tax hike.
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 29/09/2026
We're doing literally everything except putting up overhead lines.
150
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 29/09/2026
I am at a conference for all of this week. For maybe the first time in my career, I set an out-of-office responder. I'm working on boundaries.
media1.giphy.com
030
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 29/09/2026
I loathe Microsoft 365, but at least our implementation of single sign-on has made it better. YMMV.
020
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 29/09/2026
America's Best Idea
terragalleria.com
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 28/09/2026
If you use @obsidian.md and Zotero, the integrations are getting good. You can now annotate PDFs inside of Obsidian and have those annotations sync back to Zotero using ZotLit.
zotlit-beta.aidenlx.site
v2.2.0-beta.1
Zotero PDF reading and annotation in Obsidian, multi-select in the annotation view, exports in the note's own style
100
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 28/09/2026
From the abstract, this sounds like the paper I wished someone would write about AI in govt. Artificial Intelligence, Bureaucratic Discretion, and Democratic Administration
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
010
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 27/09/2026
🦅🦅🦅
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 27/09/2026
Ok, the new Apple Watch Ultra 4 battery life is for real. 3 day work trip, zero charges, 30% battery left when I got home. Huge change from even the 3. Garmin is reducing battery life to get a better screen and Apple has a better screen and is making the battery better. Convergence!
010
Reposted by Chris Goodman
Michael Friendly @datavisfriendly.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You wrote a brilliant article in 3,850 words; your editor wants 2,500. What counts as a word? How to count them? My #rstats wordcount() function counts the rendered .docx by section: body text vs. headings, footnotes, captions, tables, refs. Mine: body 2,484. Whew! 👨‍💻https://tinyurl.com/252q6f3z
tinyurl.com
What counts as a word? Count a .docx by section and category (body, headings, footnotes, captions, tables, references) the way your editor sees it — R
What counts as a word? Count a .docx by section and category (body, headings, footnotes, captions, tables, references) the way your editor sees it — R - README.md
4222
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 24/09/2026
There’s no way you can convince me that AI capex is justified. Is AI going to fundamentally change society like railroads did? Absolutely not.
wsj.com
The AI Build-Out Is Becoming the Biggest Economic Bet in U.S. History
Data-center spending is greater than that for canals, railroads and grid combined—creating jobs and stock-market wealth, while boosting inflation and crowding out housing.
321
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 24/09/2026
Ah
bloomberg.com
Warning Signs Are Flashing at America’s Overheating Landfills
Hot waste piles can become environmental disasters. A Bloomberg Businessweek analysis finds that many landfill operators and regulators aren’t intervening at the level experts say is needed.
052
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 24/09/2026
Nothing quite like almost missing a 6 am flight because security is totally slammed.
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 24/09/2026
Ah.
020
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 23/09/2026
Taxes are too low for the upper end of the income distribution (or cap gains).
050
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 22/09/2026
planetizen.com
Maryland local governments examine if they should have more power to raise property taxes
Maryland’s housing market is out of reach for the majority of moderate-income residents.
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 22/09/2026
I don't like spending my evenings reviewing Robert Rules…just in case.
010
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 21/09/2026
governing.com
Some Localities Still Depend on Police Fines to Cover Budget Gaps
States have long tried to tamp down on speed traps and other operations where local law enforcement raise revenue via heavy use of citations.
010
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 21/09/2026
Not to be confused with Yard House (a Darden brand), which I do all the time.
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 21/09/2026
It's going to be wild if iOS 27.2 makes it out before iOS 27.1 ( specifically for the iPhone Duo).
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 21/09/2026
Mhmm. h/t @techdirt.com
xkcd.com
Security
020
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 21/09/2026
Payout gap: The county messed up property tax collections, this has extreme consequences for the levying govts (who cannot collect their own taxes, by law), and this is the minimum the county could do.
121
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 18/09/2026
Banning NDA for all economic development projects should be an easy thing to do. Transparency should be required. The ones that want to keep them are often local govts (they think the agreements are vital to success)!
040
Reposted by Chris Goodman
kottke.org @kottke.org · 18/09/2026
The History of Concrete, a new documentary film by John Wilson, who one review called “the Werner Herzog of the mundane”. This looks great! [youtube.com]
youtube.com
The History of Concrete - Official Trailer | Directed by John Wilson | In Theaters September 18
After attending a workshop on how to write and sell a Hallmark movie, he decides to use the industry-approved Hallmark formula to tell this seemingly drab story and increase his movie’s appeal. But his foundation soon begins to crumble—literally and figuratively—as he struggles to balance artistic freedom with the realities of the modern film industry.
2194
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 18/09/2026
IL doesn't exercise much oversight over local governments, example 472637.
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 17/09/2026
Something missing from this is whether East Dundee has increased water rates at all in recent memory. I suspect not (or very minimally).
dailyherald.com
East Dundee weighing 30% hike in water rates to fund projects
East Dundee may hike its water rate by 20% in 2027 to help the village pay for $19 million in capital improvement projects over the next five years. The current rate is $10.42 per 1,000 gallons, but w...
110
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 16/09/2026
Less than optimal.
010
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 16/09/2026
What are we here to do is a fantastic question to constantly ask yourself when in academia. aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/
In a listening session with instructors, we learned that some were considering using AI agents as research assistants instead of hiring undergraduates as UROPs. One can see the case for speed and efficient use of resources (especially now, when research resources are so constrained). But if those criteria come to dominate our decisions, we all have to ask, “What is it that we are here together to do?”

As a community, we need to keep in mind that although research is central to MIT’s mission, it’s more than an end in itself; on our campus, research is also an apprenticeship, a means of training the next generation of researchers to continue our work and drive our fields of inquiry forward. Using research as an opportunity for learning-by-doing may produce seeming “inefficiencies,” but that’s a feature, not a bug.
120
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 16/09/2026
I did not know that the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement existed before reading this (and what powers it has), but I suspect this is a relatively uncommonly exercised state power. There's no reason that other states could not exercise similar oversight.
020
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 16/09/2026
The cloud is not a backup strategy.
020
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 16/09/2026
Time everyone learns how much of the economy, directly or indirectly, runs on diesel. (A lot).
031
Reposted by Chris Goodman
Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A major failing of this country is the vilification of property taxes by opportunistic pols & affluent homeowners. Yes, property taxes often exhibit major racial & class inequities (Kahrl's The Black Tax). But it is our only real form of wealth tax & folks who can afford to pay it, should. 🧵1/2
23912
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 15/09/2026
Always read Liz.
lizfarmer.substack.com
Will homeowners even notice property tax cuts?
Homeowners are paying more for almost everything tied to their homes. Property taxes are the least of it.
151
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 15/09/2026
Welp, there goes (much of) the need to use external markdown editors if you're in the Obsidian ecosystem. @andrew.heiss.phd
040
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 15/09/2026
I have not watched this, but I also don't need to. I've sat at the bar in the background of the title screen more times than I can count. Basically any time I went to Reading Terminal Market (weekly).
youtube.com
How Philadelphia’s Iconic Roast Pork Sandwich Is Made | Made to Order | Bon Appétit
Chef Joe Nicolosi of Tommy DiNic’s in Philadelphia shares how to make their roast pork sandwich. While the Philly Cheesesteak may be the sandwich you think of first, some may argue that the roast pork sandwich is the real star of Philadelphia. With 3-day roast pork, broccoli rabe, and sharp provolone on an Italian roll, Philly’s best sandwich is not what you think. 00:00 Intro 00:38 Seasoning the Pork 03:07 Roasting the Pork 07:53 Slicing the Pork 09:14 Prepping the Broccoli Rabe 11:10 Building the Sandwich Want Bon Appétit shirts, hats and more? https://shop.bonappetit.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_brand=ba&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=video&utm_content=merch-shop-promo Still haven’t subscribed to Bon Appétit on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/1TLeyPn Want more Bon Appétit in your life? Subscribe to the magazine! https://bit.ly/313UWRu ABOUT BON APPÉTIT Bon Appétit is a highly opinionated food brand that wants everyone to love cooking and eating as much as we do. We believe in seasonal produce, properly salted pasta water, and developing recipes that anyone can make at home.
130
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 15/09/2026
Just a quick gut check because the Census Permits data can be weird. Chicago reports 883 active new construction (or easy process) permits issued in 2025. Unfortunately, they don't easily report units. But 3916/883 is 4.7 units per permit which sounds about right. Building but not enough.
241
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 15/09/2026
Philly is getting back to its roots (I lived in an Old City office conversion—1912 insurance building that was converted in the 80s/90s).
120
Reposted by Chris Goodman
Andrew Heiss @andrew.heiss.phd · 15/09/2026
woof Raycast 2.0 just updated and it's a lot slower (Electron!) and full of AI bloat - it's going down the path of Arc (😞). BUT I just discovered Tinycast and am loving it so far. It even imports Raycast configuration files and works with Raycast extensions
abue-ammar.github.io
Tinycast — a tiny, native macOS launcher
Tinycast is a tiny, fully native macOS launcher: fuzzy app search, an inline calculator, clipboard history, snippets, notes, window management and global hotkeys, with no Electron, no account and no t...
4273
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 15/09/2026
Ok, this from @alexwlchan.net is one of the coolest "hacks" I've seen in a bit. Creative problem solving!
alexwlchan.net
Abusing ID3 chapters to turn videos into glanceable podcasts
Inserting a chapter with artwork every few seconds turns an MP3 file into an approximation of a video file. I can listen to videos as audio-first, and glance at my lock screen if I need some visual context.
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 15/09/2026
There's not much new here if you've been paying attention. But, I assume, may of the readers of The Atlantic have not been paying attention or fully understand the CA experience of Prop 13, so there's some utility.
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 14/09/2026
Bunch is useful and simple automation. I'm glad to see it getting development again (the lack of updating was why I bailed and created a few shortcuts to do this stuff).
brett.trpstra.net
Bunch is back for Golden Gate - BrettTerpstra.com
Bunch is back under development. Not a grand relaunch, just me picking the project up again, starting with the unglamorous work of making it run on macOS 27 (Golden Gate).
010
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 14/09/2026
Reading…I will note that the last major bout with property tax limitations came at a time of inflation-induced house price appreciation (and rising property tax bills).
theatlantic.com
The Property-Tax Revolution
States can’t afford these cuts.
020
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 13/09/2026
My massive collection of Blu-ray's is looking better and better every day.
010
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 12/09/2026
I'm glad my brief "let me be a professor and explain federalism" quote made it into this.
010
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 11/09/2026
Process > answer, 100% of the time. Even when the answer is vitally important.
110
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 10/09/2026
I'm not certain that the City of Chicago realizes how serious the DWC is about cutting them out. And certain ratepayers in Chicago (that pay lower water rates because of wholesale subsidization) realize their rates will go up.
001
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 10/09/2026
Go to start grading; get a 503 error from Blackboard. I guess I'm not grading!
000
Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 10/09/2026
I'm genuinely intrigued by this proposed GA constitutional amendment. Why is this necessary? Not that 911 isn't important, but the legislature can create and restrict funds at will—no need to amend the constitution.
ballotpedia.org
Georgia Authorize Creation of Next Generation 9-1-1 Fund Amendment (2026)
110