MoveOn has awarded the CivicLab a $1,000 Opportunity Fund grant to support the TIF IlluminationProject’s online petition drive aimed at getting the $1.7 billion in property tax funds that were in TIF accounts on January 1, 2013 distributed to the units of government that should’ve received those funds in the first place. Over 3,000 people have signed in three weeks! Thanks, MoveOn!
I was in the featured debate at the 2013 Bughouse Square Debate on Saturday, July 27 in front of the Newberry Library. The topic was “Should The City Subsidize The Cubs To Keep Them In Chicago?” My position was “NO WAY, NO HOW” side. On the other side was Lester Munson, reporter for ESPN. The event was moderated by Chicago’s great natural resource, Rick Kogan.
Listen to the debate and the Q&A session (34 minutes).
Here are my notes for the debate. Use them if you have to argue against subsidizing sports facilities or other private enterprise using public dollars…
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Thanks to eight volunteers The TIF Illumination Project has analyzed all 154 of Chicago ‘s 154 2012 TIF Annual Reports. We determined that at the end of 2012 these TIFs had a combined fund balance of $1.7 billion. See this page for the rest of our findings.
The volunteers of the CivicLab’s TIF Illumination Project are honored to be profiled in the July 22 issue of The Nation in a cover story feature entitled, “Chicago Rising.” The author attended the 4th Ward TIF Illumination on May 13. You can see all the presentations made at all 12 Ward Illuminations here – http://tifreports.com/tif-town-meetings.
It was a packed house at the Loyola Park field house on July 1. Despite a beautifully balmy summer night, over 100 people came to see the TIFs of the 49th Ward Illuminated.
Thanks to Don Gordon and the other organizers for pulling off a great meeting.
Here is the presentation. The audio is 55 minutes long.
It was a packed house at the McKinley Park Library for the 11th and 12th Ward Illumination. The TIF Illumination Project lit up the 16 TIFs inside those two wards. See the presentation and listen to the audio (59 minutes). If you find this work valuable, please make a non-deductible investment via WePay. Who else is telling you how TIFs are impacting Chicago on a ward-by-ward basis? Read coverage from Progress Illinois.
Check out this ten minute interview from Outside The Loop radio to get an overview of TIFs and a sneak preview of the 11th Ward TIF Illumination coming up on June 5.
Despite a Bull’s playoff game 50 people came Room 43 on Monday, May 13 for the 4th Ward Illumination. Read the coverage at Progress Illinois. See the presentation and listen to the audio at SlideShare.
Is your alderman on the list of sponsors of the Privatization Transparency Ordinance”? If so, call them and tell them to get it out of Alderman Mell’s committee and have voted on by the full City Council.
The sponsor is 6th Ward Alderman, Roderick Sawyer. He said, upon introducing this bill in November of 2012, “I do not believe that there are no good privatization deals, I just think we should be clear about which deals are in the best interest of the city and which are not. I have a concern about touting a monetary savings if we haven’t thought about the people that will lose a job, the families that could lose a home and the local businesses that could lose a loyal customer. ”
Download the proposed law here – Privatization Transparency and Accountability Ordinance. Read it for yourself.
If our City Council can’t pass this, they should all be fired in the 2015 municipal elections.
The Chicago Tribune reported the obvious today.
