... In fact, it all appears quite dirty. Once again, Chicago aldermen put their self-interests ahead of the rights of the public. Way to go, boys and girls! From Clout City:
The City Council, for no apparent reason, puts TIF transparency on hold
For more than two hours today -- including an interruption by protesters shouting for an Olympics community-benefits agreement -- aldermen heard testimony about the benefits of making the details of the city's tax increment financing deals more accessible online and how easy it would be to put them there.
In fact, no one -- no alderman or member of the public -- argued against a proposed ordinance that would require the city to do it, and several media and technology experts even offered to help out for free.
But this being the Chicago City Council, where almost nothing moves forward without the imprimatur of the mayor, the proposal was tabled without a vote. Read more here.
I wonder why the Trib and Sun-Times didn't do a story about this? I thought they were getting all hot and bothered with the amount of corruption in Chicago and Illinois?
ReplyDeleteWay to go city council! Thanks for the deep thought.
ReplyDeleteAll I have to say is.."Sweep the leg"..someone please sweep the damn leg.
If you all do not know about this feel free to check it out. I would like to see some TIF signs there as well.
Host:
Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party
Type:
Causes - Protest
Network:
Global
Date:
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Time:
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location:
Daley Plaza Civic Center
Street:
50 W Washington St.
Alderman Laurino has a new TIF pending in her ward at Irving and Elston.
ReplyDeleteShe's probably not the person to be chairing a meeting on reforming TIF reporting. It goes against her interests.
This is why the Trib and Sun-Times has failed as newspapers. This should have been on their front page.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...wonder if the TIF for Ald. Laurino's district includes the former home of the BEST SHOE STORE EVER - the late and lamented Adams Factory Outlet? They've been trying to get a new buyer/tenant in there ever since the owner died a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes,it's a shame what happened here!
Wasn't Laurino appointed to her seat since her daddy, the former 39th ald., was implicated in a payroll scam?
ReplyDelete(answer: yes)
Ah ... nothing beats the smell of good gub'mint in the morning air.
This should have been on their front page.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Trib, they didn't report on this since Council didn't put the issue to a vote.
Interesting exchange with the Sun Times via Twitter:
ReplyDeleteYo: Side note: Tribune/SunTimes doesn't deem chicago pols hiding their TIF funding from the people to be newsworthy.
ST: Not sure I'd say either news org deems ANY political funding less then newsworthy.
Yo: Then why no story on the TIF transparency issue being tabled?
ST: Can't speak for city desk at the moment, but we tend to wrap these things into larger reports rather than drip-by-drip. I'll ask
Yo: For minor legislative items -understood. For transparency in the +$1B Daley has in slush funds, I would think it warrants some ink
ST: As I sadi [sic], can't speak for city desk at the moment - offsite - but I'll look into it. Thanks for the interest.
Yo: Fair 'nuff. I look forward to hearing their reasoning(s). Thanks for the notes
Yo, thanks for the follow up. VERY curious as to their response.
ReplyDeleteTheir response has been that they are working on a TIF related article, but would not share the details with me.
ReplyDeleteThere was a tweet from ST on twitter around 8am this morning, re: the Reader article; but now I can't find it ... though, I did cache it
@chicago_reader has a good post on a story we missed today - a look at TIF transparency, or lack thereof, at City Council