Instead of our tax dollars going into a TIF why doesn't Alderman Shiller just assign each Uptown homeless person or low income person a group of taxpayers and we hand over our tax dollars to them directly. Ald. Shiller can take the Sally Struthers approach; "For just pennies a day you can help feed, cloth, and shelter Uptown's most needy citizens". We can get pictures of our adopted indigent and write each other and see first hand how we have turned their lives around. How heartwarming!
I hope posters realize that this is based on a construction safety initiative to help reduce and elimate injuries on the jobsite for the workers - and nothing to do with Shiller and her shell games. We should put blame where blame lies...
Believe it or not there are homeless and low income residents that appreciate the services provided to them and show it. And not all of them have aspirations to milk the system for all they can.
It seems a lot of people on this blog lump all of these people into the same category of worthless, lazy and a waste of space. Be pissed at the Alderman for the state of the neighborhood and how she is using the TIF money all you want. It doesn't change the fact that people are in need of services. How about show some compassion and get out there and volunteer in your neighborhood. You never know, you may actually come away from it with a much different perspective. I know I have.
nmf, I show my compassion every time I pay a massive tax bill that supports all these services.
Number of thank you's received: 0 Number of FU's received: countless
Thanks to my hard work countless people have food, clothing and shelter. All I get for that is the title of racist.
Most of the poor and homeless are that way by choice, so I don't really see where I need to have any more compassion for people who make bad choices, take my money, then yell at me because I won't give them more.
I wonder if some people here are just going through a little compassion fatigue.
I was ultra liberal and compassionate toward the homeless before I moved here. I still try to be but I have become decensitized to some of it. I don't dislike homeless people at all, I'm just trying to deal with what I see day in and day out.
It gets just a little more irritating though when I also see some of the enabling that goes on around here. I wonder if my more liberal tendencies would reawaken if I moved to Roscoe Village? I think I'll just stay put where I am.
Be pissed at the Alderman for the state of the neighborhood and how she is using the TIF money all you want. It doesn't change the fact that people are in need of services.
The fact which doesn't change is that there are immensely better ways to spend TIF money which could both improve the neighborhood and, by extension, help the needy.
People are products of their surrounding environments.
The top coat of paint atop the Wilson stop and it's connected trestle precede Helen's tenure in office.
If Helen were truly concerned with helping the needy (and not simply taking advantage of their plight for political gain), she may have done ... something/anything to address that fact within the 20+ years she's been in office.
Instead, she's happily diverting tax moneys which could go towards community improvements - which would have a positive effect on everyone - and focusing those onto her personal projects - some of which have been rejected by social service agencies.
At the WYTIF amendment meeting, she spoke of the importance of developing a streetscape along Broadway, as well the need to rehab the Wilson stop.
Both of those things were needed even BEFORE she took office some two decades ago.
But what is she focusing her energies towards? Parking. In the form of garages and lots.
She wants to suck even more money into her TIF while the city predicts a $520M budget deficit in 2010.
Do the math:
In 2007, the city collected $550M in TIFs - and Helen has admitted that she can suck more money into the Wilson Yard TIF.
In 2010, the city projects a $520M deficit, and Helen wants to borrow more from the projected value of the WYTIF.
Honestly, do I need to continue to give you examples where Helen is actually doing more harm than good in her "crusade" to help the needy, and how her overall strategy is horrifically unbalanced and ineffective?
We're already working hard to help the needy, and the community - by fighting her, her misguided projects and her inaction.
just wondering - Helen's actions/inaction as alderman have defitinely made me less liberal the longer I live here. Its harder for me to tolerate the bleeding heart liberals out there. And, Chicago Democrats as a whole make me pretty sick.
If you look at the litany of Chicago "progressives":
Shiller Moore Todd Stroger Toni Preckwinkle Jesse Jr. Beavers Schakowsky et al
These folks are not of the ideological lineage of Thom. Jefferson-style "liberals".
They're greedy rats who leverage the concept of liberalism to further their push for power by taking advantage of the poor - using them as pawns, while attacking those who have been able to make it on their own.
If you think I'm making this up, compare their platforms and stated policies to what they actually produce; and, how they go about doing that.
If you research the political history of "progressivism", you'll see it's not connected to the values of liberalism whatsoever.
They (and the other monsters that live in the extremes of the left wing) are actually dyed in the wool socialists, and some of the more extreme ones are borderline communists.
(look at who had a booth at the anti-violence rally if you need proof of that)
Just as those who live in the extremes of the right wing are border line facists.
There's nothing wrong with being a liberal, or having a liberal mindset. There is something wrong with taking a pol's word when they say that they are.
A reader sends us this photo from the Wilson Yard site.
Here is a new plan for our tax dollars:
ReplyDeleteInstead of our tax dollars going into a TIF why doesn't Alderman Shiller just assign each Uptown homeless person or low income person a group of taxpayers and we hand over our tax dollars to them directly. Ald. Shiller can take the Sally Struthers approach; "For just pennies a day you can help feed, cloth, and shelter Uptown's most needy citizens". We can get pictures of our adopted indigent and write each other and see first hand how we have turned their lives around. How heartwarming!
Oh and another thing, the sign needs to be ammended to read:
ReplyDeleteActively Caring: Just give us your money and no one gets hurt.
Much like a bank robber in the movies would say, but her it is our Alderman with our tax dollars.
I hope posters realize that this is based on a construction safety initiative to help reduce and elimate injuries on the jobsite for the workers - and nothing to do with Shiller and her shell games. We should put blame where blame lies...
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not there are homeless and low income residents that appreciate the services provided to them and show it. And not all of them have aspirations to milk the system for all they can.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a lot of people on this blog lump all of these people into the same category of worthless, lazy and a waste of space. Be pissed at the Alderman for the state of the neighborhood and how she is using the TIF money all you want. It doesn't change the fact that people are in need of services. How about show some compassion and get out there and volunteer in your neighborhood. You never know, you may actually come away from it with a much different perspective. I know I have.
J-
ReplyDeleteThe irony and satiric opportunity are just too hard to let go.
nmf, I show my compassion every time I pay a massive tax bill that supports all these services.
ReplyDeleteNumber of thank you's received: 0
Number of FU's received: countless
Thanks to my hard work countless people have food, clothing and shelter. All I get for that is the title of racist.
Most of the poor and homeless are that way by choice, so I don't really see where I need to have any more compassion for people who make bad choices, take my money, then yell at me because I won't give them more.
I wonder if some people here are just going through a little compassion fatigue.
ReplyDeleteI was ultra liberal and compassionate toward the homeless before I moved here. I still try to be but I have become decensitized to some of it. I don't dislike homeless people at all, I'm just trying to deal with what I see day in and day out.
It gets just a little more irritating though when I also see some of the enabling that goes on around here. I wonder if my more liberal tendencies would reawaken if I moved to Roscoe Village? I think I'll just stay put where I am.
Be pissed at the Alderman for the state of the neighborhood and how she is using the TIF money all you want. It doesn't change the fact that people are in need of services.
ReplyDeleteThe fact which doesn't change is that there are immensely better ways to spend TIF money which could both improve the neighborhood and, by extension, help the needy.
People are products of their surrounding environments.
The top coat of paint atop the Wilson stop and it's connected trestle precede Helen's tenure in office.
If Helen were truly concerned with helping the needy (and not simply taking advantage of their plight for political gain), she may have done ... something/anything to address that fact within the 20+ years she's been in office.
Instead, she's happily diverting tax moneys which could go towards community improvements - which would have a positive effect on everyone - and focusing those onto her personal projects - some of which have been rejected by social service agencies.
At the WYTIF amendment meeting, she spoke of the importance of developing a streetscape along Broadway, as well the need to rehab the Wilson stop.
Both of those things were needed even BEFORE she took office some two decades ago.
But what is she focusing her energies towards? Parking. In the form of garages and lots.
She wants to suck even more money into her TIF while the city predicts a $520M budget deficit in 2010.
Do the math:
In 2007, the city collected $550M in TIFs - and Helen has admitted that she can suck more money into the Wilson Yard TIF.
In 2010, the city projects a $520M deficit, and Helen wants to borrow more from the projected value of the WYTIF.
Honestly, do I need to continue to give you examples where Helen is actually doing more harm than good in her "crusade" to help the needy, and how her overall strategy is horrifically unbalanced and ineffective?
We're already working hard to help the needy, and the community - by fighting her, her misguided projects and her inaction.
just wondering - Helen's actions/inaction as alderman have defitinely made me less liberal the longer I live here. Its harder for me to tolerate the bleeding heart liberals out there. And, Chicago Democrats as a whole make me pretty sick.
ReplyDeleteVery few of the Chicago dems are liberal.
ReplyDeleteThey actually call themselves "progressives".
If you look at the litany of Chicago "progressives":
Shiller
Moore
Todd Stroger
Toni Preckwinkle
Jesse Jr.
Beavers
Schakowsky
et al
These folks are not of the ideological lineage of Thom. Jefferson-style "liberals".
They're greedy rats who leverage the concept of liberalism to further their push for power by taking advantage of the poor - using them as pawns, while attacking those who have been able to make it on their own.
If you think I'm making this up, compare their platforms and stated policies to what they actually produce; and, how they go about doing that.
If you research the political history of "progressivism", you'll see it's not connected to the values of liberalism whatsoever.
They (and the other monsters that live in the extremes of the left wing) are actually dyed in the wool socialists, and some of the more extreme ones are borderline communists.
(look at who had a booth at the anti-violence rally if you need proof of that)
Just as those who live in the extremes of the right wing are border line facists.
There's nothing wrong with being a liberal, or having a liberal mindset. There is something wrong with taking a pol's word when they say that they are.