Rahm Talks TIFs

This Mayor is talking TIFs. So far he's not turning red and sputtering when someone brings up the issue (as his predecessor did), but ... it's early yet.

• He won't use the any of the $867 million (read that number again: $867,000,000.00) in unallocated TIF funds to plug the $712 million CPS financial hole.  He says it's like "Groundhog Day," because next year it's the same thing all over again.  This makes sense to us, and we find it frightening.  Read the rest of the story here.
• More encouragingly, he's set up a Task Force on TIF Reform and says he wants to hear from you.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel created this special Task Force to evaluate Chicago's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Program to determine whether taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently and to better promote public and private investment across the city. TIF funds are used to build and repair roads and infrastructure, clean polluted land and put vacant properties back to productive use, usually in conjunction with private development projects.

In order to improve and strengthen the TIF program, the Mayor's Task Force needs your help! This website is an interactive forum for all residents to contribute their ideas and give feedback on how best to improve the TIF program.

We've got a lot opinions and suggestions about TIF reform, and we know you do, too.  First one:  Can some of that money go to the Wilson el for the long-promised, never-happened rehab?  And we're not just talking filled retail spaces.  We want safety!  Handicapped accessibility!  State of the art!  Historical preservation!  Crazy, we know.  But we just want the promises of the past 20 years to be kept.  After all, we're paying for it.