Property taxpayers in Englewood were furious upon learning at a town
hall meeting Saturday that their tax dollars had contributed at least $44 million to the
Englewood Neighborhood Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District since it
rolled out in 2001. According to data from the CivicLab's TIF Illumination
Project, some $44 million of taxpayer dollars had funneled to the TIF district between 2001 and 2011.
In 2011 alone, the TIF district siphoned $5
million from property taxpayers in the area, which would
have normally gone to local units of government such as schools and
parks, according to the CivicLab.
“The original concept is that
(TIFs are) designed to have an impact on blighted areas, and just
looking out the window, we know that a blighted area is all around us,”
CivicLab's Bill Drew said at the TIF discussion, held at the Chicago
Public Library's Hiram Kelly Branch. Read more »
Residents of the 45th ward are able to contribute to the
decision-making process for discretionary capital funding for the first
time this year, as 
Standing outside one of the schools slated for closure, Chicago
Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis had heated words for Mayor
Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Board of Education today.