The city’s tax increment financing, or TIF, program is an economic
development tool, but it should really be called a Chicago bailout for
private companies, some Uptown residents said at a town hall meeting Thursday night as part of the CivicLab’s TIF Illumination Project.
“Why
don’t we call (TIF) Chicago welfare,” 46th Ward resident Ryne Poelker
asked at the meeting held at the Peoples Church of Chicago. “Why don’t
they call it a bailout?”
Property taxpayers in the 46th Ward paid
out about $87.6 million for TIF projects in the area since the inception
of the program under former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington through
2010, according to the CivicLab’s data analysis.
More
than half of that money went to private developers for projects such as
the Wilson Yard, a retail space at 4400 N. Broadway Ave., that houses a
Target, Aldi grocery store and low-income housing units. The project
received more than $50 million in TIF funds, according to the CivicLab. Read more »
Emmet Elementary School’s
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 
Members of SEIU* Local 1 stood in solidarity with students and
parents Saturday at the second and final community meeting regarding the
phase out of 
Menjiwei Latham said it’s been “horrible” looking for the right
school for her special education student in the Chicago Public Schools
(CPS) system. Her 11 year-old son, Paki, who has been diagnosed with Fragile X
Syndrome (FXS), was placed in two special education programs before he
found his place at 
Parents and South Side residents called the Chicago Public Schools’
plan to shut down 54 schools at the end of the year a violent and
disrespectful act during the second and final community meeting
regarding the closure of 
In anticipation of next week’s economic bargaining, members of 
Members of Action Now and the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) protested outside of the 