On Monday there will be a hearing at a joint meeting of the City of Chicago Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology and the Committee on Finance to consider the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Sunshine Ordinance that was recently introduced by Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack and Alderman Manny Flores. TIFs as practiced in Chicago are, to quote the Sun-Times, basically "Mayor Daley's private piggy bank". Their use and mis-use have a huge effect on the finances of the City of Chicago AND on Cook County. Though this is a mild reform, it is an important first step in cleaning up this system. What's the ordinance all about? From the Chicago Reader: [...] If passed the ordinance would mandate that by the end of this year the city post every specific agreement, amendment, attachment, order, audit, and record for every use of money from Chicago’s roughly 160 TIF districts. Flores and Waguespack were outraged by the lack of information available to the public—and even to them as elected officials—during the Republic Windows and Doors fiasco, when the company abruptly closed up shop despite agreeing to keep jobs in Chicago in return for $10 million in TIF subsidies. “We are committed to incremental movement on this issue, and it starts with transparency,” Flores said Wednesday. “President Obama has promised transparency with the use of federal money. We should also offer some in the city of Chicago.” To access TIF records currently, Waguespack said, aldermen, affected businesses, and other members of the public have to dig through hundreds of pages of co! uncil journals or send in Freedom of Information requests. He argued that there's no excuse for [not] making the information more accessible. “The technology clearly exists,” he said. “This shouldn’t be an issue.” [...]
Why is this important? Well, how about the fact that MillerCoors was just approved for $6 million of our TIF dollars to renovate their offices. In other words, money was diverted out of the general revenue stream -- the one that goes to in part to fund Cook County services, as well as schools, libraries and parks -- and has now ended up as a corporate subsidy to MillerCoors. Nice. You can see the ordinance as submitted here: http://www.chicityclerk.com/legislation/sublegmatters/2009/feb11/Alderman/32a%20Waguespack%20&%201%20Flores%20etal%20PO2009-1022.pdf At the time of submittal (which was at the February City Council meeting) the ordinance had the following sponsors: Waguespack (32), Flores (1), Fioretti (2), Dowell (3), Preckwinkle (4), Foulkes (15), Cochran (20), Muñoz (22), Dixon (24), E. Smith (28), Carothers (29), Reboyras (30), Colon (35), Allen (38), Reilly (42), Daley (43), Tunney (44), Schulter (47), Moore (49) and Stone (50). The breakdown for Monday's meeting is (I have put a + next to those from the sponsor list above): Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development Margaret Laurino (Chair)
Michael R. Zalewski (Vice-Chair)
Allen +
Banks
Cardenas
Colon +
Daley +
Flores +
Foulkes
Jackson
Lane
Mitts
Rugai
Tunney + Committee on Finance
Edward M. Burke (Chair)
Patrick J. O'Connor (Vice-Chair)
Allen +
Austin
Balcer
Banks
Beale
Burnett
Cardenas
Carothers +
Colon +
Daley +
Doherty
Hairston
Harris
Laurino
Levar
Mell
Moore +
Munoz +
Ocasio
Olivo
Preckwinkle +
Pope
Rugai
Schulter +
Shiller
E. Smith
M. Smith
Solis
Stone +
Suarez
Thomas
Tunney +
Zalewski If you live in Chicago, e-mail your Alderman about this TODAY, and send a copy of your email to Ald. Scott Waguespack at 32ndward@gmail.com. Sending the copy to him is very important as Ald. Waguespack would like to bring those emails with him to Monday's hearing. You can look up your Alderman's email address here: http://www.chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/alderman/find.html And if you live in suburban Cook County, well, I guess you just have to hope that a few of us Chicagoans care enough about what is going on to keep you from continuing to get screwed. |
