August 13, 2009 News & Commentary » Politics

The Chicago Reader TIF Archive

This archive contains articles by Reader staff writer Ben Joravsky on Chicago's TIF (tax increment financing) districts.

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How come mayor daley is not spending the TIF money on the heart of the west side of chicago??? Oh by the way where did mayor daley get the money to buy that summer home in Grand Beach,Michigan???

Posted by William Brown on September 19, 2009 at 10:51 AM | Report this comment

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The Chicago Reader TIF Archive

This archive contains articles by Reader staff writer Ben Joravsky on Chicago's TIF (tax increment financing) districts.

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How a bill intended to expand the state Freedom of Information Act was bastardized to expand the mayor's shadow budget

Mayor Daley says he’s not raising property taxes. But he is. Here’s how.

We have some follow-up questions to the questions other outlets have been asking him about our stories.

Marina owner Mike Olsen has reason to fear the city will force him out of business to the benefit of his competition.

The Daley administration commands an off-the-books kitty of taxpayer money equivalent to a sixth of the official city budget. Now we’ve got documents that show what they want to do with it.

As the city faced a gaping budget deficit, the Daley administration closed out Chicago’s oldest and fattest slush fund by spending every last cent in it—and then some.

Instead of getting a new pool out of the games, the west side will lose a pool and gym paid for with $30 million in tax increment financing funds.

Alderman Willie Cochran needs to learn the first lesson of TIFs in Chicago: it's the mayor's money to spend as he likes.

Why you don't want to give Chicago the Olympics

MillerCoors gets $24 million in subsidies to move to Chicago. What does Chicago get?

Is there a difference anymore between aldermen Helen Shiller and Berny Stone?

The city explains--in a manner of speaking--why it has so little evidence that it monitored its $10 million TIF deal with Republic Windows and Doors.

How well is the city monitoring its multimillion-dollar corporate subsidies? There's only one way to find out.

The City Council can approve a 99-year privatization deal in days, but it needs months to decide whether to put public records online.

The City Council's hearing on TIF transparency is interrupted by demands for a more inclusive Olympics plan.

A proposal to make tax increment financing deals more transparent receives broad support and no opposition in a City Council hearing--then gets tabled anyway.

Aldermen Manny Flores and Scott Waguespack take up Mike Quigley's TIF reform crusade.

How the city managed to spend $1.4 million to turn a commercial strip into empty lots.

Two aldermen call for TIF reform, starting with transparency.

Republic Windows and Doors will make good on what it owes workers. Now what about our $10.4 million?

Alderman Shiller says Uptown residents are suing to dismantle the Wilson Yard TIF for the wrong reasons. But so what?

The TIF kitty's still growing, per the county clerk's annual report—but it may not be growing fast enough to cover the bets Chicago has made against it.

Why your property taxes may be going up even as your property loses value.

Strapped for cash, yet another of the city's independent advocacy groups is foundering.

Why a vote for Obama is not a vote for the mayor

Mayor Daley's all for suing the state over the education spending gap—but his pet program's partly to blame.

The city's facing a $420 million deficit, but as usual it's somebody else's fault.

A downstate court ruling empowers Chicago taxpayers to sue the city for TIF abuse.

The mayor's biggest power play yet—the acquisition of a swath of Bensenville—may soon be a fait accompli.

Is paved with rubber-stamp votes like the City Council's decision on the Children's Museum.

The city has found a way to extend the life of its oldest, fattest tax increment financing district.

Why is Alderman Ray Suarez blocking a new school that could ease overcrowding in his ward?

If the state has its way, a TIF on sales taxes means you'll be funding the rehab of Wrigley Field.

The well-connected score again as the city works out new TIF deals for a former alderman, a wealthy private hospital, and a big car dealer.

The state's proposed purchase and renovation of Wrigley Field is a corporate handout not even the mayor can swallow.

Cook County clerk David Orr reveals—nay, publicizes—that TIFs sucked up more than $500 million in property taxes last year.

The city finally posts some (mis)information about its tax increment financing program online.

The white whale lurking behind the mayor's new tax increases

The city has reserved the right to wipe out this block for a developer to be named later.

As Chicagoans face tax hikes that will force people from their homes, Daley deflects blame onto state leaders.

Only in Chicago could an $8 million affordable-housing subsidy in Edgewater cost taxpayers $75 million.

Why is the city offering $40 million in public money to subsidize the Merc's merger with the Chicago Board of Trade?

Did alderman Vi Daley know about the sweet deal the Park District gave Latin School on public land?

Why the governor is suddenly so interested in the mayor's pet financing scheme

While lawmakers fiddle, a huge property tax hike awaits home owners.

The city's plan for the old main post office

Washington Park's users fear the Olympics will leave them nowhere to play.

While Chicago courts the Olympics, future Olympians practice in school hallways.

In Oak Park, the school boards have demanded their money back from TIFs.

The question isn't whether the public will pay--it's how the city will hide the amount.

Good intentions aren't enough to justify the city's latest slush fund.

The Mega Mall is a megaissue in the 35th Ward race.

The city says it can develop 54 vacant lots on the west side without drawing on the local slush fund.

The company that shuttered the west-side Brach's plant in 2003 is coming back, enticed by $880,000 in TIF funds.

If Daley and Madigan truly supported the property tax cap, don't you think it would've passed by now?

Almost all the vendors who got paid out of the Pilsen TIF last year are donors to the Daley and Solis campaigns.

In the 47th Ward, an alderman gets a rude awakening. Before long, we all will.

Why would the Cook County Board give up a chance to have some control over how the city spends property taxes?

How City Council really works

Daley's big-box brouhaha obscured the rubber-stamping of the LaSalle Central TIF.

Reform-minded county commissioner Mike Quigley is gearing up to take on TIFs--and by extension Mayor Daley.

With an election coming up, the mayor takes his magic show on the road.

The tax bill for 77 W. Wacker is just one glaring example of how the county helps the city hide the real cost of TIFs.

Never mind whether the LaSalle Central TIF district is a good idea--we couldn't afford it even if it were.