Just a Drop in the Polluted Bucket

Re “Sweet Fleet” by Mick Dumke, June 12

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District is one of the very few major dischargers of municipal wastewater in North America that does not disinfect to kill pathogens although the Chicago River and the Cal-Sag Canal are increasingly being used for kayaking, canoeing, and wading. Also, unlike the sewage treatment plants for Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and many other cities, the big MWRD plants do not remove phosphorus although phosphorus pollution is known to cause major problems in lakes and rivers as well as the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone.

One must fear that the message that the MWRDGC commissioners will take away from this article is that they need not worry about the big stuff since the press cares only about whether commissioners receive a car or other debatable perks.

Albert Ettinger

Chicago and Obama

Re: “Is Obama a Chicago Politician?” by Ben Joravsky, June 12

It seems to me that McCain and Obama are being held to different standards with different requirements for proof.

McCain has done favors—some pretty irregular favors—for lobbyists who have done favors for him. The “quid” and the “quo” of the quid pro quo are there, but nobody can prove the “pro.” So, he’s innocent until proven guilty.

Obama comes from the dirty world of Chicago politics. So, he has to be dirty even if you can’t point to his doing favors for his donors.

Frank Palmer

Edgewater

Obama will be linked to not only Daley, but all the power players (money) that have funded this incarnation of JFK “light.” He will not be able to hide the facts, and the corruption that Daley calls progress will come to light and those anchors such as Rezko will sink him to the bottom of the Chicago River.

the truth

You all are delusional if you think Obama is going down due to an association with Daley—Chicago corruption is so complex that nobody outside of cook county understands it, much less voters a thousand miles away. most people around the country don’t either know or care to know about Daley’s bad side, they just see millennium park and go “oooh, he revitalized the City!”

This is of course why Daley built it in the first place. it is beautiful, but more importantly, it’s a distraction from the crumbling infrastructure, schools, etc.

But back to the point, Obama won’t be linked to any of this stuff.

Carter

What TIFs Are vs. What They Were Meant to Be

Re “Calling It a Rant Won’t Make It Go Away,” Letters, June 12

Once again, Ben Joravsky has done a first-rate job of reporting on the TIF scandal [“The TIF That Keeps On Taking,” June 5], a brave act that he should be commended for. He missed one important point.

[In his letter, Paul] Keller stated, “A TIF district cannot be created in the first place unless the area is ‘blighted,’” which is completely false. Some of the TIFs are in the most affluent areas of the city, and I am sure Harold Washington is turning in his grave with the way Mayor Daley has manipulated the original intent of the TIF program.

I applaud Mr. Joravsky for his thorough reporting and his meticulous facts. He is the crown jewel of the Chicago Reader.

David Byrd

N. Paulina

I am not “a lawyer for the Illinois Tax Increment Association.” My law firm is a member of that association. And I said in the third sentence of my letter that I am a municipal attorney who has helped create many TIF districts. That seemed to me to constitute full disclosure.

I did not say that municipalities shouldn’t be required to report TIF revenues and expenditures; they are required to report them to the state. I said that Ben Joravsky’s complaint that they are not reported on tax bills doesn’t make sense.

I don’t know the specific basis on which the city of Chicago determined that the Central Loop area qualified as a TIF district, but anyone who wants to know can read the ordinance establishing it and the background studies. If it’s not “blighted” today, do you think it might be because of all the TIF money which has been invested in it over the past 20 years?

And I can indeed contradict “The Doc”’s claim of “diversion.” One of the most common uses of TIF funds is for “public works”—improving water mains and sewers, building and improving streets, demolishing abandoned buildings, and so on.

I’m sorry that my letter “lost” Guy Fawkes. TIF is, as I said, a complicated issue and I tried to write as clearly as I could. But if Guy was truly “lost” how does he know that what I wrote was “drivel?”

Paul Keller

Ben Joravsky replies:

I’m sorry I misstated Keller’s connection to the ITIA. Mr. Byrd is correct: as I’ve reported many times, a program intended to eradicate blight in low-income communities starving for investment is widely applied to some of our wealthiest areas, where developers are lining up even without handouts from the city. That’s why I call TIFs a reverse Robin Hood—it taxes us all to feed the well connected.

Superfan Fan

Re “What Happens in the Bleachers Stays in the Bleachers” by Jeff Carroll, June 12

Cubs will allow access to shoot commercials at Wrigley for any number of “sponsors” (see media-whore furniture brothers commercial), but turn the other way when local filmmaker could use assistance w/MLB. Makes sense.

Perry

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