We Might Take Your House

The latest TIF proposal allocates $10 million for a “potential” land grab by the city.

By Ben Joravsky

February 28, 2008

February 19 was a busy day at City Hall, as city officials gave the Daley administration the OK to jack up property taxes by untold hundreds of millions of dollars, virtually handed the mayor those millions to spend as he pleases, and threatened to kick a bunch of seniors out of their west-side homes.

The action was at the monthly meeting of the Community Development Commission, the mayorally appointed advisory group of lawyers, developers, city department heads and other Daley allies in charge of forking over TIF dollars. As you should know by now, TIFs place a cap on the amount of property taxes that go to the city, schools, parks, and other taxing bodies, diverting additional revenue ostensibly to fund development in districts deemed “blighted.” At this particular session the CDC recommended that the City Council approve the proposed Ogden/Pulaski tax increment financing district, which would encompass parts of North and South Lawndale. On its face, this particular TIF might seem to make sense: unlike the many TIFs in gentrifying or affluent areas, this one’s at least intended to help a struggling community. But at what cost to the residents?

The proposed TIF runs roughly from Roosevelt on the north to 24th on the south and from Albany on the east to Kostner on the west, putting most of it within the 24th Ward; about 23 percent of the TIF is in the 22nd Ward. But while typically TIFs are promoted by aldermen working in conjunction with the city’s planning department, in this case neither 24th Ward alderman Sharon Denise Dixon nor 22nd Ward alderman Rick Munoz is the primary proponent. The TIF’s initial boosters were three nonprofit groups: the Steans Family Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

According to Reginald Jones, executive director of the Steans foundation, planning department officials came to his group, MacArthur, and LISC about two years ago, asking them to pay for a $275,000 TIF eligibility study. “The city had asked developers for requests for proposals to develop a portion of Ogden in 1995,” says Jones. “They didn’t get any proposals because developers thought there was too much risk. The department felt we needed a tool to help the community.”

But the eligibility study, completed in summer 2007, raised more questions than it answered. For starters, it was rooted in the outdated assumption that North Lawndale is so hopelessly depressed that no one would invest there. As poor as North Lawndale is, it’s been steadily attracting developers who are building new homes that fetch upwards of $300,000. One of the most pressing issues in the neighborhood these days is property taxes, which have been rising so dramatically many longtime residents don’t know if they can afford to stay in their homes. The prospect of a TIF only exacerbates these concerns: many residents suspect the funds will be used to subsidize upscale condos rather than affordable housing for poor and working-class people on the verge of being priced out.

The eligibility report outlined a plan to build 300 housing units and 20,000 square feet of commercial space, but it didn’t go into any specifics about who or what they’d be intended for. Moreover, it called for an acquisition budget of $10 million to buy 1,600 vacant lots and placed 135 buildings on a list of “housing potentially subject to displacement.” That’s a euphemistic way of saying city officials might use eminent domain to force the owners to sell. But instead of identifying the properties on this list by their addresses, which everyone would understand, the report identified them by their property index numbers—the 14-digit codes that the county uses to identify taxable parcels.

Joe Ann Bradley, an activist with the Lawndale Alliance, put in the time on the Cook County assessor’s Web site to link the PINs with actual addresses. As the alliance got the word out, residents began to wonder if the city was hatching a “major move-the-black-folks-out plan,” as one activist puts it.

Initially, Alderman Dixon was skeptical of the TIF—particularly since her own home was on the list. (It was drawn up before she was elected last April, in a runoff against incumbent Michael Chandler.) But after a series of neighborhood meetings over the summer and fall, she’s come around. The city, she says, has been accommodating when it comes to downsizing the project, taking 108 properties—including hers—off the list. That leaves just 26 parcels, representing about 41 units of housing, still in danger.

“We can complain and miseducate the community or we can become knowledgeable and make it work for us,” Dixon said at the CDC hearing.

Munoz supports the plan too, and with the aldermen’s blessings, this TIF is pretty much a done deal—the City Council historically defers to the aldermen and city planners on such matters. Nonetheless, residents of North Lawndale, most of them senior citizens, packed the CDC meeting to plead for their homes. They talked about how they’d bought their houses decades ago, how they’d raised families in them, how they’d spent hard-earned dollars fixing them up. Lecia Green-Daley laid into the city for labeling some of the property under consideration “dilapidated.” “My father’s house is up to code,” she said, her voice booming. “My dad paid his taxes. My dad’s never been on public aid. This house is not for sale—it will never be for sale.” Another resident threatened to keep the city from taking her property by standing on the front porch with a shotgun if it came to that.

Only one commissioner, Anne Kostiner, showed any sympathy. “We’re expected to put away our human emotion—it’s very hard for me to do,” she said. “It’s a sad day today when people have threatened to guard their homes with their own lives.”

Kostiner, who’s emerging as the voice of independence on the board, voted against the TIF. But the rest of the commission voted for it with only a few perfunctory questions, in effect turning over $100 million to Mayor Daley to spend however he wants with the details to be worked out later. The plan’s parameters are so loose it might as well not have any, and the acquisition budget remains $10 million even though the purchase list has been slashed.

Apparently the city feels free to give away money because almost no one’s paying attention to TIFs. TIF expenditures aren’t itemized on our tax bills, and the city’s official line is that they don’t raise taxes when in fact taxes must and do increase to compensate the schools, parks, libraries, and county for revenue being siphoned off into the TIFs. At the CDC meeting two city planners and Alderman Dixon took turns repeating this outrageously false mantra.

After that, planning officials tried to reassure residents that being on the list of property subject to acquisition by the city doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have to sell their homes. As planning commissioner Arnold Randall explained, there’s a difference between being on an acquisition list, which means “Look out, here comes the city” and being on a potential acquisition list, which means “Look out, the city might be coming.” And don’t worry—if the city does declare eminent domain, it will require CDC approval, meaning folks get another chance to schlep downtown and beg for their lives before a board that isn’t accountable to anyone but the mayor.

Having watched the CDC rubber-stamp the TIF, residents were hardly reassured. “They must think we’re stupid to think there’s a lot of difference between being on the acquisition list or the potential acquisition list,” said Valerie Leonard, a member of the Lawndale Alliance. “You’re still worried about having to sell. It’s like this shadow is over you—you never know when the city’s going to move in on you.”

Jones says the Steans foundation supports the TIF because “our community needs an investment tool.” In this way, it joins community groups and social service organizations across the city that look the other way as the sham continues because they’ve been told there’s no other option. Certainly the folks at the Steans foundation should know better: board member Heather Steans, whose father started the nonprofit, called for greater transparency in TIF deals during her recent successful primary campaign for state senate. (Steans didn’t attend the CDC meeting or return calls for comment.)

I hope Steans, Dixon, Munoz, and the TIF’s other local backers aren’t fooling themselves into thinking that they’ll have a lot of say in how the Ogden/Pulaski TIF money’s spent. As they’ll eventually learn, the mayor may give away a slice here or there, but when it comes to TIFs it’s basically his pie. My bet is that he’ll draw on the revenue to build the new Olympic swimming pool proposed for nearby Douglas Park should Chicago win the 2016 games.

The residents are right to be wary. “Why would they put us on the list if they didn’t have a plan for the homes?” asked Lecia Green-Daley.

Good question, and so far there’s no answer. We can assume Dixon’s house was removed because there’s no longer any other plan in place for her property. If the city has a plan for the other properties, it should put that plan on the table. If it doesn’t, it should take these people’s homes off the list. If that’s good enough for the alderman, it should be good enough for anyone else.   

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Clout City Ben Joravsky: State rep Larry McKeon, the General Assembly's first openly gay member, has died at age 63.
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