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Wouldnt it make sense when reporting a story to give all the relevant facts? When reporting that the solution to the transit mess is the regional sales tax, it would make sense to mention that this plan lacks the votes necessary to pass.
With this, it is time for the media to call on Madigan to display some leadership on this issue. If he's holding out for a sales tax increase that wont pass, and mass transit in chicago collapses, he is the one to blame. It is time for him to listen to the other leaders and pass the gaming/capital plan which will fund infrastructure projects throughout the state and will save mass transit.
No more games, Mr. Madigan.
Are we allowed to now start asking people what they think about the Cross plan?
Time's a wasting!
And here is the magical thing - You could get the Cross plan passed, and then still do a sales tax increase in the RTA region to fill the hole. But you could wait and do that until January when you only need 60 votes!
On the TIF-Funded Olympics...this is my problem with this whole venture. For the next 10 years all we are going to focus on is a two week event instead of the massive amount of reform and reconstruction this state needs.
Maybe the good citizens of Chicago like things this way. They have shown little evidence to the contrary.
Of course, the rest of the state shouldn't have to
pay for Chicagoans' freespending ways. That means they should pay for their own CTA bailout which includes maintaining a luxury-level overpaid CTA civil service full of connected Dem hacks. It's fine to be spendthrifts, but not if the suburbs and Downstate have to bail you out.
That means, keep that sales tax increase in Chicago.
I do find it telling that the money appears to be there in Chicago to fund their own problems, but folks are willing to go to this level obrinksmanship to have people outside Chicago pay for their problems.
That said, does anyone have an estimate for how much money the feds might kick in, if Chicago gets the Olympics? How much money did DC give Salt Lake City? Atlanta? We'll probably be talking a Democratic White House and Congress here, come 2009, with many key Democrats in positions of influence in the Congress at least (Rahm, Jan, Jesse, Durbin), so that should all be factored in. TIF money won't be the only thing funding the Olympics if Chicago gets it.
You write off Barack so soon?
State law also requires that the municipality approve a plan for the TIF area that specifies how the funds will be used -- within what is allowed by law -- and over what period of time. Any expenditure must be one allowed by the TIF Act as well as one represented in the plan.
As for the impact on the other taxing bodies, the Illinois Department of Revenue paid faculty at the University of Illinois-Chicago to specifically study the impact of TIF on school districts. The "unoffical" results were -- contrary to what Quigley and others contend -- little to none. I say "unofficial" results because IDoR has yet to release this now 2-year old study.
Wonder why not?
Some things never change...
Then how do you explain the Wilson Yard TIF in Uptown to build low-income high rises?
In general TIF Funds could have been used to acquire the property, demolish any existing structures on the property and clear it for construction, and/or provide infrastructure to the site. These uses would all be eligible under the TIF Act. If the high-rises are publicly, rather than privately, owned, funds could be used for their construction. Assuming that this is housing for low or very low income persons, a part of the cost of construction could be covered with TIF funds even if they are privately owned. This allowability was added a number of years ago to encourage additional housing for low-income people as defined in the Act.
TIFs are not slush funds. They are not blank checks. They do not negatively impact a city as opponents claim.
TIFs are being used as a scapegoat during this fiscal crisis. To have Ben Joravsky put together a scenario where Daley is using TIFs to fund the Olympic bid is really stretching it.
Everyone is fighting at the shrinking trough right now. Daley does not have the ability to pass gas without someone screaming, regardless of his re-election. So he would be served rare on a silver platter if he tried what this guy claims. There are too many special interests ready to jump on every penny, and this keeps even legal budget moves on the defensive.
Sorry, there is no boogeymen there.
Finally, it is high time to drop the "we're hated in the world" myth. I went to school during the Clinton years and there is nothing new to the America bashing Democrats are claiming we are undergoing right now. The Anti-America zealots were in full force over a decade ago, and I spent a lot of my time defending us against these idiots at university.
Ever since the Wall fell, we have been unwelcomed to a lot of naive Europeans who are short sighted or blinded to reality. They don't like seeing our culture taking over theirs and with every new US import, there are a lot of Xenophobes crying in their borscht.
The moment they discovered that Bush was from Texas, they started stereotyping him even before he was inaugurated. They did the same to every president. Reagan was a senile actor, Clinton was an ignorant hillbilly, on and on.
We are the world's superpower and they are unhappy they are not. But it is far better that we are and not they. Because the last time they ruled, 60,000,000 died over a seven year period during the 1940s and they have yet to recover from their self-inflicted scars.
I know. I spent too much time debating these holier-than-thou snots over the death penalty, our anti-smoking laws, our anti-abortion stands, religious fundamentalism, and every other issue in which they felt they were superior to us.
Bush wrecked our image? Where have YOU been since 1989? Try being a little less colloquial, and more global. Start by not blaming us for a change, OK?
Also the sheer number of TIFs in Chicago makes it difficult for citizens to understand what is going on where. It's a difficult and complicated story for the media to report. In the end folks are confused and don't want to deal with it. You have to admire Joravsky for his doggedness on this issue.
Objective analysts - Republicans and Democrats- realists and idealists- agree that the Bush administration decision to invade Iraq has been the all-time greatest strategc blunder in the history of American foreign policy, not to mention a trillion dollar mistake.
(Neoconservatives don't agree, but then they are the architects of this disaster.)
Unfortunately, the reality of the Iraq debacle, torture, and extraordinary rendition, is that these facotrs have adversely affected our international reputation. Who would you blame for this state of affsirs, other than the Chneney-Bush administration. Historians already seem to agree that Geogre Bush will be regarded as one of the worst Presidents in American history.
This is objective reality, not ideology speaking. I think that the international image of the US as a "rogue superpower" could affect the decision of the inernational Olympic Committee regarding the 2016 venue. We did do graeat things for the world in the 1940s, but we're not perceived as the good guys anymore!
I suggest you take off your rose-colored glasses and try to see thing the way they really are, instead of how we'd like them to be.
Each year each municipality is required to hold a Joint Review Task Force meeting indicating the Revenues received, the costs expended and the additional costs relevant to the purpose of the TIF The Municipality as chair must then indicate that there are no revenues surplus to TIF Redevelopment Plan requirements. If there are Moneys on hand that are surplus, they are to be distributed to the overlapping taxing bodies in proportion to their share of the Tax Rate.
All taxing units are members, can attend and are Board members. Failure to hold such a meeting is a violation of the TIF statute.
That means that everybody from Cook County to the Chicago School District to the Metro Water Reclamation District, the Coomunity College District dwn all the way to the Mosquito Abatement District and the TH Sanatorium are members. They are the ones who can review and pick at the numbers. These are public meetings and not only any and all taxpayers and Reporters can attend - - the latter should attend.
I have yet to see in the media any reportage of such meetings from any Districts anywhere, but they exist.
In addition there are two other sources of data. Danny Hynes and the State Department of Revenue require an annual report on each TIF which is fairly easy to follow.
If Bonds were sold, the Securities and Eschange Commission requires a filing at the Nationally Recognized Municipal Securities Information Repositories -- there are five called familiarly NRMSIRs annually of data required of the municipality at the times that Bonds were sold. These include information relative to the issue and the security of the revenue stream.
In other words, the information is there and it appears that each of the overlapping taxing units did not give a damn.