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If Mayor Daley ever wants to get out of politics, I think he could have a great career in comedy. Certainly his latest proposal is classic stuff, even if the joke's on us.
Last week the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, an organization of 272 area mayors put together by Daley, proposed creating a new wing of the state education bureaucracy intended to guarantee "transparency" in educational fundiing. As Fran Spielman has reported in the Sun-Times, under the proposal, "school districts would develop long-term financial plans that include multiyear forecasts of revenue, spending and debt. Long-term capital improvement plans would also be required." The state would be authorized to withhold funding from school districts that "thumb their noses at the reforms and remove recalcitrant administrators."
Well, what about recalcitrant, thumb-nosing mayors? Make no mistake, the man most responsible for deception in education funding here in Chicago is the very fellow who's proposing to reform it.
I'm talking, of course, about tax increment financing districts, of which Chicago has at least 150 (one more was recommended by the city's Community Development Commission on April 10, the day Daley and the caucus unveiled their proposal).
The really funny part about Daley's so-called reform is that it doesn't even mention TIFs, the single greatest source of duplicity in an already confusing property tax morass. Transparency? What a joke: in Chicago roughly $400 million a year in property taxes is diverted into off-the-books accounts controlled by Daley and his favorite aldermen. The TIF money doesn't appear on any budget, and it's not itemized on your property tax bills, which lie about how your tax dollars get spent. Tax bills lead Chicagoans to believe half of their tax dollars go to the public schools, when in fact the schools forfeit at least $200 million a year to the mayor's worthy causes: e.g., subsidies for luxury condos in Logan Square and commercial leases in the Loop.
Daley had a chance to promote "transparency" last summer, when Cook County Board commissioner Mike Quigley proposed that the county itemize TIF expenditures on tax bills. Mayor Daley dispatched a few aides and aldermen to the county board meeting to make sure the commissioners killed Quigley's bill. In a particularly memorable moment during the debate, "independent" board member Larry Suffredin, echoing comments from one of Daley's chief TIF advisers, said that putting the information on the tax bill would only confuse taxpayers.
I suppose it's better just to keep them in the dark. Or make 'em laugh.
Finally, it drives me totally batty that no one ever questions the underlying assumption behind this whole discussion. Namely, that spending more money on schools will solve all their problems. Go talk to your colleague Harold Henderson who understands how to read a multi-variable regression study and ask him if there is a credible study out there that links money spent on schools with educational outcomes. So many other factors go into how well kids learn that it DRIVES ME CRAZY that no one questions this basic assumption more often.
Sure I want City public school facilities modernized and I want (good) teachers paid well, but that is all ready happening at many schools throughout the City system and we still have a long way to go to improve educational outcomes.
I favor more competition and choice, but even then, schools face some tough hurdles when dealing with kids from broken homes, kids with disfunctional parents, etc.
In that case, jeffrey, why don't YOU PAY that 'relatively small amount of 400 MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS.
Only an idiot could fail to understand that the issue is about WHAT, EXACTLY, this 'relatively small' amount of tax payers' money is being spent for.
Who is receiving this windfall of unaccounted-for swag?
And for WHAT PURPOSES?
And for what PUBLIC benefit?
At least the bastards have to put their lies on paper for the non-TIF'd spending.
If anything, your point about not throwing money at CPS should lead to LOWER TAXES.
Or are you 'more than happy' to pony up whatever the political blue-bloods say you have to.
I'm not sure I understand where your anger is coming from, but I respectfully disagree with you that only "an idiot could fail to understand that the issue is about WHAT, EXACTLY, this 'relatively small' amount of tax payers' money is being spent for."
How TIF money is spent (and for what) is one issue. Whether or not this money should be spent on the public schools (or other municipal services) and whether the schools have enough money is another issue.
Temper, Temper:
I agree and will try and remain civil.
Raven:
Thanks for the comments, but I'm happily married.
as long as people think their higher tax bills are going towards the schools, parks, and other quality of life issues, we have a problem. as Ben & jeffrey point out, the lack of transparency isn't just an accident, it's intentional -
If people were seeing on their tax bills that xxx thousands of $$$ were going directly into a developer's pockets, they'd be a lot more likely to question the TIF program.
for example, under Logan Square's prior alderman, Vilma Colom, TIF funding was used to buy new awnings and storefront improvements under the concept it improved the neighborhood. well, as a resident I think that tax money fixing my house would do the same thing, but is that appropriate? if nobody knows what's going on, we can't have a serious conversation about it.
Daley doesn't have to tell you where he is spending our tax dollars
he is a benevelent dictator
even married you couldn't resist
You have to forgive Ben J. He has a real Don Quixote hard on for tilting at the TIF windmill.
It's coming from idiotic comments that suggest that it's no big deal to be ripped off, year after year, by these crooks.
It's coming from wanting to continue to live where my father/mother and grandfather/grandmother lived, but being unable to afford to, because the shits keep on picking all of our pockets, and, for what, to line their own and their buddies pockets.
It comes from knowing that my hard earned income is being taken from me, effectively at gunpoint, and used, not to provide all citizens with essential services, but to support and enrich the crooks we keep electing to office.
It comes from being told that, if I don't like things the way they are, I should move somewhere else.
It comes from being lied to, as are we all, BEFORE an election, and then seeing these motherfuckers do exactly the opposite of what they said they would, AFTER the election.
It comes from the un-American attitudes exhibited by the many shits that my idiotic neighbors either keep voting for, or allow to be reelected by not bothering to vote.
It comes from knowing that, very soon, I'll have to do what I don't want to do, namely, sell my family's home, which we've owned since 1932, and leave the city that I love, for no other reason than that I've been forced out by the scandalous and crooked activities of the bums who have the gall to state publicly that they are acting in the best interests of all the citizens, when, in fact, they are robbing us blind every day.
I want my elected representatives to be OBSESSED with taxing and spending the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, not the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM.
If you can't quite grasp this, then either you are an idiot or, more likely, you're one of the crooks benefiting from all the scams, schemes and fraudulent deals.
When my tax bill increases because of a higher assessment value, what does the county do with that extra money?
I mean, if they were getting less money from me, and my neighbors, before the increase in my home's value, that seems to me to suggest that they're getting more solely because of the rise in my home's value.
So, what's the connection between the amount of taxes spent, for what purposes, and the amounts we each pay?
Maybe you could write an article on how the property taxes are determined, making the explanation as simple as possible.
It's Not Scientology, It's Property Taxes!
Everyone’s affected by our incomprehensibly convoluted system, so even apartment dwellers should read this—if only for laughs.
By Ben Joravsky
July 28, 2006
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/thew...
He is also angry that his "hard earned income is being taken from [him]...and used, not to provide all citizens with essential services, but to support and enrich the crooks we keep electing to office."
Respectfully sir, I have to disagree that this great City doesn't provide its citizens with excellent public services. Yes, there are examples of corruption and graft in city government...welcome to the human race. Our current Mayor has done more to improve the quality of life for the average citizen in Chicago over the past 15 years than many of his predecessors and counter-parts in other American cities.
I suggest you stop calling people who disagree with you names and start calling real estate agents to get the best price possible on your home. Good luck!
If you owned stocks that doubled in value over a 3 year period, would you be happy to pay a massive tax on them, even though you hadn't sold them or returned a profit?
What folks like you do not understand is that a home is not simply "an asset" - it's a HOME.
"Our current Mayor has done more to improve the quality of life for the average citizen in Chicago over the past 15 years than many of his predecessors and counter-parts in other American cities."
Well, calling you an idiot isn't 'name calling', it's the most generous conclusion possible.
Little Richie didn't do shit, pal, we, the taxpayers paid through our noses for everything. And then some.
In fact, if you weren't either stupid, or more likely, one of the many clout monkeys sucking at the public tit, you wouldn't be posting such drivel as ".....is mad that he owns an asset that has doubled in value over the past couple of years." or "....I have to disagree that this great City doesn't provide its citizens with excellent public services." or "Yes, there are examples of corruption and graft in city government...welcome to the human race." and especially "I suggest you......start calling real estate agents to get the best price possible on your home.".
My 3rd generation family home has actually decreased in value, if the original cost my grandfather paid is adjusted from 1932 dollars to 2007.
The taxes paid have, no surprise here, increased dramatically, even if similarly adjusted.
And, apparently, you weren't paying attention when I said that I don't want to sell, don't want to leave the city of my birth, my father and mother's birth and my grandfather and grandmother's birth.
But then, carpetbaggers have no roots, have no loyalty to any specific geographical area, neighborhood, etc., only to their own, measly selves, primarily their pocketbooks.
Didn't anyone ever teach you that you can't take it with you?
Or do you think you'll live forever?
If you want to accept, without protest, being ripped off, accept corruption, thievery, scamming and dishonesty, as being the norm for the 'human race', that's your choice.
Could that be because you are one of the many who are dishonest, corrupt and inclined to thievery?
However cleverly concealed?
Save your words of resignation for when you're being butt-fucked and you don't have the balls to even object, let alone resist, let alone defend your right to be free of being screwed.
"My 3rd generation family home has actually decreased in value, if the original cost my grandfather paid is adjusted from 1932 dollars to 2007. The taxes paid have, no surprise here, increased dramatically, even if similarly adjusted."
I find the first sentence hard to believe, unless his 3rd generation home is now in a slum. As for taxes, I actually agree with my nemesis here that taxes should be lower and government does too much. But with respect to core city services, I still maintain that homeowners (and yes, I own a home and pay property taxes just like "as politely") get excellent value for their tax dollars, assuming you have kids that go to public school (I have two, one is in a CPS school and the other will be going soon).
The city employs close to 40,000 people...is "as politely" suggesting that we are all corrupt and dishonest?
Does he have specific examples of his trash not getting picked up, or streets not getting fixed, or catch basins not getting cleaned? If so, I encourage you to call 311 to report these problems. The 311 system has done wonders to improve department responsiveness and efficiency.
If "as politely" objects to certain public policies advanced by the Mayor, then I suggest he use the political process to try and change those policies.
I encourage you to try and formulate arguments the next time you post a comment, as opposed to using foul language and invective to make a point.
Compared to where, exactly? If your kids can get into a magnet school you might be getting an OK value, but otherwise your argument falls flat - our public schools are nowhere near the quality as the suburban ones, and our taxes are comparable (often higher).
As to "If 'as politely' objects to certain public policies advanced by the Mayor, then I suggest he use the political process to try and change those policies."
Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.
As to "encourage you to try and formulate arguments the next time you post a comment, as opposed to using foul language and invective to make a point."
Try reading the post this time, not merely scanning it for the shit you don't like. The so-called 'foul language' is actually the appropriate vocabulary relevant to the subjects at hand.
As to "The city employs close to 40,000 people...is "as politely" suggesting that we are all corrupt and dishonest?"
No, not all, just those who pull in $50k+ a year for what the private sector would pay no more than $30k or less.
But what's $10k to $20k, more or less, among 'friends'?
As to "Does he have specific examples of his trash not getting picked up, or streets not getting fixed, or catch basins not getting cleaned?"
Does your focus on these services mean you work for Streets and Sans? Or the Water Department?
Because, as you must know all too well, all city and county payrolls are padded thicker than 'da mayar's' waistline.
As to "As for taxes, I actually agree with my nemesis here that taxes should be lower and government does too much."
Taxes should be much lower, BUT, government doesn't do too much, it does TOO LITTLE, especially for the huge amounts of our hard earned dollars that are plucked from our pockets 24/7/52. Unless, of course, you are one of the chosen clout monkeys, clout contractors, and clout criminal wheeler-dealers.
Save your garbage nonsense for those who you're 'flocking together' with, the rest of us commoners know better.
And a puke bag.
"orion
April 17th - 11:30 p.m.
Jeff,
You have to forgive Ben J. He has a real Don Quixote hard on for tilting at the TIF windmill."
Thus concludes the 'orion' comments on this article.
See individual article comments for the further adventures of your hero and mine, the ever enthusiastic ...... 'orion'.