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I was sort of hoping that Mayor Daley would personally call to tell me he was killing the Central Loop TIF -- you know, sort of the way a vanquished candidate calls the winner on election night.
As you all know, I've been vainly battling Daley's TIFs for more years than I can count, and this is the first time, the very first time, that he's ever pulled the plug on a meaningful TIF district (last year he killed a couple of loser districts).
So, first of all, I'd like to say you're welcome to all the taxpayers who haven't got around to calling me to say thanks. In the property tax appeal game, most lawyers get at least 10 percent of what they save you on your taxes. By killing this TIF, taxpayers will save about $100 million a year. The way I figure, Chicago's taxpayers owe me at least $10 million -- and I don't take checks.
In reality, we've lost more than we've gained with the Central Loop TIF. Yes, the schools will get up to $50 million in 2009 they weren't getting with this TIF district alive. But the schools will have to wait at least another nine years or so before they regain the $500 million they lost to the Central Loop since 1984.
And by then they'll have lost even more money to all the other TIFs Mayor Daley and the City Council have been creating. Remember, there are still about 160 other TIFs out there, with the city council gearing up to create new ones almost every month.
As Greg Hinz points out in today's Crain's, the reason Mayor Daley gave up on the Central Loop TIF is that its 24-year lifetime was about to expire and he needed Springfield's approval to extend it. This would have resulted in a loud and nasty public fight with Governor Blagojevich that the mainstream media would have had no choice but to cover. Suddenly, the public would be coming face to face with this scam. And the last thing Mayor Daley wants -- be it for his TIFs or his Olympics -- is public scrutiny.
From the mayor's perspective, sacrificing the Central Loop is a small price to pay to keep the larger program going strong.
Besides, he still has the LaSalle Central TIF, which he created in part to replace money he would lose if he had to kill the Central Loop. The LaSalle Central will soon be soaking up far more than a 100 million a year. And if I know our mayor, I'm sure he'll be looking for new downtown TIFs to create in the next year or so. He's nothing if not resourceful.
Of course, he can only get away with this so long as the larger public remains docile and dumb. And there doesn't seem to be any time limit on that.
1. Daley didn't kill it, he allowed it to expire, as it is designed to do, even though this particular TIF wasn't needed in the first place and never was used for it's legitimate purpose during it's lifetime.
2. As stated in Ben's article, the main reason Daley didn't attempt to renew this TIF is because he couldn't do so behind closed doors.
3. This means next to nothing concerning the need to reign in this mayor, and his city council, in their misuses and abuses of state TIF laws.
4. The only event that will end this mayor's 20+ corruption marathon is to:
HAVE NO DOUBT, VOTE INCUMBENTS OUT
Now THAT would be an expression of the publics' appreciation that Ben would really relish.
Yep.
Maybe because SecondCityCop isn't bullshit and the comments of 'orion' are, 99 times out of 100, the stuff that comes out of a bull's ass.
Don't feel bad, orion, at least you're, presumably, not the '...to the first degree..' illegal immigrant who's posts are 100% bullshit, 100% of the time.
It is a generally good rule.
I will vote NO on all judges.
I will vote against almost all incumbents for almost all offices with some exceptions.
The exceptions:
PATRICK QUINN the Lite Gov
ANTHONY J PERAICA County Commish
Former US Senator PETER FITZGERALD
MWRD Commish Frank Avila
MWRD Commish Debra Shore
State Rep John Fritchey
Commissioners Claypool and Quigley
Maybe some Alderman:
Bob Fioretti
Sandy Jackson
Brendan O'Reiley
Toni Preckwincle
sometimes Freddryne Lyle
sometimes Manny Flores
Ald Waguespack
sometimes Ald Tom Allen
the rest of the Alderman are pure garbage
Most of the Illinois State Senate is garbage on the Democratic side
There are some Republicans that had some good legislation for truth in budgeting and taxes but only a couple some have left years ago like Fitzgerald or Roskam and moved on and up or retired
There is a pension crisis
There is not truth in Budgeting
The above are our best
the rest are really shit
most alderman are shit
most State Senators are shit
Are governor is corrupt and stupid
Our Mayor is corrupt
Emil Jones is a corrupt joke
Madigan is only about power
Terry O'Brien is only about power and contracts at the MWRD and knows nothing about the environment
We have terrible judges
VOTE AGAINST INCUMBENTS
A VOTE FOR OBAMA IS A VOTE FOR DALEY
PERAICA IN THE STATES ATTORNEY WOULD BE MORE REFORM
BUSH SHOULD BE IMPEACHED
COOK COUNTY AND ILLINOIS DEMOCRATS ARE CORRUPT
NATIONAL REPUBLICANS ARE CORRUPT
DON'T BAIL OUT THE MORTGATE USURY CROOKS
THE IRAQ WAR WAS ON FALSE PRETENSES
STOP USURY
STOP DALEY
I'm going to vote out most of the incumbents, too, oreo.
Now tell us that you're going to vote twice, in order to also cancel out my vote.
Then tell us you're going to vote as many times as it takes to cancel out whatever number of voters choose to vote out most of the incumbents.
Go ahead, admit that elections in this city and county are fraudulent.
But with TIFs, the Mayor will battle back. He will continue to do the minimum to survive public scutiny, then pitch any corrective action as thoughtful patchwork to the program, to hopefully garner him some public praise for his wisdom in administering the TIF Program.
But it's all cover-up. Without continuing pressure, existing TIFs will remain, new TIFs will be proposed, and the Board of Ed will continue to levy to the max to make up for the frozen growth in the tax base.
The TIF issue will remain as long as this administration is in power.
For my African American friends who vote for Obama because of racial pride, ask one question:
What has Barack Obama said about the torture of hundreds of African American men including electrocution of testicles in Area 2 and 3 in Chicago with dozens of police under the Command of JON BURGE???????????
Obama has been silent about Jon Burge.
Obama has been silent about Daley corruption (and Todd Stroger, and Emil Jones and Rod Blagojevich)
Look into the KATZ radical links.
Obama has done nothing for the African American community and did nothing on Burge and police torture.
A VOTE FOR OBAMA IS A VOTE FOR DALEY CORRUPTION.
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Paulson is hitting us up for $2K apiece, so I figure if each Chicagoan could ante up ~$4 apiece we could get you that fee, so I figure every Chicago property tax payer owes you approx. 1 Starbucks payable on demand
" ... the annual windfall will go directly to the city and other local governments for general operations. The Chicago Public Schools would get almost half of the amount. City officials estimate that the TIF expiration would reduce Mayor Daley's $420 million budget shortfall by about $20 million."
going forward I think it will be far easier for us to document the benefits to the taxing bodies and hence to taxpayers of TIF expiration than it is for the City to document the benefits of TIF and TIF extension.
TIF Established Expires (23 yr) Expires (24 yr)
West Ridge/Peterson 10/27/1986 10/27/09 10/27/10
Chatham Ridge 12/18/1986 12/18/09 12/18/10
Chinatown Basin 12/18/1986 12/18/09 12/18/10
Edgewater 12/18/1986 12/18/09 12/18/10
Ryan Garfield 12/18/1986 12/18/09 12/18/10
The TIF was drawn basically to the property line of a closed Z-Frank lot. Through the Miracle of TIF, less than 1 month after it was declared blighted, a willing developer surfaced. I think 1 month from TIF establishment to corporate subsidy approval is still a record in terms of developer-driven TIF in Chicago. We sold $3M in bonds backed by the property taxes of the future to buy the property from Z-Frank for a K-Mart.
Well, the blight must have been a serious case, because the 1st few mil didn't cure the blight, I guess, and a decade later Target tapped us for another $4.6M in corporate welfare to convert the Super K to a Super Target. Weeks after Our Village Elders approved the subsidy, Hinz reported that Target posted $939 million in quarterly profit, up 14% from the previous year.
Judge LeRoy Martin said even if the allegations were true that it didn't mean Frank Coconate should of been terminated based on his years of service and the paucity of the allegations and city and union progressive discipline.
However, he stated that he was a court of administrative review and could not second guess the hearing officer and board decision because it was not de novo but that the Appellate court might be better to hear it.
So good and bad news. The legal hoops are big.
So in other words, Coconate lost AGAIN.
All is right in the world.
Three or four hits would equal the number that are on this joke of a site.
and references to sucking Daleys dick, drinking his piss and people taking it up the ass are just good clean posts, right?
TONY PERAICA
DO AS I SAY,
BUT NOT AS I DO.
ANOTHER PERFECT EXAMPLE OF HYPOCRISY.
SOMETHING TONY COULD GET SOME 10-20 YEARS FOR AND/OR HIS LAW PRACTICE LICENSE REVOKED.
Lest we forget.... "TO THE FIRST DEGREE!!" and beyond....
That is what he tells everyone.
Go to prison for my family and you will have 50 vestal virgins waiting fo ryou when you get out. And free garbage cans for life.
When was the last time any of them really took a stand and voted against their party's best interest, instead of taxpayers.
Look at the last property tax increase, the one of many things dragging this city down. How many of them sided with madigan to make things better for madigan, but not taxpayers? How many? Too many and too many so far up his butt that they don't care anymore about common people paying taxes.
From Greg Hinz's Crains coverage:
"Particularly key may have been a meeting last year between Cook County Commissioner Michael Quigley and Mr. Blagojevich about how to reform the TIF process."
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley made a stop in Springfield on his heroic TIF education crusade 2 years ago to have a come-to-Jesus, Chicago TIF 101 level-set with Blagojevich. Quigley was hoping to sign Blagojevich up for some humble TIF reform ideas, which didn't happen, of course, but Quigley put Chicago's TIF program on Blago's radar, in particular Daley's need the state legislature's approval and the gov's signature to extend Daley's beloved Central Loop TIF. Blago thought, "Ooo! News I can use. This is leverage! Thanks, Mike." Without Quigley the Central Loop TIF extension might well have quietly zipped thru Springfield like so much paperwork.