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Entries associated with the tag "David Orr":July 25th - 3:21 p.m.
Trust me -- the last thing I want to do is wade in the muck of 49th Ward politics. 'Cause, lord knows, you're all a bunch of lunatics up there. But, gulp, here I am . . . I posted yesterday about Don Gordon taking a surprisingly strong stand against construction on Park District property, and that prompted alderman Joe Moore to give me a ring. "Looks like you're endorsing Don Gordon," he told me. Well, not really -- just saying I like what he said at the meeting and wished he had said it when he was running for office against you last year. "Anyone who knows Don Gordon will tell you that in that election his main criticism of me was that I was too critical of the mayor," said Moore. "He was very critical of me in supporting the living wage." Well, as long as I have you on the phone, how about the latest rumor I'm hearing from your opponents: as soon as Barack Obama's elected president -- if, of course, he is elected -- you'll step down to take a job in his administration and handpick Jim Ginderske as your replacement. Moore laughed and said: "Yeah, I'm kind of gunning for attorney general. Give me a break. That shows you how delusional and out to lunch they are. They're not going to get rid of me that easy . . . " The funny thing is that, given Mayor Daley's attitude toward council independents, he probably wouldn't fill Moore's vacancy with anyone Moore recommended. Back in 1990, when former alderman David Orr became county clerk, Daley selected Bob Clarke over Moore, Orr's preference for the vacancy. One year later Moore defeated Clarke in the regularly scheduled aldermanic election and the rest, as they say, is history. The irony of ironies is that Gordon probably stands a better chance of getting Daley's nod than Ginderske or anyone else Moore might recommend -- or at least he did until he started sounding off against one of the mayor's pet causes. My advise to Ginderske, Gordon, or anyone else who wants to become alderman is to suck up to Mayor Daley, praise his vision, and, most important, endorse the Olympics, no matter how much parkland it paves over. That's still the best bet to get ahead in this town. November 15th - 7:45 p.m.
A few weeks ago I was talking with some of my fellow TIF geeks about our favorite municipal subject, and we decided to make a friendly wager. How large was last year's TIF tax? Or to put it in measurable terms, how much did the city take in property taxes to feed its 150-some tax increment financing districts? You'd think this would be an easy question to answer. After all, the Daley administration posts the city budget on its Web page, and the mayor provides a figure during his budget address every year. But that doesn't give the whole picture. Last year the mayor said he was levying about $720 million in property taxes. In fact, it was much more if you add in the TIFs. How much more? Up to now Cook County clerk David Orr, whose office collects the data, has released them only in a form that's less than easy to parse. This year, for the first time ever, Orr promised to publish totals. So while Orr's bean counters went over the numbers, my friends and I guessed. The county budget analyst put the total at $425 million. The planning professor predicted $420 million. Ever the pessimist, I guessed $445 million. Boy, were we off. Today Orr released his figures. In 2006 TIFs gobbled up more than $500 million dollars in property taxes. $500,369,348.17, to be exact (click on "Chicago TIF revenue totals by year"). Instead of a $720 million tax levy, the city extracted more than $1.2 billion in property taxes. Orr's report is filled with eye-opening numbers. After averaging $60 million in annual growth between 2001 and 2005, TIF revenues exploded by $114 million between 2005 and 2006, 57 times the roughly $2 million the entire program took in 20 years ago. The city's total take since the first TIF was created in 1984? $2,534,701,105.72. Orr even broke it down by district. So now we know that a program designed to eradicate blight in low-income neighborhoods has raised more than $1.356 billion for 11 districts in the Loop, the Gold Coast, and the near south and west sides. After I called the geeks to gloat about winning the bet we got around to wondering what the 2007 TIF tax will be. I say we'll easily top $600 million. But don't take my word for it. Go to the Orr's Web site and see for yourself. Read it and weep. |
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