Join us at The Peoples Church on April 11 at 7pm when we Illuminate the six TIFs inside the 46th Ward. If the last five TIF town meetings are any guides, then this meeting is going to ROCK! You can get the details and RSVP via Facebook @ http://tinyurl.com/
We invite to learn what TIFs are doing in YOUR community. TO schedule a TIF Illumination for your ward, email tom@civiclab.us.
Thanks to the great folks at AREA Chicago we are distributing 5,000 copies of the TIF Illumination Project’s graphic poster showing the results of our investigation of the 12 TIFs inside the 27th Ward. Awesome! The poster was written by Tom Tresser based on data research lead by Cory Mollet and designed by Carlyn So. The Spring 2013 issue focuses on housing.
It will be a 2-for-1 special this Saturday, April 6 at Chicago State when we Illuminate the many, many TIFs inside the 8th and 9th Wards. Join us at 10am. Details and RSVP at Facebook. http://tinyurl.com/
From Progress Illinois, “Dozens of South Shore residents weren’t too happy upon learning that a portion of their property taxes have been used as part of the city’s tax increment financing, or TIF, program.
Tom Tresser, co-founder of the CivicLab, came to the 7th Ward, and is heading to others, as part of the volunteer-based TIF Illumination Project, which is intended to promote TIF transparency and provide Chicago residents with a snapshot of what the program is — or isn’t — doing for their communities.
“I can’t believe that it’s so much money that’s out there that the community does not know about that’s not channeling back into our community, especially with all the schools closing,” Renita Jones, a South Shore resident of more than 14 years, said after Saturday’s meeting.
“It’s just amazing to me that (the city is) saying there’s no funds, and we have millions of [TIF] dollars that’s available that’s going to the corporate district, but the lower-class people are suffering from it,” Jones added.”
It was a beautiful Spring day outside and inside over 60 people came together to see the five active TIFs of the 7th Ward Illuminated and explained.
Event organizer Sharon Louis, of the South Shore Sustainability Collaborative, welcomed us to the South Shore International College Prep High School (built with TIF funds). WVON radio host Cliff Kelley served as moderator.
Tom Tresser gave the Illumination (see the presentation below) and Eric Tellez, an organizer from the Grassroots Collaborative, gave a presentation on the politics and policies behind the TIF program and other corporate subsidy programs.
Join us on March 30 as we illuminate the seven TIFs inside the 7th Ward. The details and RSVP are on this Facebook Event page = http://tinyurl.com/
Check out the article on the March 16 Washington Park TIF Town Meeting in Progress Illinois. [Washington Park TIF Town Meeting organizer Donna Smith. Photo by Ashlee Rezin]
Join the neighbors from Washington Park Saturday, March 16 at 10am for a TIF Town Meeting. RSVP via Facebook. The TIF Illumination Project will reveal details about the four TIFs in the 20th Ward NEVER before seen or known. Amazing. How DO we do it? Join us in Egyptian Room at the Washington Park Field House to find out.
Questions, more information – please call 773-493-0754 or email wethepeopleofwashingtonpar
Here is our presentation on the four TIFs inside the 6th Ward (66 minutes with audio).
Join us in Englewood on March 9. This is the first citizen-powered town meeting to come out of the February 12 TIF Town Meeting we did at the Chopin Theater.
