The TIF tell

The 2nd Ward budget offers a glimpse into a series of projects the city expects to undertake

10/28/2009 10:00 PM

MICAH MAIDENBERG

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In poker, a tell occurs when a player tips his hand, and competitors around the table know whether to, as the saying goes, hold ’em or fold ’em.

A big tell came last week for residents of the Near South and Near West sides courtesy of Chicago Reader investigative reporters Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky.

And it was the City of Chicago doing the telling.

The Reader published budgeting documents marked “Draft – Internal Use Only” about tax increment financing districts — which freeze the amount of money various taxing bodies collect in a specific area, distributing funds above that amount into a special pot — that three aldermen shared with them.

One of those doing the sharing was Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd), whose ward shares boundaries roughly equivalent to Chicago Journal’s traditional coverage and distribution areas.

The 2nd Ward is smothered in tax increment financing districts — 19 in all. Ten of those districts are at least 69 percent in the 2nd Ward, according to the documents.

The Reader’s piece begs larger questions about budgeting and city hall transparency, and why these documents aren’t made publicly available in the first place.

On a smaller scale, the 2nd Ward budget offers a glimpse into a series of projects the city expects to undertake on the Near South and Near West sides over the next two years.

Take, for example, the much-discussed infill station on the Green Line, considered for either 18th Street or Cermak.

While a top CTA planner told Chicago Journal a design contract will be let out for a station at Cermak, a spokesperson from the city’s Department of Transportation recently e-mailed with word that no final decision has been made on whether 18th or Cermak would be chosen.

The TIF budget docs suggest the city is eyeing both.

The budget shows a pending transfer of $25 million from the Calumet/Cermak district to the Michigan/Cermak district, a 15-block area that includes the intersection of the Green Line and Cermak.

Another $13 million from Calumet/Cermak is listed as a pending transfer for the station in 2010, with a total of $35 million for the station. There is also $3 million for the station’s design.

In the Near South district, meanwhile, $30 million for a Green Line station at 18th is listed as pending for 2011.

The city says the pending designation means the projects aren’t completely locked in.

Department of Community development spokesperson Susan Massel wrote this about the pending designations in an e-mail: “Some of these projects eventually may get re-classified as committed or appropriated. This includes proposals for projects; we include them so they are taken into account when priorities are established.”

Committed or appropriated designations mean, in essence, that project’s good to go.

Other intriguing monies are listed in the River South district.

Pending in River South are expenditures that appear to extend Wells into the 62-acre lot at the southwest corner of Roosevelt and Clark, an empty parcel some call the Riverside Park, and others call the Rezko parcel, after the political wheeler-dealer who once owned the land:

Wells Street Project A (Roosevelt to 15th, design), $440,000, 2009

Wells Street Project B (15th to 18th, design), $460,000, 2009

Riverside District South of Roosevelt Rd. Construction – Project A, $12 million, 2010

Wells Street Project B (15th to 18th) construction, $30 million, 2011

There is also $2 million “committed” for “Project B, south of Roosevelt Rd. (S. Wells, 15th-18th) – acquisition” in 2010.

Massel, in the e-mail, declined further comment about the Wells Street work.

A $20 million expenditure from the River South district for expansion of Ping Tom Park is listed as pending.

Other proposals include money from the Central West district for a $1 million park in the Near West Side development, West Haven Park, various road surfacing work and streetscape projects (like $2 million committed this year for Western Avenue between Van Buren and Monroe).

And $40 million in tax increment financing dollars paying for part of a new building for Jones College Prep will be “ported” — or transferred from the Calumet/Cermak district to the Near South district.

That’s potentially significant. When residents living in one district see TIF money being spent outside their areas, it can cause friction. Or at least demands that they get special access to whatever the monies pay for.

The Calumet/Cermak district, however, comprises McCormick Place, for the most part, perhaps preempting some of that friction.

Download a copy of the 2nd TIF budget by visiting our Web site, ChicagoJournal.com. We’ve got a link there to the Reader piece.

It’s a tremendous tell. It is like the city tipping off they’ve got two kings in their hand.


3 Comments - Add Your Comment



By John from S. Loop
Posted: 10/29/2009 12:08 PM

Yes, kudos to our alderman. What were the other 47 who did not turn them over thinking?


By Chris from South Loop
Posted: 10/29/2009 10:38 AM

Props to Alderman Fioretti for releasing the draft documents. This article says they were for internal use only. I'm glad that our Alderman is doing what he can to let taxpayers know where their money is going.


By Anonymous
Posted: 10/29/2009 2:18 AM

The Calumet/Cermak district is so small and so lucrative, I don't think the city could spend the money within the district boundaries if they tried. The new Jones HS will make the South Loop more desirable for families and fill in a gaping hole in the streetscape, which should raise everybody's property values. Really, the city should be spending more TIF money on schools, parks, and transit instead of big corporations that don't need the money.