This young man doesn't believe in free speech. He's not much of a first amendment guy either. What this young man tried to do was remove all the "Broken Heart" of Rogers Park fliers from a public meeting last night. He may be a commie?
Much the same way Alderman Moore's staffer Michael Land tried to do a few months ago at another public community meeting.
Unlike DevCorp North and the Alderman's office, the "Broken Heart" of Rogers Park doesn't have money to burn. Being a free blog-site that isn't at the mercy of government funding, I can't and won't waste time or supplies.
I figured about 100 people would show up to the meeting, so I only brought 100 fliers to share.
That's why this guy is being exposed on the Morse Hell Hole. Last night at the Loyola TIF meeting, this guy tried to hog more than one Morse Hell Hole flier. In fact, this young man tried to take them ALL!
That's right, this guy went around the room trying to collect ALL the fliers I placed on the chairs of the evening 100 attendants. A flier hog.
I asked the young man who he was, he didn't want to tell me. Yet, I had a feeling who he was with. See, the flier hog was seen chatting with paid Loyola TIF lobbyist Kimmy Bares at DevCorp North.
Minutes before this young man chatted with Kimmy, I had to have a chat with this young man myself.
Mine went like this. " Hey, please, put the fliers back where you found them, one Hell Hole flier per person please"!
He acted deaf and dumb. The crowd in the room told the young man to "leave the fliers alone". He still acted deaf and dumb. He only stopped removing the fliers and set the fliers down when the camera came out. Then this young man lost his cool and got all huffy for being exposed like the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
So, take a look at this young man called the Hell Hole flier hog. This young man doesn't believe in free speech. He's not much of a first amendment guy either. What this young man tried to do, was remove all the "Broken Heart" fliers from a public meeting.
He must work for DevCorp North, the Alderman's office or really like collecting my "Broken Heart" of Rogers Park fliers? Still, the rules are, no matter who you work for, only ONE Morse Hell Hole flier per person.
27 comments:
Maybe he is the new Assistant Director of Matenance for DevCorp?
I'm not taking sides either way, but does the park district have rules about fliers that can be posted in their buildings? Does one need approval to post a flier on park ditrict property?
My fault. I thought the meeting was at Loyola Park, not the university.
At that point though, isn't Loyola a private university? They have the right to not allow fliers if they choose.
I feel sorry for this kid. If I were him, and were given this job, I would have had someone distract Craig while I picked up the fliers. Like point out a broken window or put out a plate of doughnuts and have guys in SSA vests eating them.
Ha ha!
Nothing kicks off a community meeting like introducing the Alderman as the first speaker and having him pronounce:
"There's nothing on the table. There's nothing to decide."
As any good Alderman would do, Alderman Moore announced his peer Alderman O'Conner was out of town on important business. Or was it out of town doing something urgent?
Anyway you slice it, the 40th ward Alderman was no where near THIS public meeting.
The current meeting report data presented to the public last night was accumulated on or before October 23, 2003 by S.B Freidman & Company.
Now that's time lapse information.
Absolutely priceless.
I thought everyone on this Blog knew EVERYTHING about RP and what's good for it! So why is it none of you know who this is? Could it be that you spend too much time behind your computers throwing spitballs.
What exactly is the Universities policy? Anything posted on it's property must first be approved....like it or not.
Not saying I agree with it however.
Happy Hunting
XOXO
> ... what else happened at the meeting?
Paradise, thanks for speaking out, but I have a nit to pick regarding the term "blight."
I would like to caution my neighbors about throwing the term "blight" around too freely. A finding of blight where there is none by our Village Elders is how we got in this mess. We don't want to accidentally pick up the rheotoric of the robber barons. When you hear a developer talking about blight, hang on to your wallet, a TIF's a-comin'.
There is no blight on Chicago's north side. Show me a blighted property, and I'll show you a ruthless profiteer. Show me a vacant lot, and I'll show you a land speculator who thinks, why make a dollar today when I can make a $1.01 tomorrow? Show me a blighted building, and I'll show you a problem landlord. (Seriously, we can do the title search togther online.)
Talk about land banking, talk about problem landlords, talk about real estate specualtors, but please, for god's sake, don't talk about blight.
> ... please provide recap ...
The most significant thing that happened last night was that a pledge to the community was broken. When the Devon-Sheridan TIF was pitched to the neighborhood, we were told there were no plans, no developers had been named, nothing would happen without community meetings. Last night was that community meeting. Unfortunately, it came well AFTER a redevelopment plan was passed by the Community development Commission (9/12/05) and was introduced to the Chicago City Council. Reading the CDC agendas online is not the best way for us to find out about such things, not the best way to foster public support for a transfer of millions of dollars of public money to a private interest.
And the inaugural project of the Loyola TIF? A $20M property taxpayer-funded subsidy to rehab a tax-exempt private property, a boat anchor of a building Loyola bought from the nuns of the BVM in 1991, apparently without a professional appraisal: the Mundelein Center.
The next most significant thing that happened last night was that, for the first time, in front of the community, Loyola came out of the closet as a real estate developer. When the Devon-Sheridan TIF was pitched to the neighborhood, under repeated questioning we were told we were told over and over again that there were no plans, no developers had been named, don't worry, nothing would happen without community meetings. Loyola announced that they intended to serve as master developer for the Loyola TIF.
Loyola also announced that they had purchased the gas station on the northeast corner of Albion and Sheridan, and would raze the building and "fence in and secure the property" this week. They made it sound like the gas station that has been there since the earth cooled is suddenly a safety hazard. In fact, Loyola is merely doing what they have been doing for years to properties they own in east Rogers Park: their motivation is to reduce their property tax burden by reassessing this choice N Sheridan road lot in an RT4 district as vacant as soon as possible. There are no plans to develop the property. Another taxable property in in east Rogers Park becomes tax-exempt. Another business becomes a vacant lot. So far, we are still going backwards in terms of the Loyola TIF's enhancement of our tax base, and we will see no benefit for at least 24 years.
As Loyola revealed themselves as a real estate developer, they also revealed themselves as the lowest form of real estate developer: the bottom-feeders who create "blight," secure property tax subsidies, and then rush in as the solution to the "blight." Loyola is no more a good neighbor than Peter Palivos.
Hugh, I'm not sure I understand your post about the Albion/Sheridan gas station site. What I'm reading is that the property is entitled to the property tax exemption only if Loyola doesn't develop it - or is it that it becomes tax exempt simply because Loyola owns it, regardless of how it is developed. I also don't understand the reference to 24 years. Could you clue me in?
BTW - when I visted the Loyola Station part of the Newcastle Ltd. website (which is the only map I've had a chance to see), I saw a map of the project area which I found confusing, mostly because it's a bit small to read. Does this TIF run all the way up to Pratt? Does Loyola own parcels all the way up there? What is the easiest way to find out where all the parcels Loyola owns are?
One other thing. I don't understand how they can say in the meeting that there are no plans, when the development proposal due date for the parcel that the Loyola Art Department stands on now was 10/26/05. Perhaps that bid date has been delayed (if not, they've certainly taken their time with their review process), but if they are accepting formal proposals to develop that site, there clearly are plans afoot...
TIF Maps
The City used to keep the TIF maps online til it got out of hand. Loyola has a TIF web site but it has no useful information unless you are a buff of Mundelein College history. NCBG has some rough TIF maps. DevCorp North worked as a grassroots lobbyist for the Loyola TIF and has some maps online.
> Does this TIF run all the way up to Pratt?
Yes, and a bit north, almost to Farwell.
Loyola Properties and the Loyola TIF (pdf)
> What is the easiest way to find out where all the parcels Loyola owns are?
It's not easy. Our neighbors Bronwyn Elkuss and her husband Jim DeRoo put in a massive amount of time tracking down Loyola's holdings. Above is a link to their map. You really have to do some title searching online before you recognize the massive commitment to our neighborhood represented by their effort to come up with a simple thing like a map of Loyola's property in our neighborhood. Of course Loyola was no help. THANKS Bronwyn and Jim!
This map may be a bit out of date already. It does not show the gas station or the properties outside the TIF south on Broadway. Obviously the campus itself is not colored.
> Does Loyola own parcels all the way up there?
A rough description of Loyola's holdings is along Sheridan from the lake around the bend to Albion.
It is impossible to view a map of Loyola's holdings superimposed on the "Devon/Sheridan" TIF and not think, we been had.
When you consider how many of these properties are vacant lots, or underdeveloped, how long Loyola has owned them, and how long they have been vacant and underdeveloped, you realize we've been REALLY had.
Rogers Park has three TIFs and all three are dominated and principally benefit one large private landholder.
> ... there are no plans, when the development proposal due date for the parcel that the Loyola Art Department stands on now was 10/26/05. ...
Sorry I meant to say they said they had no plans to develop the gas station property. In the mean time, Loyola will apply to the Assessor for tax-exempt status for that property and/or to re-classify it as a vacant lot, which has very low property taxes.
They said they got 10 responses to the RFP for the property south of Arthur on the west side of Sheridan and have narrowed the selection down to three candidate developers, unnamed.
> I also don't understand the reference to 24 years.
TIFs last 24 years unless extended (which is increasingly popular in Illinois although Daley has not done it yet; our 1st TIF the Central Loop TIF is set to expire next year, so we'll see).
Take look at the 1st chart on this page and accompanying text.
How a Successful TIF Generates Revenue
TIF expiration is the proverbial pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow, the land of milk and honey and bountious property tax revenues.
Craig, these two posts about the meeting seem to be more about YOU than about the meeting itself. Can we say: Egotistic? Can we say Narcissistic? Oooh, they wouldn’t let ME in their pep rally. Oooh they wouldn’t let ME hand out my flyers. Oooh, you have to tell the world what poor treatment the savior of Rogers Park received.
By the way, Hugh’s been posting down in Edgewater again. Can’t you keep him on his leash? He’s been posting all this trash down there too. Lulu’s right. Step away from the computer…
Lovingly,
Hugh: I know Craig lets you have some of his own blog time, because he's very busy having fits. But the Edgewater blog is not yours to hog. We're tired and bored by you. You don't even live in RP, much less Edgewater Doesn't West Ridge have a hell hole of its very own that you can be the King Fish of?
Truly,
Correction
Best I can tell, Loyola's TIF plan has not yet been introduced to the City Council. Mundelein Center is close enough to the lake that a pass through the Chicago Plan Commission as required by our Lakefront Protection Ordinance may be the next step to look for.
Thanks for those clarifications Hugh.
One thing I've been meaning to ask for a while, especially of Tom Westgard, but also of others, is why do you make the assumption that people aren't "doing anything" just because they don't post their community activities on a blog? Now I understand that some of you may have relationships, blood feuds, whatever, that may preceed or are extracurricular to this blog, and that they may be informing some of these comments. And I agree in principal, TW, that the best end goal of political discourse is actionable planning that leads to desired (and desirable) change. On the other hand, isn't all this call to, and I paraphrase here, "come up with a better plan or shut up" just possibly another more insidious form of wind-baggery, mostly intended to shush criticism you don't agree with, or just find irksome?
Just wondering...
PS - I consider that all the research that Hugh does is "doing something", but that's just me...
I see your point TW, but don't you think the backstory may be influencing your argument a little bit? It seems a bit of an overstatement to say that Hugh and Craig have the power to destroy people in their path - although I did see Craig goad Katy into a meltdown in public once, so I could be wrong about that...
I am content to pick and choose from among what Hugh and Craig have to offer, according to my interests. I don't really care if either of them do more that they do here - anyway, your argument sems to imply that it would be better if they didn't. What's to stop someone learning something from a post of Hugh's and then using that as a spring board to something that make a broader contribution? It's a pretty simple point I'm making so I don't want to belabor it...
Cluck, Cluck, QUACK!!!!!!!!
nico's mom-
you couldn't be more correct. tw's last 2 posts are accidental self analysis. i agree with you and the ducks. windbaggery.
Quoting Westgard:
"Persistence isn't negative, but the personal attacks and unfounded rumors are. That, I could do without, and yes, I think words do have power to convince people."
Hours of his time aren't spent organizing anything but his own personal attacks and unfounded rumors on his own blog which is not open to posting unless he likes what one writes. That's the pot calling the kettle black. Ooops, he'll make that a racial comment no doubt too. He can't join a walk, but he can 'watch' and report what he claims to have seen, and rate it on his own personal scale. That's a real unifying effort there.
Here's an example of Westgard's personal attacking:
Thomas Westgard said...
"Well, Toto, the best I can say is that Hugh is one of the evil monkeys we see after the field of poppies. The precise symbolism of that is not clear to me."
In response to 'Toto' on one of TW's sites to create chaos in the name of 'support'. One of his sites where comments are screened and CENSORED.
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