I know this should be on the Howard Hell Hole, but the 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park gets 1500 page hits a day. This meeting needs the entire public's attention. Pass this on to someone you know, tell them to pass it to someone they know.
Alderman Moore, DevCorp North, Gina Caruso, Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Amy Campbell, Howard SSA Manager for DevCorp North, and Paul Zelmezak, S.B. Friedman & Company give local property and business owners the opportunity to learn more about the SSA and to express their opinions concerning the reconstitution of the SSA.
(Shouldn't they know what a SSA is after 10 years?)
The Howard SSA provides enhanced maintenance activities, safety programs, commercial attraction and retention programs, business technical support and the business improvement program.
(See the 'Broken Heart' tomorrow for SSA#19, documented failures under the helm of DevCorp North.)
The SSA would continue to be funded through a nominal tax levy on real estate within the following general boundaries:
(There's nothing nominal about higher taxes with no results.)
- Paulina Street (Rogers to Jonquil)
- Rogers Avenue (Greenview to Ashland)
- Gateway Centre Plaza
Blognotes: Repeal Special Service Area tax levy #19 campaign starts today!
The 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park says NO to Special Service Area Tax #19 reconstitution.
Stay tuned for more.
2 comments:
Privatization and Duplication of City Services
Compiled by Hugh
This policy of privatization and duplication of City services using Illinois' Special Service Area (SSA) laws has many advantages to the Mayor, the Alderman, and the "sole service provider", among them:
1. The property taxes collected in the Special Service Area are used to purchase a fledgling chamber of commerce or a nascent community group, put them on the City payroll, and designate them as the "sole service provider" for the SSA. The sole service provider then appoints an SSA Commission from among its members and controls the spending of the SSA property taxes. In return, the sole service provider works for the City and the Alderman as an unregistered lobbyist and grassroots lobbyist in the neighborhood. The sole service provider is expected to advance the City and the Alderman's agenda by speaking out in favor of it within the neighborhood and by writing and testifying downtown. When they speak and write and testify in favor of the legislation, they identify themselves as a "community group," not a City agency. The sole service provider is always ready to supply a letter at the Alderman's request, when it is felt that a piece of legislation requires the imprimatur of "community support. "
A potential independent voice from the neighborhood is eliminated. Local politicians are relieved of the burden of doing the hard work of developing concensus. Residents are disenfranchised from the political process because the City has bulk purchased all the political support it needs.
2. The sole service provider employees are non-union and outside the City's Living Wage ordinance, and beyond the pale of the Shakman decree. The sole service provider employees are cheaper, easier to hire and fire, and it's easier to make political appointments.
3. The private departments and SSA-collected property taxes are off-the-books with respect to the City budget cycle and so are subject to little or no public scrutiny. The sole service providers also claim to operate outside the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, further reducing public oversight. While city vendors are required to file financial disclosures, and these are posted on the City's web site, the subcontractors of the service provider are not.
4. If you raise property taxes city-wide, it is big news, and it can cost you re-election, but if you do it piece-meal, a few blocks at a time, no one seems to mind much.
5. The private departments serve to distract the public from addressing problems with the public departments. If the community is dissatisfied with street cleaning, the answer is "we are hiring street sweepers." If the community is dissatisfied with police protection, the answer is "we are hiring a security firm."
6. The distribution of the SSA-collected property taxes are effectively controlled at the ward level, assuring a healthy percentage goes toward supporting incumbency.
Craig and Hugh: Why don't you give us a list of the 10 things you would do to make Rogers Park better?
Its hard to be a problem solver isn't it?
Its so easy to sit back and be the one pointing out difficiencies.
But what do you suggest be done to make RP better? Perhaps daily prayer circles will get the job done?
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