For the third straight year DevCorp North has been in charge of the beautifcation process in regards to the Clark-Morse & Glenwood Avenue area, with the Special Service Area tax. For the third straight year these planters haven't once been beautified. Yet the propaganda machine and the line item on the budget tells us something should have been done.
Why is the planter beautification project being ignored by DevCorp North?
What are they exactly doing with the taxpayer money?
Are we to go through one more year of poor, un-accountable service from DevCorp North Gang? Are we to go through another year of plastic trees in out-dated planters, that constantly are being filled with garbage? I hope not.
Other SSA sole service providers are doing the spring planting job on their planters. Take a look at SSA #8. Or even SSA #26. They are planting.
Why not SSA #19 and #24?
I hope DevCorp North goes out and buys lots of flowers to plant in each and every planter this weekend, making our commercial areas look as good as the other Special Service Area tax districts.
After all, isn't that what they are paid to do? Beautify.
P.S. We are still waiting for all the gum and goo to be removed from ALL the sidewalk areas of Special Service Area #24 by the new power washer you bought. DevCorp North promised to do that too, remember?
Top 5 - Previous Poor Planter Stories:
Planter Story # 1
Planter Story #2
Planter Story #3
Planter Story # 4
Planter Story # 5
5 comments:
I guess this was sent to me from a reader who doesn't want to be idenified, but wants it to be printed.
5/10/2006
Prettier flowers don’t mean cash
Special service area taxes aren’t translating into dollars, says study
Chicago Journal
By KATHARINE GRAYSON, Staff Writer
WEST TOWN
Business districts that have established special property taxes for improvements do not show more economic growth than retail corridors that do not have such taxes, according to a new study conducted by the Metro Chicago Information Center.
The West Town Chamber of Commerce already has such a tax district, called a special service area, in place along Chicago Avenue, while the Wicker Park and Bucktown Chamber is hoping to reap some $650,000 next year from its SSA.
The study did not focus directly on either neighborhood, according to Susan Dykes, a spokesperson for Metro Chicago, which studies demographics and data on social policy in the region. Rather, the report examined long-established special service areas. (The West Town SSA has been in place only since 2005.)
While business organizations seeking SSAs often note that dollars generated by the tax increase can be put toward beautification efforts and other services such as trash pick up, Dykes said there was no clear way for the organization to measure how cleaner sidewalks impact property values. She also said the study did not look at what impact an SSA has on outlying residential blocks.
"It was focused on general economic development," she said, adding the impact of sprucing up streetscapes on retail health "is really difficult to measure."
"There really isn’t a kind of strong correlation that we could have taken a look at," she said.
The study instead examined a number of factors that indicate economic growth over a five-year period, said Dykes. Statistics collected included the number of business licenses, building permits, and small business loans issued, as well as increases in property values.
The study looked at two neighborhoods on the North Side and two on the South Side. In each study area, one commercial area had an SSA in place, and the other did not. On the North Side, the report focused on Lakeview East—which has one of the oldest SSAs in the city—and North Center.
While Lakeview East had a "clearly identified retail district with banners and a very successful marketing campaign," the number of small business loans from 2000 to 2005 was three times higher in North Center, while remaining relatively stagnant in Lakeview, Dykes said.
On the South Side, the study looked at Commercial Avenue, which has an SSA, versus Chadam. From 2002 to this year, the number of business licenses issued in Chadam, which does not have an SSA, increased by more 3 percent, she said.
Matthew Westfallen, who oversees the West Town Chamber’s SSA, said he had not seen the study, which in its entirety was not available as of press time. He had read a previous news report on the study, however.
West Town’s SSA runs along Chicago from Halsted to California, on Damen from Chicago to Grand, along Milwaukee from Racine to Erie. It also incorporates one block of Ogden to either side of the intersection of Milwaukee and Chicago. As of last year, the SSA was expected to generate $274,000.
He said, overall, West Town’s SSA is currently being used for beautification efforts, but that the chamber is just beginning work on initiatives more directly focused on boosting economic development in the corridor. While he said he’s already seen positive impact from snow removal and street cleaning on the quality of life in the neighborhood, the effects of other plans in the works won’t be known for some time.
"One level is street cleaning and new banners, but another level is aggressively going after economic development," he said. "I have confidence that at a basic level, beautification and those programs seem to be welcomed by the community. We need a vision that goes well beyond beautification."
Money from the SSA planned for Wicker Park and Bucktown has yet to be collected.
No response after three calls for a STOP SIGN? That is unacceptable. Hmmm, I wonder what would happen at my job if somebody requested something THREE TIMES and I didn't do it? When is the next election and who is running against this clown?
Another loyal reader e-mail who wants to remain anonymous.
Chicago Journal
Business district tax gives property owners very little say
Our Views
We’re all for cleaner sidewalks and well-maintained flower boxes, but the power of neighborhood chambers of commerce to beautify business districts by implementing special property taxes is dubious at best.
The taxes themselves, levied on designated commercial areas called Special Service Areas, are a fine idea—if affected property owners have ample opportunity to object to them before they are implemented. Currently, however, the law states that the only way an SSA tax can be shot down is if a full 51 percent of property owners in a district formally state their objection to it. That’s 51 percent of all property owners in that district, not 51 percent of the people who actually go to the trouble of voting on the tax. That’s like saying Mayor Daley wins re-election unless 51 percent of all citizens eligible to vote in Chicago come out and vote against him. Sounds like he’s a shoo-in, unless somebody decides to forgo the election altogether and throw a bloody coup.
In a democracy, we don’t weigh elections in favor of the status quo. But SSA’s are a glaring anomaly to this practice. It’s very difficult to defeat such a tax. Say there are 250 property owners in an SSA. If 125 people showed up to vote against the tax, and not a single person voted in favor if it, the tax would still pass because it needs 126 no votes (a majority) to lose.
If you’re confused right about now, you’re not alone. Most people don’t know what SSAs are, so they don’t know to object to them when they receive a letter in the mail informing them that they’re about to become a part of one.
Granted, the SSA tax isn’t huge; once it’s levied, property owners may notice only a miniscule increase in their bills. But with skyrocketing property taxes citywide, especially in neighborhoods like Bucktown and Wicker Park, every increase counts. And residents deserve the right to have a say in what they’re paying.
Chicago Journal says......>"Say there are 250 property owners in an SSA. If 125 people showed up to vote against the tax, and not a single person voted in favor if it, the tax would still pass because it needs 126 no votes (a majority) to lose."
Another way to lose is:) if you have collected 126 votes against, they throw a wrench in the rules claiming you then need half of the renters in the area (plus one) voting against the tax.
Top 10 Items Craig has found in the SSA planters
10 Yrecyclea colacan – blooms red with sliver swirls
9 Polybaggof cheetotos – orange in color, crinkly in feel, in same family as Polybaggof doritotos
8 Usedtissue whiperia – shockingly white or soft pastels colors with sticky yellow sap in middle
7 Cigarettus buttus – mentholated scent, related to tabbacatino bluntosis
6 Phlem expectorante – expels soft jellylike slippery ooze similar to that found in nasel cavities of the yak
5 Graphittus wallfloria – blooms at night on walls and around dumpsters
4 Halfpinta alchohola – a spirited blend with a strong bouquet
3 Brownpapabaga -- crinkly in texture and often found blooming with Halfpinta alchohola
2 Asinina hysteria -- a trifling bud oftentimes mistaken for whogivesa shitta
1 Footinmoutha oftentimesa -- silly and sweet little flower that has no long lasting effect on the senses
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