Friday, August 24, 2007

* Still Waiting For a Answer

49th Ward Zoning & Land Use Meeting
ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGENDA

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 - 7:00 PM


NEW BUSINESS: TIF Assistance Request, 6610-28 North Sheridan Road

Ayman Khalil and Kareem Musawwir of Inverbrass Funds, LLC, will present their proposal to rehabilitate a “four-plus-one” apartment building at 6610-28 N. Sheridan Rd. and preserve 116 units of rental housing.

The proposal calls for approximately $2 million in assistance from the Sheridan/Devon Tax Increment Financing District.

The developers propose to reduce the number of dwelling units in the building from 140 units to 116 units, and would extensively rehabilitate the building façade. Under the proposal, 70 apartment units would be affordable to individuals or families earning at least 80% of area median income, and 26 apartments would be affordable to individuals or families earning at least 60% of area median income.

BLOGNOTES: Come on Besty. It's been 10 days now and nothing is posted on the Alderman's so-called open and transparent website. How hard can it be?

Blogger Jocelyn posted CAPS beat 2431 meeting notes with-in days. Are you too busy saving the WORLD with Joe? Did you already forget about the 49th WARD? How'd the ZULAC committee vote on this project? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

18 comments:

Craig Gernhardt said...

At least 5 ZULAC members read this yesterday and no one wants to tell us how the vote went? Is it that secret?

Amazed in West Ridge said...

..and how much did these two developers out to protect affordable housing in RP donate to a certain re-election campaign.

curious :)

Hugh said...

How did Moore's "community" zoning and land use committee become the TIF assistance approval committee?

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

these guys are legit, ive met one of them
they work with buildings that are 100 plus units,
and they are dedicated to fixing up the buildings that are rental and keeping them that way,

whats wrong with some assistance to fixing up a four plus one?

we need rental in this neigborhood,
this is one way of keeping rental,
the other way to rehabilitate the building is to condosize it,
which is not a great option at this time.

this will IMPROVE the neigborhood as well.
Dont see any problems here

Craig Gernhardt said...

I see ($) 2 million problems here.

What happens when these units all of a sudden become Loyola student residences instead of affordable units for locals?

Not that I don't trust you Jeff-O, but you're not on the 49th ward ZULAC that I know of.

Where's the open transparency with that group? That was a campaign promise that was made by Joe Moore himself.

The North Coast said...

jeffo, I really have to differ with you on this.

Here is one more thing that I and other UNasssisted citizens will be paying taxes for.

What entitles the ownership of this building to a tax-funded $2MM goodie?

My landlord completely renovated our bldg over a period of 6 years, with NO assistance.

A rental apt building is a business, pure and simple. If you can't operate your business profitably withing the rules and regs that apply to the business- in this case, the applicable codes and community standards-you leave the business, that's all there is to it.

Daley is now talking about how the city will "have" to raise property taxes. That means more homeowners who struggled for 40 years to buy a house WITH THEIR OWN MONEY AND NO GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE will be blasted out of their places.

Rents will rise for those of us, including low-wage earners, who do not qualify for rents subsidies.

Enough!!

This city is teetering on the edge of insolvency from giving our money away to TIF subsidies, tax abatements, and other gimmes for business people, as well as subsidies for favored groups of individuals.

The $2MM for this building, which was already functioning well enough as "affordable" housing, will come out of your pocket and mine.

If the landlord can't maintain his bldg on "market" rents without government subsidies, then he should sell it to someone who can.

The worst part of this project is that the low-wage people who have occupied this bldg will be (or have been)moved out, and the new occupants will be subsidized, and most like not earning a wage at all.

In other words, we will be replacing a tenant body of mostly solid low-wage people with welfare recipients and the guys who live with them.

I have never seen trouble at this property. It's a little messy from time to time, yeah, but the people there were OK- nice working people.

They probably won't be able to live there after renovation, because they mostly don't qualify for rent subsidies and won't be able to afford the elevated "market" rent, but welfare recipients will.

This project will NOT improve the neighborhood and I will vigorously oppose it.

Morse Ave Group said...

How is the area median income calculated? Is it the median income for RP or what?

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

yeah its a business,
but do you want a rundown shitbox apt building in your neigborhood
or a really nice one?

i would prefer to have a nice one,
so what if it becomes student housing, that helps the area, and brings more money in,
if loyola is doing well, then there are more students,
students who have MONEY, and spend it locally, if they enjoy where they live, they will hang out more locally,

yes its a business, but not an amazingly lucrative one, so much so that everyone is willing to lay down that much money to fix up a four plus one AND keep it rental.

we may be forgetting the full definition of TIF,
why does the city continue to TIF?
probably because from previous TIFS they have more tax money return on their investment from previous TIFS, sometimes projects need money to make them viable, this building has been let go for a long long time, and without an infusion of cash it may not be tenable to fix it up, or even condocovert it, i dont know but i think its not the worse use of a TIF

i dont think it would all be student housing,
these guys are in the BUSINESS of fixing up very large apartment buildings, and you cant blame them for seeking public assistance to fix this building up, its not like they have millions in the bank to fix it up,
these guys' money are in buildings, not liquid assets

A TIF to transform a building from slumlandlord to non slumlandlord is a good idea,
how much is justified to do this?
I dont know,

ok 2 million, 116 units,
that breaks down to a little over 17 thousand per unit, plus you arent taking into account issues with the building in general, who knows what the roof needs, elevators need, tuckpointing, plumbing, electrical, drywall, replacing screwed appliances,

how much money would it cost to just build a similar size brand new building and keep it semi-affordable?
it wouldnt happen.
its cheaper to fix this building up and makes more economic sense,

these guys wouldnt be looking to fix this building up if it hadnt checked out with building inspectors, four plus ones can be dressed up such as the one across the street from heartland and the one at greenview and morse the more standard way of condosizing,

anyways thats my two sense (cents)
:)

northcoast
where did you hear that welfare people would be living there?
craig thinks its loyola students,

i dont think we can say for sure who will make up the new population of this building after its fixed up. if its fixed up.

The North Coast said...

jeffo, it is being fixed up as "affordable" apts and we all know what that really means when the word describes rental apts.

Sorry, but I stand by my position that this is a misallocation of tax money.

We have too much socialism in this country for the benefit of people who don't need it, as it is.

Why should MY taxes be spent to enrich a private landlord and enable rich students to live cheaply?

How much of this crap can taxpayers afford? Could local homeowners who are being taxed to the gills be allowed to spend their money on their own homes?

As for it "bringing money" to RP, who will get the benefit of this money? Not the property owners whose property tax increases ("increments") will go the back pocket of a private landlord rather than the schools, the polic, the transit, the large infrastructure.

As it is, my taxes benefit everyone but me. My transit is being decimated, yet THERE is something that brings money to people who never ride it.

All it is, is another way to privatize profits while socializing costs, which is the true cause of the widening gap in incomes in this country and the continuing decimation of the larger population.

Veronica said...

The last thing RP needs is more "affordable housing". It's the last thing any part of Chicago needs. While making all the apartments into condos is not particularly effective as they do not sell very well, as we've seen, basically giving away free housing definitely is not the answer in the end. This will draw people who are on government assistance, unfortunatley, and that just leads to more crime, etc. Now, if this building were to be meant for regular renters, with decent rental amounts, then there wouldn't be a problem. But unfortunately, that is considered discriminatory, and so will not be done. Until the government stops completely assisting those who are perfectly capable to work, only too lazy, then the whole issue of affordable housing, etc, will not be resolved.

It's really not right that there are those of us who work every day to earn our living, to pay for the rent or the mortgage, who had to save some money that they earned to be able to afford that property, or that rent, and then there are those who basically live off the government and never get off their fat lazy asses. Not to mention, they also breed like crazy, and create more fat lazy people who never work and are only a drain on society.

But this is a very large issue that has been a problem for many years, and has culminated in there being too many subsidized housing units, and too many people living off the government, that it is not easy to fix anymore (if it ever was).

To me, it feels like society would be a much different place if there were not so many haves, and definitely if there were not so many have-nots. I know that it pisses me off a great deal that I have to pay for the housing and food stamps for these people who do not feel like working, and have tons of children they can't afford, but unfortunately, I can't do anything about it. Other than move to a different place, but even there those sorts of issues don't dissapear completely.

I'm not saying that I am against helping those who are disabled or elderly, and cannot work for themselves anymore. I am, however, against able-bodied individuals with no drive or ambition to draw themselves out of their miserly, albeit somewhat easy, lives. Unfortunatley, sterilization is not an option.

The North Coast said...

V &J, what about the WELFARE being given the ownership of this building?

This building was perfectly affordable to low-wage workers previously. I walk past it daily, and while it was never a great place, it was an OK place that provided housing for the decent, upright, low-wage workers whose backs this economy is built on. We need people who will work for lower wages, and as long as we do, we will need affordable housing..

.... which we already had, by Free Market means. The building was not "perfect" or "glossy" but it was OK. I didn't mind walking past it.

Now, it will, as you say, be a redoubt for welfare recipients and their ganger boyfriends and sons, and/ or Loyola students.

And I definately resent subsidizing Loyola or housing for Loyola students whose parents are far richer than I am.

Veronica said...

And if you go to the mayor or whatever, that you don't want to keep paying for their free living, and they take it away from them, then there will be riots. Guess they have the energy for that.

I seriously doubt that the building will be improved over it's previous status, since the same people are going to be living there. Just minus the good, hardworking ones.

The North Coast said...

V & J, I don't think most people grasp that most of the "poor" in this country are the Working Poor.

These people work 12 hours a day at shit jobs to keep their heads above water in cruddy apts and crumbling little cottages. They take transit to work, if they're lucky enough to score a job on a bus or train line. Otherwise, they buy a "beater" off some rip-off used car lot, and struggle to keep gas in the tank to get to some low-wage job on the suburban fringes. A flat tire is an economic disaster, and an accidental injury or illness that requires long periods of recuperation, means homelessness for these people. How nice it must be to get out of the hospital after spending 2 months on your back to confront $40K worth of hospital bills because your crap job has no insurance; and to find out you were moved out of your apt by the Sheriff. It doesn't take much to knock these people off their precarious perches.

You don't notice these people. They are the largest part of the "ordinary people", who work at all the cruddy jobs that we need. They tend to live extremely quiet lives, and in spite of escalating costs and taxes, manage to raise kids who stay out of trouble, and maintain order in their lives. They ask for nothing from the government and get nothing.

These people, along with the middle classes, are the people who pay for the boons given select groups of people in the population.

These are the people who are most injured by all the socialistic housing programs and neighborhood engineering to produce a given mix of incomes. They pay taxes through their rents, just as you and I do, just so the taxes can be conveyed to private developers and to Welfare Recipients at both ends of the economic spectrum.

Let's stop creating Priveleged Classes who are entitled to tax-funded gimmes at the expense of all the rest, who pay for it.

I personally believe in starting at the top, and cancelling all Corporate Welfare benefits,including TIF districts, tax abatements, and outright grants, to large corporations and institutions. The bennies delivered to large corporate entities skew the economy totally in favor of same, and make life much more difficult for upstarts and local economies. So let's start there, and we might have fewer welfare recipients at the bottom to deal with.

Remember, somebody pays, most likely you and me, as well as

The North Coast said...

Meant to say "as well as all others who don't benefit from tax supported welfare for corporations and selected groups of able-bodied citizens."

Veronica said...

that would be very nice, but unfortunately, it is all so tangled together, and the corporations are so large and well-protected, that it is never going to change. unless we get a president that is smart, and sees what is going on in front of their very eyes.

RogersParkBooster said...

This is a grand example of the wholesale selling of Rogers Park by Joe Moore and the Public Housing Thieves, saddling our community with vastly more than our fair of voucher tenants for the foreseeable future. With the wholesale dumping of the remaining CHA tenants in only a few wards of the city comes all the societal problems one would expect: poverty, crime, guaranteed under employed, and an under-enfranchised population of malleable frightened victimized people who will vote for the Joe Moore crowd in response to tossed crumbs and whispers of “you might loose your voucher appartments if you don’t support me ….” These are Happy Conditions for hypocrite do-gooders (when the cameras are rolling) who are actually the most bold-faced “steal us all blind in the back room while we screw the poor” bunch that ever took a breath.

The formula is simple –

1 - A Joe Buddy gets a building – sometimes through a condemnation proceeding Joe has helped orchestrate.

2- Joe arranges a TIFF grant - read gift – in this case a quick $2mill – Why can’t I get $2mill from a TIFF ??? I like presents too!!! If not a TIFF grant, it might be a grant arranged by, say, someone on the ways and means committee in congress ….. who would that be???

3- In return for being given millions to rehab a property, from which our happy recipient developer/landlord can skim no small portion, the deed of the property will be modified to include the OBLIGATION to rent to voucher subsidized tenants – for some period of time – say 20 years.

4-The rent levels will be established above normal market rate.

5-The developer/landlord will be sent the tenants (he doesn’t need to work to find renters), those rents are GUARANTEED, and the developer/landlord will then run the buildings like slums. This means collect the rent paid by the government – those checks don’t bounce - and do as little maintenance or management as possible – How can they do this??? They can because – they are PROTECTED. Spell that JAY JOHNSON. Now, in this deal you can spell that Khalil and Musawwir – Same parasites – just different names -

6-Likely as not this deal will be sweetened by massively reduced property taxes.


Joe is going to sell Rogers Park one building at a time, and RP will be saddled with too much subsidized housing for 20 years to come…..

Hope you just bought a condo you can’t seem to sell …..

Enjoy …..

Glad Joe stole the election now????? Start to realize why the Judge reversed her own opinion??? Wonder why Daley knows the CHA problem is solved????


RPBooster – Retired

BTW - I’m going to be leaving you folks – Happily, it looks like I’ve finally sold mine ……… I’m outa here …….

The North Coast said...

RP Booster,

You are just too right.

A dear male friend told me 10 years ago, when I moved up here, that neighborhood is the designated dumping ground for the evictees from the projects.

I didn't want to believe. How could the city single out such an intrinsically beautiful neighborhood, with the lake, beaches, wonderful architecture, great people, for this kind of destruction, while tarting up post-industrial slag heaps like the ugly west side and marketing them as trendy nabes.

What's worse is for some favored folks to become so rich from it, at the expense of the taxpayers whose neighborhood is being destroyed.

Philip McGregor Rogers said...

RP booster
is super super negative,

glad to have you leave,

anyways Please show me where Inverbrass has screwed up a building,
they havent
this is alot of bullshit,
I know ayman and he wouldnt be involved in something shady.

You guys are nuts if you think that a newly rehabbed building would be allowed to be ghettoized by inverbrass,

look at the building at sheridan and estes, that is inverbrass

http://www.inverbrass.com/
check out what a hell on earth
that inverbrass is making for chicago

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