$2 Million TIF Hand-out
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
121 North LaSalle Street
Council Chambers, Second Floor City Hall
Regular Meeting, 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
TENTATIVE AGENDA
DEVON/SHERIDAN TIF REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA (WARD 49)
Request authority for the Department of Planning and Development to negotiate a redevelopment agreement with 6610 North Sheridan, LLC for redevelopment of the property located at 6610 North Sheridan Road in the Devon/Sheridan Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Project Area, and to recommend to the City Council of the City of Chicago the designation of the 6610 North Sheridan, LLC as Developer.
Pay-to-Play has been Very, Very Good to Joe Moore
Inverbrass Funds
AKA 6610 North Sheridan LLC
AKA 7301 N Sheridan LLC
AKA T.A.L.K. VENTURE PARTNERS, LLC
AKA IBF
to Citizens for Joe Moore:
$2,500.00 12/19/2007
Moore paid promotional appearance info-mercial 8/27/07
$2,500.00 7/13/2007
$1,000.00 4/6/2007
$1,000.00 1/28/2007
$500.00 10/29/2001
$500.00 11/16/1999
$8K disclosed
Would you pay a guy $8K to get $2M? You know you would! (If you could!)
When Moore gets to Congress, he will have pharmaceutical companies and defense contractors, but while he is here, selling subsidies, zoning changes, and permits will have to do. The wide-open campaign finance laws in Illinois offer candidates complete flexibility in re-directing funds from one race to another.
3 comments:
The closest Alderliar Moore is going to get to Congress will be if he takes one of those tours they have of the Capitol Building. But keep talking about a House run Joe. It might help your attorneys with an insanity defense when the feds finally try to nail your crooked butt!
More corporate welfare, to put this city that much closer to insolvency, and for what?
To reneovate a fugly old building that never was aught but an eyesore into exactly the same sort of housing it was again, to the gain of the ownership, who will be relieved of a considerable portion of the business risk associated with this useless project.
Every project done with TIF money, almost without exception, is an economic failure, and is usually the type of development that is unattractive and/or inappropriate for the area, such as the hundreds of fugly strip malls that have been built in every TIF district in this city.
Let to live out its natural lifespan, this rathole would have sooner or later gotten the wrecking ball, but thanks to our tax dollars, it's sad life will be prolonged until the TIF expires and the crap rehab has worn out, at what point the ownership will come to the till again.
So let's just cut the process short and spare ourselves more pain and more future gifts to more plugged-in developers, and defund the project. But there is no way to do that at this point, is there?
I understand, also, that the botched rehab of 1200 W Pratt was also partially financed by TIF funds. This rehab never got off the ground properly. The ownership overpaid for this slum, then took 2 years to get it half-rehabbed, then offered the units as condos at laughably exorbitant prices. Needless to say, sales have not been wonderful, so now they are rentals, and they are still tiny, weirdly configured apartments unsuitable for permanent habitation. My guess is that this building will have re-slummified within 10 years.
So what have we got for our money? Developments like the Gateway Plaza and the ugly strip malls at Berwyn and Broadway, and hundreds of other botched developments all over the city, many of which were shovelled under within 5years.
I'm sure I'm tilting at windmills here but I just sent an e-mail to an editor at the Chicago Tribune asking him to investigate Alderman Moore's pay for play record. I gave him some of the examples Craig has provided just on his blog and said if a local blogger can expose this n'er do well, certainly the Chicago Tribune can. It will be interesting to see if he rises to the challenge.
- PEACE -
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