In honor of this week’s plants issue, I’m going to write about . . . TIFs!
So, if you think of TIF property tax dollars as the nutrients that fertilize development—especially in low-income communities—then the way Mayor Rahm distributes this money helps explain why some areas are overgrowing with condos and commerce while others are made to feel lucky to get so much as a grocery store.
On March 7, as the council’s zoning committee—speaking of rubber stamps—voted 9 to 4 to OK Lincoln Yards, Rahm issued a press release declaring, “While the City Council was deliberating Lincoln Yards today, thousands of south side residents and shoppers turned out to open the first grocery store to operate in Woodlawn in more than 40 years.”
Why does this unfairness persist? Because there’s an inherent flaw in the TIF program that guarantees the rich will benefit over the poor.
The point is—as long as all communities have TIFs, the gentrifying ones will gather more money than the poorer ones, for whom the program was created. It’s a fundamental flaw that guarantees that the Woodlawns and Austins and Englewoods get less than the Lincoln Parks, Wicker Parks and, apparently, even Kenilworths of the world.
You should have listened to him, Chicago.
