To see how Chicago has changed under Mayor Richard M. Daley, walk through the Near South Side.What two decades ago was an urban desert, best known for it Skid Row, now is a place of glittering condo towers, bustling stores and restaurants. The population - including Rich and Maggie Daley - has tripled since 1990 while income has more than quadrupled.Just four miles south, in Washington Park, where Mr. Daley hoped to host the 2016 Olympics, population is down, jobs and stores are scarce, and incomes are a tiny fraction of those in the South Loop.
It seems like that's the moral of the story...the neighborhoods surrounding the loop have flourished in the recent years, while the other further outlying neighborhoods have struggled. Although it's an unfortunate and tricky dilemma, in our biased opinion it seems to be forward thinking giving some of the struggles of other "rust belt" and Midwestern cities.
While most Midwestern cities have struggled to evolve from industrial powerhouses to professional cities, it seems like Chicago has made an attempt to move in the direction of a city that attracts well educated talent that services international companies. Will it continue to thrive or struggle as other cities also move in this direction? Who knows...but we would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
6 comments:
Good article dewd!
"Although it's an unfortunate and tricky dilemma, in our biased opinion it seems to be forward thinking giving some of the struggles of other "rust belt" and Midwestern cities."
Probably biased, and probably not forward-thinking.
You can boil down urban migration to two large factors: regional displacement (moves from the East and Midwest to the South and the West) and urbanicity (moves from rural to urban and from smaller urban to larger urban). The midwest has large population (on a percentage basis) to other parts of the country but gained it from smaller areas regionally.
Did Dalley stop the erosion? Hardly--he was the beneficiary of inter-urban movement.
One third of TIFF money gets spent in just two wards, and the South Loop is the biggest of the beneficiaries. Even the alderman here suggests that some of that cash is excessive.
In New York and Los Angeles they call this for what it is: a corporate citizenry feathering its own nest. Maybe next time you could tone down the corporate "forward thinking" cheerleading and call it for what it is.
Imagine where Chicago would be without the South Loop growth, especially considering the ex-flux or people it kept from leaving the city all together. Daley does not get enough credit in this area, and I am a critic.
As to the TIF aspect, hogwash. The 2nd ward get's and should get most of the money because the Near South TIF is generating most of the money. In 1994 - Near South TIF area had a Assessed value of $123 Million and Tax income of about $6million.
In 2009, the Assessed Property Value within just the Near South TIF boundaries is near $500 Million with estimated property taxes generation of over taxes of over $30 million per year.
I am going to disagree with the Alderman here, need to look at big picture...don't confuse West Loop with South Loop needs, the residents do not care what the West Loop gets or is not getting.
Now, I certainly have issue of who gets selected for some of the TIF money and the transparency, but they have not spent enough of the TIF money for resident needs like schools, library, parks, and infrastructure options to spur more growth or solidification of existing resident base needs.
Name me any major TIF projects funded that make you go wow?
For example the NSTIF funded $4MM for the hotel restoration on Michigan (Blackstone), or $3MM to the Jewish School on Michigan, but we have seen next to nothing on resident needs. The school discussion is still a pipe dream for Jones, (and they are playing funny money so they do not have to have a neighborhood allotment), NTA, and South Loop.
The TIF spending is actually not enough for the things needed, or for vision for the next phase. The neighborhood parks are a joke, and the process is now bottlenecked for improvements.
The Green Line station plans are in limbo, the great improvements made in Motor Row are exactly what they should have done on Wabash from Roosevelt to south...For example, as 'Da Mayor' for a day, I would brick pave and reorient the area south of Jewel and make a better destination feel for the restaurants there. I'd get a trolly circulator built down Wabash to McCormick Place and back-up Indiana completing a loop for transit and shopping access.
As to transit, we aregue about having a Green line station at 18th or Cermak, when most urban cities this close to downtown would probably already have two rail lines servicing the same area.
The South Loop is at a period like the D-Day Landing's in 1945. Instead of thinking about how to contain our little area block by block, we need a breakout to improve the entire area in a more sophisticated manner.
Yes most TIF money is spent in a few areas, but most TIF money comes from a few areas. The entire Washington Park neighborhood doesn't pay as much in taxes as 2 blocks do in the Gold Coast area.
Actually I'm guessing. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more tax receipts from the Trump tower than all of Auburn Gresham. So yes, downtown gets a lot of money, but they're the ones making it.
"Yes most TIF money is spent in a few areas, but most TIF money comes from a few areas."
But that's not quite the point. Most of the TIF money is generated from big businesses, and the largest concentration of businesses is in the loop. But the _purpose_ of a TIF--from the state legislation--is to remediate and repair older buildings and blighted housing. That's NOT what is happening with these funds.
And by stripping funds from the general fund, ALL property tax goes up. So, in reality, TIF funding going to the South Loop is stripping public school funding from the rest of Chicago.
This is corporate spending, pure and simple. It's no "tricky dilemma" at all.
"Most of the TIF money is generated from big businesses, and the largest concentration of businesses is in the loop...the _purpose_ of a TIF--from the state legislation--is to remediate and repair older buildings and blighted housing"
Really, do you even read the TIF reports? The Near South TIF generates most from property tax, so where is your information coming from? TIF's have a defined area to generate and spend (although it can be ported to other TIFs).
And the TIF's were not designed to address old buildings...false. Some (most) are specically designed to spur greenfield development, but also pay for infrastructure (roads, schools, parks, etc) that would also be competing with money for the general fund. It just allows more direct line of site funding from a market demand standpoint.
With the transfers out of the TIF fund (the School system is taking some money) and education support coming back, South Loop residents are paying out far more than they received and getting screwed.
Were it not for the Near South TIF fund nothing would get done to spur further development and growth. It would all be sucked up by freeloaders with 8 kids, 'Safe haven residents', funding for teachers raises in the crappy Chicago Public School system, and other areas not generating their share.
Why do people feel the CPS needs more money, when records show per capita CPD receive more than most, but are squandering it on bad teachers, bad management, and a generation of non-accountable parents and children having more urban children draining our city creating a ware-zone.
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