TIF oversight in DeKalb is a joke. Recently I asked to see several years’ worth of minutes of Joint Review Board meetings, which apparently are as perfunctory as can be since there is no substance to the minutes, much less evidence of real oversight. How could there be? They only meet once a year. Then…
Category: TIF
Expenditures of Distinction: ReNewing Eduardo’s
Instead of the usual “Expenditures of Distinction” categories this month, we will focus on recent TIF spending. The City of DeKalb spent another $4700 out of the TIF Fund (.pdf p.52) on the Van Buer parking lot, this time for something called “FIBRCONE,” which brings the past two months’ parking lot embellishments to over $15,000…
P.E.T. Does It. Why Won’t ReNew?
Last week I submitted a FOIA request to the City of DeKalb to review meeting minutes from the Preservation of the Egyptian Theater (P.E.T.) organization. Today I stopped by the Municipal Building to pick up two years’ worth, which translated to minutes of 17 meetings. Such accessibility is made possible by a provision of P.E.T.’s…
‘Grade’ the “Northern Star” Editorial
“Human services organizations should not be cut from funding”, by the Editorial Board of the Northern Star, Friday, August 28, 2009 Cartoon A Theme A Persuasion A Accuracy of Price Tag on Sidewalk from Nowhere to Nowhere B+ (Well, look what they have to use for a source!) Knowledge of How City Budget/TIF Works C…
“Make Whole”
For the record, I was not the first person to bring up the “make whole” agreement between the schools and the city over TIF. Here are some links, newest first: “Adapt, improvize… probably not,” January 14, 2009 “District 428: Defining Moment in Local History,” January 9, 2009 January 27, 2008 letter to the editor from…
Another Meeting Marathon to Nowhere
City Council’s most damaging flaw is its low overall level of intellectual curiosity. Between the grandstanding and the gotchas and the preening and pomposity, there is little time or inclination left for understanding the fundamental shifts necessary for our continued well-being, much less prosperity. Whatever energy might have been devoted to real study of big-picture…
Your Tourism Dollars at Work, Part 2
Part 1 is here. This was going to be about why the City Council should hold DeKalb Area Convention & Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) accountable for its $50,000 annual allocation. It’s still about that, but also counters a story being floated in some circles today about how Re:New DeKalb nobly requested their $45,000 allocation come from…
FOIA Request Rejection & Appeal
Kay’s post about Governor Quinn’s signing the new, improved FOIA legislation is great news, but comes too late to help with this current and ongoing situation. Let’s start with a recap of events. I have been trying to obtain, via the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), ReNew:DeKalb meeting minutes. Re:New, as a private organization,…
TIF This
Medill (that is Northwestern’s journalism school) student Adam Verwymeren created a satirical description of TIFs in language so easy a five-year-old, a caveman, or a politician can understand, called: TIFs for Tots. Enjoy! When you are done with the online children’s book, try Ben Joravsky’s TIFs for Dummies. Do not miss this key section: “Think…
Notes & More from 8/10/2009 Council Meeting
When people say, “I am not making this up,” as the public works director did last night in explaining the lack of competitive bids for waste pickup, I begin to wonder about the occasions when they don’t say it. You? ***** Mayor Povlsen is still calling comments he disagrees with “misinformation” based on a continued…