Category Archives: About Tom

Wide Ranging Interview With Bill Cameron

Tom was interviewed on the “Connected To Chicago” radio program with long time political reported Bill Cameron. We discussed “Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve” in light of the Inauguration of Donald Trump, which took place shortly before we began the interview.

“Chicago Is Not Broke” Book Crowdfunding Project Live!

The next stage in the evolution of the TIF Illumination Project is here! Help us raise funds to publish “Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve.” We’ve got the authors all lined up. Will you pitch in so we can publish 5,000 copies?

CLICK HERE to support Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve

I Ask the Mayor About TIFs And He Answers!

Tom asks mayor-w. spreadsheet+budgetWhat a night at Malcolm X College. About 300 people showed up for the first 2016 Budget Town Hall presided over by Mayor Emanuel and attended by all his department heads. Dozens of folks got one minute to ask a question or make a statement. The room was filled with supporters of the Dyett High School hunger strikers. People young and old expressed their anger and aspirations, stepping up to the mike and demanding that the mayor first meet with the hunger strikers and accept the community-development proposal to transform Dyett into a global leadership and green technology academy.

There were also calls for coming clean on TIFs and releasing TIF funds into the general stream of local government agencies – especially our beleaguered public schools. I asked the mayor to release all documents proving his claim that most of the $1.4 billion sitting in TIFs on January 1, 2015 are NOT available for distribution. The mayor and his budget director actually responded. Budget Director Alex Holt promised Tom a meeting in the near future to answer all our questions on where the money is. Stay tuned.

Watch the exchange here:

Listen to the full exchange here.