Super excited to announced I’ve signed a contract with Routledge Press to publish the story of the No Games Chicago campaign! The story has never been told. In fact, we were writen out of the record four different times over the years since the campaign was fought in 2009. Sign up for news and – eventually – ge the book at https://nogameschicagobook.com. Coming Spring 2024.
“I applaud Tom Tresser for his dedication to public service and civic engagement – especially through his TIF Illumination Project. Tresser has been diligently investigating TIFs for over ten years and doing public meetings to share findings. I attended his well-attended workshop that covered TIFs of Woodstock a few years ago and all my misgivings about TIFS were confirmed. My familiarity with Tax Increment Financing goes back to the 1970’s when I was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and the TIF legislation was approved. I am so happy I voted against that legislation. It had all the hallmarks of massive grabs of taxpayers’ money. And that’s how it turned out. I have been following TIFs ever since, especially the ones that cost me higher taxes so developers can be subsidized by these municipal slush funds. The process is so secretive, yet so costly to everyone not in the TIF districts. The type of light that Tom has focused on this massive scam needs to continue and be spread nationwide. TIFs are corrupt and need to be abolished. Tresser is the only civic player I know of who is on top of the TIF scheme.” – Cal Skinner, Crystal Lake, IL, former 16-year member of the Illinois House of Representatives and McHenry County Treasurer (property tax collector)
BRIDGE is a high-quality book magazine publised in Chicao by a collective of artists and makers. Their June 2023 issue contained this overview of the TIF Illumination Project (download PDF).
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Thanks to the great people at Shelterforce for this thorough and thoughtful piece covering TIFs and the organizing and engagement work of the TIF Illumination Project.
Join us in Pilsen on April 27th at 6pm for our 187th public meeting on civic finance and TIFs. Our host is El Publeo Manda (The People Rule). We will cover “TIF 101” and there will be Spanish translation! The meeting will be streamed on Facebook. RSVP here.
Listen to “Outside the Loop” radio from March 18 for an interview discussing our first-ever all Illinois TIF Illumination! https://soundcloud.com/civiclab/wgn-3-18-23 – Special thanks to our funder, the Muckrock Foundation!
The CivicLab is proud to release the first ever all-Illinois TIF Illumination! Funded by a grant from the MuckRock Foundation, this project reviewed 1,454 TIF districts across 535 municipalities! Get the headlines and the data at https://tifreports.com/illinois-illumination. Read the news about the grant award.
The CivicLab has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Muckrock Foundation to investigate and expose ALL the 1,454 TIFs of Illinois from 2020! Details here.
