In reponse to the Disaster Election, I am hoping to start a movement for “More Public!” and “Great Public!” in America. We need to celebrate, defend, and extend all things “PUBLIC” – so follow and share via BlueSky -> https://bsky.app/profile/morepublic.bsky.social.
Super excited to see my account of the No Games Chicago campaign and its connection to fighting megaprojects that threaten to gobble up billions of public dollars and vast swathes of public land published today by The Nonprofit Quarterly!
Join me on Wednesday, November 6 at 7:30pm at Temple Sholom Chicago where I will be talking about the book in the context of fighting mega-projects that seek massive public subsidies of land and dollars. Right now, in Chicago, three billionaire sports team owning families want to build three new stadiums and are pushing hard for up to $6 billion in public dollars to help them build these private projects! Hell, no! There is no charge, and the event will be in person plus streamed. Registration is required.
Wow! I just received the hardback version of my book on the No Games Chicago campaign! What a thrill to hold it and flip through the pages. Order your copy now at www.tinyurl.com/Get-NGC-book and use promo code “AFLY03” to get 20% off PLUS free shipping. What a civic deal! After all, No Games saved every taxpaying adult in the city at least $1,000!
I am thrilled to announced that my book on the No Games Chicago campaign from 2009 is now on sale from Routledge Press! Use this link (feel free to share widely)-> www.tinyurl.com/Get-NGC-book. It’s a dramatic story with international intrigue, a few Davids going after many Goliaths, daring tactics, civic thuggery, attempted bribes, and a real-life spy! Although the organizing took place in 2009, the lessons learned and unlearned are striking for Chicago and the rest of the country. For one thing, three white billionaire families who each own a sports team are all angling for BILLIONS of public dollars to build new stadiums! Sound familiar? And, across the USA, another eight cities are proposing massive public subsidies for stadiums – over $10 billion for those places. The price tag for Chicago’s greedy team owners has been estimated to be at least $3 billion and perhaps DOUBLE that! Buy the book. Sign the petition demanding NO PUBLIC SUBSIDIES for stadiums.
Read my op-ed from Crain’s Chicago Business from July 29, 2024, “Let the billionaire owners pay for their teams’ stadiums themselves.”
November 7, 2023
June 2023 – Dear Civic Comrades, Neighbors, Allies, and Supporters – After ten years of working on the CivicLab, I am stepping back from operations and much of the work of the CivicLab. I will stay involved with TIF training. Health issues have caused me to scale back my activities and I will not be updating this site. If you would like to stay connected and follow my new work, research, and writing (one book coming out in mid-2024 and another in the works), please subscribe to my Substack newsletter at http://tresser.substack.com. Thank you for all your support and interest over the years!
Tom explains TIFs and Illuminates the TIFs of Kane County and Aurora in his 225th public meeting since 2013. He was the guest of Aurora Alderman John Laesch and Working Families Auroura. They are working to stop the city of Auora from giving a billionaire casion operator $58 million in public TIF dollars! Sign the petition.
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.
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).
