Rahmbo, at it again.

[marmar]

(In These Times) For years, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been trying to convince Chicagoans that their city, one of the centers of global capital, cannot afford quality public schools for their children. Again and again, the mayor has cried budget crisis to justify closing schools, laying off educators, cutting special education, and bullying the teachers union.

But now, as Mayor Emanuel reads from the same playbook yet again, like the boy who cried wolf, people have stopped buying his story.

A big reason why the mayor's tale of budget crisis rings false is the large sum of money sitting in the city’s tax increment financing (TIF) funds. Due to a lack of transparency in these funds, it is hard to know exactly how much money is uncommitted to specific projects, but the estimated amount ranges from $100-350 million. Unlike most cities, which plan development and then find the funding for it, Chicago first takes the money, then decides who deserves it.

TIFs are a bit difficult to wrap your head around, but what’s most important to know is that the money essentially becomes a slush fund for the mayor to use at his discretion. This approach cuts out all community accountability and decision-making. And especially in a city with a political history of cronyism like Chicago’s, it means that clout and connection enter into the equation, moving decisions away from what is good for the neighborhood to instead what is good for an individual developer or elected official. ...............(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18934/rahm-emanuel-tax-increment-financing-tif-chicago-public-schools-cps

[phantom power]

1. People are getting tired of being told we have to live some 3rd-world existence

in the world's wealthiest nation.

[tk2kewl]

2. k&r