Put Up Your Dukes

One day last week, I took the train downtown to meet with a gathering of residents in an Italian restaurant on South Michigan Avenue to talk TIFs.

Marj Halperin asked me to do it. Said the residents were trying to make sense of the city’s scheme to use TIF dollars to help a gazillionaire build a stadium in their neck of the woods. To house the Chicago Fire, his professional soccer team—a field nobody asked for or knew that they needed.

I didn’t really want to do it. I’m feeling lazy these days—enjoy hanging around the house. But I’ve known her for, like, forever. So I said, okay, Marj, for you…

It’s been awhile since I had one of these talks.

Used to do them all the time—back in the late ‘90s and the ‘00s when I stumbled on TIFs and figured it was only a matter of time before all the exposes I wrote would cause this scam to crash and burn.

Alas, that old TIF sucker proved more resilient than I imagined. As they’re still very much with us to this day. 

I’ve written hundreds of TIF stories and talked about them dozens of times. In church basements and high school classrooms and college classrooms and countless restaurants and once on a street corner to the Occupy LaSalle Street protestors. 

Talked about them to all kinds of people from all walks of life and different, often competing, ideologies. Talked to conservatives and libertarians and lefties and good-government liberals, and city workers, including police, and to concerned PTA moms who swear they had no ideology—just wanna look out for what’s best for their kids. 

Rarely got paid for these talks. Offered my services free of charge. Making me one of the only TIF experts in Chicago not making a fortune off of this racket. Sigh.

There was a time when young Ali was so proud of that medal, he wore it most everywhere he went…

Anyway…

Fairly decent-sized gathering in that Italian restaurant. As they ate, I talked. At first I was a little rusty—like I said, it had been awhile. But it came back, like riding a bike.

I told them what I’ve been telling people for decades--the truth.

TIFs are a property tax hike that our elected leaders pretend is not a property tax hike. So you don’t realize you’re paying it, even as you pay it. And your property tax covers up the tax by lying about what you pay and where it goes.

I told them it’s one of the most important issues in municipal financing, yet the mainstream media rarely covers it. Or gets it wrong when they do cover it, so, really, why bother. Since their erroneous coverage only confuses the public more than they’re already confused. 

And so on…

Those south Loopers were a smart bunch. Figured it out quickly. Asked good questions. The hour went by fast. Before you know it, I was retracing my steps, walking north on South Michigan back to the train.

As I walked, I wondered why am I the way I am? Why am I like a dog with a bone about some things? Why can’t I just let things go?

I think it’s cause I know I’m right, yet everyone, from the mainstreams to the mayors office to the aldermen, acts like I’m wrong. And my reaction is—oh, no, you’re not gonna gaslight me.

After all these years, I should just walk away. But, no, I keep coming back. Not just with TIFs. But a whole bunch of things. Like what happened to Muhammad Ali’s Olympic gold medal. or more to the point, what Ali said happened to his Olympic gold medal. Oh, don’t get me started on that... 

Suddenly, I find myself across the street from Millennium Park—been so lost in thought, I didn’t realize I walked this far. 

I love Millennium Park  Seen so many outstanding concerts there. Gotta give Mayor Daley credit for building it--in my opinion, it’s the best thing we got out of his 22 years as the Boss.

Of course, you know…

He paid for it with our property taxes—straight out of the TIF bank accounts where he stashed the slush.

Took it from the property taxes you thought you were paying for schools and parks and libraries and police and fire and so on and so forth.

In fact, they should call it taxpayers park—in honor of the folks who paid for it. 

Oh, well. like I said, I’m just one of those guys who can’t let things go.