Ald. Manny Flores and Scott Waguespack had a good idea a few months ago: require the city to post more information on TIF districts on the Internet.
TIF stand for tax increment financing. In brief, TIF districts are legal ways for Mayor Daley to siphon off property tax money that would usually go to schools and parks and other government bodies and use it effectively as his own private slush fund with little oversight. If you'd like a more detailed explanation, check it out here.
So it makes sense, you, as the taxpayer, might like to know where millions of dollars in property tax money is going.
The two aldermen got their idea for greater TIF transparency passed, and now the city administration has taken its first shot at providing more TIF data on the Internet.
Like much of what the city does in term of providing public information, it's not so hot.
The city of Chicago talks a good game when it comes to transparency.
But the execution . . . not so hot.
Here's an excellent analysis of what's wrong with the city TIF website and what could be better. One of the authors is Dan X. O'Neil, a co-founders of EveryBlock, a great resource for basic public information about your neighborhood, and a guy who knows a lot about making information easily accessible to the masses.
This blog brought to you by the Sun-Times editorial board (click on names to read bios):
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