In a discussion by journalists Dave Glowacz and Ben Joravsky, Dave and Ben heard and weighed parts of the March 15, 2023 meeting of the full Chicago City Council.

In an audio interview, First Ward Ald. Daniel La Spata described the training needs of newly-elected City Council members.

In a discussion by journalists Dave Glowacz and Ben Joravsky, Dave and Ben listened to and evaluated meetings of the Chicago City Council that took place in October and November of 2022.

In a discussion by journalists Dave Glowacz and Ben Joravsky, Dave and Ben heard and assessed parts of the September, 2022 meeting of the full Chicago City Council.

Amid residents' complaints about intrusive festivals in Douglass Park, another concern has emerged: motor vehicles blocking the area's protected bike lanes.

The city of Chicago has proposed at new tax-increment financing district south of the Stevenson expressway, west of South Cicero Ave.

An open-government bonanza revealed e-mail and text messages to and from Mayor Lori Lightfoot spanning the years 2019 to 2021.

In this audio piece, housing specialists and others talk about how the creation of low-income housing in Chicago is tied to higher-income apartments—pursuant to a new Illinois incentive for developers.

In a discussion by journalists Dave Glowacz and Ben Joravsky, Dave and Ben examined July meetings of the Chicago City Council.

In a discussion by journalists Dave Glowacz and Ben Joravsky, Dave and Ben listen to audio highlights of 2021's March meeting of the full Chicago City Council.

In an interview by Ben Joravsky with Dave Glowacz on the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky Show, Dave and Ben deconstructed audio from October 2020's meetings of the Chicago City Council finance committee, and the full council.

In an interview by Ben Joravsky with Dave Glowacz on the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky Show, Dave and Ben give their persepectives on audio from the July 2020 meeting of the full Chicago City Council.

In an interview by Ben Joravsky with Dave Glowacz on the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky Show, Ben and Dave listened to audio from the June 2020 meeting of the full Chicago City Council—and part of a "confidential" conference between the mayor and alderman.

Funding for Mayor Lori Lightfoot's INVEST South/West project moved to full City Council approval, but with aldermanic hurdles along the way.

In an interview by Ben Joravsky with Dave Glowacz on the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky Show, Ben and Dave discussed the City Council's dramatic Jan. 2020 debate of a resolution regarding businesses having LGBT owners—and other council actions.

In an interview by Ben Joravsky with Dave Glowacz on the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky Show, Ben and Dave discussed the City Council's divided approval of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's 2020 budget.

Audio of Chicagoans who gave Mayor Lori Lightfoot their advice and pleas at budget town halls that took place in September and October of 2019.

A newly-revealed ordinance contains a 600-page redevelopment agreement with developer Sterling Bay, identifying the public infrastructure it'll build to support Lincoln Yards.

The city of Chicago released a massive report on traffic around the proposed Lincoln Yards development that contradicts details disclosed previously by the developer.

(Updated on 12 December 2018)

Recently, one of our Facebook followers responded to my article on the origin of Lincoln Yards and the associated tax-increment financing (TIF) district, writing:

"What is missing from publicly disclosed documents are estimates for the amount tax revenue that this project can be expected to generate over the 23-year (more if it's extended) life of the TIF . . . How much in property taxes beyond the estimated $800M for proposed infrastructure improvements that would go into a discretionary (slush) fund under the control of the mayor?"

Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development estimates,
totaling $700M, of infrastructure spending in the
Cortland/Chicago River TIF district.
Source: city of Chicago's 11/14/18 public meeting.

The one thing—and the only thing—we know about the estimated tax revenue from publicly disclosed documents is the amount: $800 million. This figure comes from a FAQ sheet distributed by the Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development at its Nov. 14, 2018 public meeting on the Cortland/Chicago River TIF district.

I think the writer's larger implication is correct: The city has not provided any material to show on what it based that estimate.

Presumably, planning department analysts looked at the potential 23-year life of the proposed TIF district and did the following.

1. Estimate the number, size, density, and uses of all the buildings that might get built.
2. Assign an equalized assessed value (EAV) of all the properties identified in #1, for each year of the TIF district's life. Sum them over all the years.
3. Identify the EAV of all the properties present at the TIF district's inception. Multiply that by the number of years of the TIF district's life.
4. To get the total tax increment accumulated by the district, subtract #3 from #4 and multiply by the tax rate.

Sterling Bay's 11/29/18 update of the proposed Lincoln
Yards building layout. Source: Sterling Bay.

The city hasn't disclosed any of that. Planning department officials did, however, show how they'd spend up to $700 million of the estimated total TIF take (see "Key Public Infrastructure Needs" above).

Some clues about the calculations appear in the TIF district's redevelopment agreement—a document that planning officials said at the Nov. 14 meeting they'd release "in three weeks," but that the city's Web site revealed on Dec. 12.

Another wrinkle: The Lincoln Yards development will comprise an estimated two-fifths of the TIF district. The developer of Lincoln Yards, Sterling Bay, has not made publicly available a detailed list of the projected number, size, density, and uses of all the buildings in Lincoln Yards. Though an enterprising researcher could extrapolate some (or much) of it from the aerial renderings that Sterling Bay's presented at a Nov. 29 public meeting, no one has tried . . . yet.