Once upon a time, many years ago, 33rd Ward alderman Richard Mell liked me.
So imagine my surprise when out of the blue one of Mell’s legislative aides called to invite me to speak at the April meeting of the 33rd Ward zoning advisory committee.
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Anyway, my meeting with the Mell gang took place in the basement of the Horner Park field house, at California and Montrose. About 50 people showed up. From the questions they asked, it was clear they got the gist of how the program works—and shared my views about it.
I called the TIF program wasteful and inefficient, because it is. And I said it was designed to develop poor, blighted communities but mostly succeeds in sending money to the richer parts of town, because it does.
Representative Mell said she wanted to do something about it, and asked me what I’d suggest.
But, I added, I suppose if anyone could lead the charge it would be Representative Mell, who, thanks to her father’s clout, is largely impervious to the counterattacks of the mayor.
So it’s not a bad idea for a north-side alderman up for election in 2011 to act like he cares. Even an entrenched incumbent like Richard Mell.
