If ever there was a community in need of economic development, it’s West Englewood.
On the other end of the spectrum are the three wards that encompass downtown Chicago. They shared roughly $626 million of that $1.5 billion, or about 43 percent.
So we conducted an analysis to get a sound estimate of where the money’s going, applying the city’s formulas to the district totals. For example: $1,548,011 was spent in the Bronzeville TIF district during this period. Portions of the district are in three wards: the Second (24 percent), the Third (53 percent), and the Fourth (23 percent). That works out to about $371,523 going to the Second Ward, $820,446 going to the Third, and $356,042 going to the Fourth. It’s probable that the money wasn’t distributed in this exact proportion, but the city said that’s the best it can do.
About a quarter of all TIF spending, or $358 million, went to a single ward, the Second, which includes much of the Loop and gentrified areas on the near south and west sides. That’s more than the bottom 35 wards got altogether.
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Anthony Beale has been alderman of the Ninth Ward, which includes Roseland, since 1999, but he says he’s not concerned that his ward only got roughly $1 million in TIF money from 2004 to 2008, ranking 47th out of 50. “It takes a while to get a TIF going, especially in a struggling community,” he says.
The more valuable the property in the district, the more TIF dollars are generated. This wouldn’t be a problem if TIF districts were created only in communities that pass what’s become known as the “but for” test—”but for” the TIF, they’d receive insufficient investment to improve.
