Mr. Spatny,
My understanding is that particular street was not an isolated case. These funds will be used for that purpose going forward.
Riverside Info » About Riverside
CBD Planning Workshop Sat 1/27
(45 posts)-
Posted Monday Jan 29, 2007 08:59 #
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Catherine - I said I found the financial presentation that Kevin did both worthwhile and informative, although now I suspect the inability to break down the portion of sales tax revenue generated within the proposed TIF district from that generated in the rest of the Village to be misleading. The presentation by Richard of the TOD study material was strictly a cheerleading effort aimed at bringing those who had never looked at it into the position where they would accept that document as "the latest and greatest" study and the operative document upon which these workshops are based. When the audience - and that's what they had been to that point - an audience, were split up into table groups the methodology they were to use to come up with a ranking of issues that were most, less, least important to them was, at best, overly ambitious. Tackling that many categories as listed on the large boards in the amount of time allocated was clearly impossible, so each table pretty much came out it's own approach. Also the categories were strangely assembled, but I suspect that was because their was simply so many to deal with and not enough time to properly categorize them. The results were predictable given the material chosen and the presenters. I personally was more interested in observing how this methodology was practiced and utilized by the Village Administration. The goal of this first workshop was, in my opinion, to impress upon the great unwashed that there were numerous studies by learned men and that the Village elders knew what they were doing, which was, save the financial future of the Village by creating a "vibrant" CBD that would generate more sales and property taxes, provide in-town housing for empty-nesters who want to remain in the Village and make Riverside a destination that will attract spending visitors from the surrounding suburbs.
Well we knew all that long before the TIF idea ever surfaced, didn't we? People were asked to write down questions and turn them in and they have been issued by Ms. DLK presumeably as a device to stimulate thought and cross pollinate. It will be interesting to see if any changes are made between the first and second performances. So far I haven't seen any opportunity to question either the basic document's conclusions - the TOD study which now appears to be some kind of Holy Writ for the authorities, or to question the basic premise that "something must be done."
In looking at the list of people that Ms. DLK's memo went to about leading the Min-Med-Max presentations in Workshop II it would appear to me that this will be when everyone is invited to say what they like and don't like about these visions, but hardly have the opportunity to offer the other view, that we don't have a real plan backed by factual statistics so that this TIF deal is really premature, if it has any usefulness at all. So far, for me, all I see that the TIF talk has accomplished was to cause the Arcade developer to "wait and see" until he decided that the condo market wasn't what he thought it was, and so we only got a few more businesses driven out of town, not brought in. But let's go ahead and view this with clear minds and open hearts, and see if out of all this something good may come. Hope you come on Tuesday night. I'll wear a bandage so you can recognize me.
Posted Monday Jan 29, 2007 11:12 # -
Here are pdf versions of the two products from the workshop 1
The 2nd document is a list of questions / comments from the participants.
Will there be any attempt to address these questions in writing?
Hey, that can be like a FAQ, or a Q and A on the TIF, an expansion of what is on the Village's website, ...
miket
Posted Monday Jan 29, 2007 20:06 # -
Corbi and all - FYI:
On Jan 29, 2007, at 3:35 PM, Kevin Wachtel wrote:Thank you for your inquiry, Mr. Spatny. You asked how much sales tax is
generated by the central business district versus other areas of town.
Due to taxpayer confidentiality, the Village is not provided the amount
of tax generated by each individual business. The Illinois Department
of Revenue can legally provide information only in aggregate and by
special request. I am requesting a such a report from the IDOR (reports
like this can take some time to complete). I do know that our largest
sales tax generator is Brookfield Zoo. Beyond that, we do not have
specific information.Kevin C. Wachtel
Finance Director
Village of Riverside
kwachtel@riverside.il.us
708/447-2700 x233
Fax 708/447-2704So with the Zoo and the Harlem areas it appears the sales tax revenue generated in the CBD is dwindling, and so doubling it is less than projected, so I don't think Ms. Rush will do any backflips for it as you stated, Corbi. Maybe skip rope.
Posted Monday Jan 29, 2007 20:13 # -
does anyone know about how many residents from the proposed TIF district attended the Saturday wkshop?
miket
Posted Tuesday Jan 30, 2007 12:30 #
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