dear all,
here is my position on the tif:
1. as a riverside resident, i oppose this tif, and have detailed my reasons for doing so many times. basically, i question the lack of a comprehensive plan, the lack of any financial plan, the gross inadequacy of the eligibility memorandum and the redevelopment plan documents, the way in which it was grafted onto the TOD plan, and the record and judgment of the village in administering programs such as this. many of my statements on this are further back in this website's posting queue, i think back around early january. i will vote "no" on the tif referendum.
2. if elected on tuesday april 17, then, as a 208 board member, i will take whatever action i possibly can to brief the public on the costs of the tif.
3. if i receive a tif document that is not legally privileged, then i will post it to my web site (currently renew-rb.com) so that there is no diffference between non-privileged official info that i have and public info that is accessible to voters and taxpayers.
4. i will seek to be the RB Board's representative on the joint review board, which is a legally required board of the independent, overlapping property-tax receiving units of government. this selection will be made by majority vote, i presume.
5. the jrb does not have the power to stop a tif, but it does have the power to comment officially for the governments represented. if i become a member, i will propose langauge that details the tax-shifting effects of the tif so that all district 208 residents will know the tif's effect on their tax bills before the riverside board of trustees takes final action.
6. if the apparent slow sharing of definitive tax / pin / boundary / base year eav. / etc. info that we have seen since the revision of the kane-mckenna document last december continues such that it is impossible for RB 208 to determine / predict the tax bill impact for 208 district residents, then i will propose a lawsuit to stop the village from proceeding with the tif discussion, or disgorge itself of the required information, prior to consideration of the tif proposal for enactment. in other words, if we do not get the info, i will make a stink about it.
7. whether i make it on the jrb or not, i will do my utmost to relate the tif to the anticipated pendency of a district 208 education fund referendum, which the board has said is another year or two away. unlike the current board, which has taken a "stay on the sidelines" approach, i will do my utmost to identify and state the fiscal impact of the TIF on RB's funding -- both operating and capital.
8. school districts traditionally negotiate with municipalities about tuition refunds and other fiscal arrangements to be in place during the life of a tif. 208 has hired the scariano law firm, which also represents district 96, to negotiate its fiscal arrangements with riverside. this represents a judgment by the 208 powers-that-be that the tif is a done deal. (when i learned of this, the first person i informed was jim reynolds.) i regret that and hope the board's action was premature.
9. regardless, if i am elected and if riverside proceeds with the tif, and takes legal steps which invoke the jrb, then i will advocate that the board instruct scariano to take a hard line with the village of riverside.
why? because the less of a fiscal impact riverside's tif -- should there be one despite everyone's opposition -- has on RB, the better it will be for district 208 taxpayers (40 percent of whom are riversiders) for the tif's 23 year life.
10. if elected, whether i make it on the joint review board or not, i will continue to oppose this tif, or any tif that has not been proposed as part of a comprehensive plan, which has proceeded from a vision, with identified opportunities and challenges, and a rigorous alternatives analysis and a consistent open, transparent and informative communications program throughout for public involvement.
finally -- if you have read this far, i'd like to plug "An Evening of Olmsted, Dealing with Contemporary Needs while Maintaining and Preserving Olmsted Sites," monday, 6:30 p.m., township hall, with susan west-montgomery, consultant for the national assoc. for olmsted parks to the architect of the u.s. capitol on the restoration of olmsted's capitol grounds; vicki ranney, noted olmsted scholar and author; and david bahlman, president of landmarks illinois.
these nationally-known olmsted experts are not coming to comment on the tif debate, because naop recognizes the tif debate to be the special province of riverside residents and organizations. instead, they will share experiences and insights about faithfully preserving olmsted sites that they have acquired throughout their distinguished careers.
naop offered assistance to the village when it wrote in december to raise questions about the tif proposal and suggest comprehensive planning instead. this "Evening of Olmsted" was worked out between naop, the workshops and the village. as it has turned out, it is co-sponsored by the riverside preservation commission. i have briefed jim reynolds on this program throughout its planning, and we asked jim to provide his and flos' thoughts for the three speakers, which he did back on march 11.
please tell barb heinrich at village hall if you plan to make it, there will be refreshments.
thanks and best,
chris robling
Posted Friday Mar 30, 2007 13:44
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