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1. Catherine
   Member

   http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=17&ArticleID=2672&TM=46086.85

   I don't see anyone with this attitude getting elected Village Manager, do you?

   Work must continue to solve CBD problems

   The decision not to proceed with a Tax Increment Financed District for Riverside's Central Business District was indeed a disappointment. I knew nothing about Lonnie Sachi's legal fund. If it did exist, it had nothing to do with this decision. Nevertheless, this decision cannot and will not deter the Riverside Board of Trustees from persevering to find an appropriate solution to revitalizing the central business district.

   The rate of increase in the value of the commercial property in the CBD has not kept pace with the rate of increase in the value of residential property. This caused a shift of the real estate tax burden of providing government services and education from the owners of commercial property to the owners of residential property.
   We must reverse that shift and the resulting increase in residential real estate taxes. The easiest thing to do in government service is to not make changes. There is always opposition. But we must work to find a solution and act.
   The citizens have made many suggestions concerning how to restore, rehabilitate and rejuvenate the central business district. But, no source of funding to pay for those efforts has emerged. The TIF process is designed to solve that problem and could have in Riverside.

   The most interesting part of the REAP work is the articulation of a set of goals and principals for downtown Riverside. The Riverside Board of Trustees will soon commence a strategic planning process in anticipation of addressing immediate budget issues. I will press for a review and possible adoption of at least those goals and principles.
   The organized opposition to the TIF very carefully calculated their comments to leave the impression that somehow the board and village administration did not agree with those overarching principles, such as "to do no harm" and to preserve and foster our unique landmark status based upon Olmsted's original work.

   Certainly, the village's efforts to preserve our street system, restore our landmark water tower and otherwise to provide competent and professional municipal services should give citizens comfort that we have no desire or inclination to do anything but to act in the very best interests of all our residents.

   The central business district is a convenience for the residents. There is no desire to turn it into anything else. However, its current state works a peculiar disadvantage to the residents from a real estate tax standpoint. It is that peculiar shifting of the tax burden that must be remedied, and in the process the CBD will become the asset it should be.

   I ask all of Riverside to work with us in our efforts to find financial resources to accomplish what we all want with respect to the CBD. The plans are there. All we need is the money to implement them. The TIF would have provided the funds. Too bad the opposition would rather we do nothing.

   Thomas C. Shields, village trustee
   Riverside

   Posted Thursday Jun 14, 2007 11:51 #

2. MikeT
   Member

   Question: What is REAP?

   Also, Mr Shields said

   The plans are there

   Is he referring to the TOD? That was not comprehensive in nature and, more importantly, did not seem to enjoy community consensus. Maybe it needs some tweaking. Hopefully, that is the strategic planning that is referred to in the letter.

   Posted Thursday Jun 14, 2007 12:13 #

3. KimJ
   Member

   http://www.riverside.il.us/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={F810AA08-226D-43B6-A45F-B109A3AB7671}&DE={4EFCBB8E-00A9-4F88-89AB-95ADAA9EB006}
   http://tinyurl.com/2uwkm8

   "After a delay in the process to address resident concerns identified through a series of workshops, a number of significant adjustments to the proposal were considered by Village Trustees. When these adjustments were factored in by TIF consultants, the value of the proposed tax increment was projected to have marginal value. Additional EAV reduction resulted when the Class L tax status was awarded by the Village Board to the Arcade building. Anticipated givebacks to the local schools promoted by residents opposed to the TIF further diminish the potential value of the undertaking."

   Why do some board members keep blaming "the opposition" for the failed TIF? After doing the right thing, like "making the schools whole" as the EDC recommended, the village statement clearly states that the TIF would have had marginal value.

   Did the board cease the TIF because it had "marginal value" or because of a group of people that want to "do nothing?" Can you have it both ways?

   Posted Thursday Jun 14, 2007 13:35 #

4. Catherine
   Member

   Shields' problem is that after the residential was taken out, they couldn't rip off those residents to make up their budget shortfalls.

   He postures as if there were some freakish anomaly in commercial values lagging behind residential. But the same is true in Chicago, and likely all over the US. Right now in Europe, after a period of a huge run-up in residential, commercial is now skyrocketing and residential is flat.

   This is the market, not the doings or the failings or the anythings of government machinations, delusions of grandeur notwithstanding.

   Posted Thursday Jun 14, 2007 13:40 #

5. spatny
   Member

   I applaud "the village's efforts to preserve our street system, restore our landmark water tower and otherwise to provide competent and professional municipal services. " What does not give me comfort is the Village's reluctance to share with the residents the projections upon which this TIF was originally based, and the numbers and boundaries of the TIF district that caused them to drop it. Nor does their handling of development at the Village Commons (where they had to kick back a refund of over $40,000 in legitimate fees " to avoid litigation", or at the Village Center where they sold off the vital alley for peanuts and granted the variances that allowed that uglier-by-the-day monster to overwhelm that heart of town, or how they blew their chance to have a nine condo development at the rear of the Arcade building by raising the spectre of the TIF before that deal was consummated, etc. Like the old blues ballad says, "You made your move too soon" and it will cost us whatever income would have come from those nine units plus the close to half a million in tax revenue they are handing to a developed with a huge $2 billion trust behind them. If they worked for me and had a record like this they'd be going back to their day jobs.

   No amount of inane prattle or attempts to blame the opposition can can hide their record in regard to development. They are the ones that spent us into whatever trouble we are in. Now to say the TIF was essential to our fiscal salvation when the money would by law be earmarked not for staunching the flow of red ink but for the listed projects in within the TIF boundaries is as phony as to say "they wanted to make the schools whole" when they knew, from Day One, that that would eat up more than sixty percent of the TIF right there. This has all been a charade, and I can imagine those who backed the TIF based on what they were told by our leaders must now feel just like the people that were backing Nixon when the smoking gun finally appeared. We all need to do what we can to economize and help in any way we can.

   If we don't devise a way to bring Village residents and others into town and get them out of their cars and walking and looking at what we have to offer, there will be no "revitalization" of the CBD. Business owners faced with all the costs of putting in a business don't go where the streets are dead and foot traffic is lacking. Luring people to drive through Riverside just creates traffic problems for all of us. We need to get them to come by rail and those that come by car have to have a reason to get out of their vehicle and go look at what our merchants have to offer. If there are enough people prowling around downtown entrepreneurs will see a reason to establish a business here. This is what we should have been doing with our money instead of wasting it on consultants and studies. And beware - there is another one in the offing - which will just waste more money.

   I will propose to the Board on Monday night a small but powerful project I feel can bring lots of foot traffic (and hopefully customers) to the CBD, thereby creating that vital impetus for establishing new businesses in Riverside. New buildings won't do it. Only the presence of foot traffic will lure new businesses in and support existing ones. I'm doing this at a public meeting because I am frankly leery of getting any kind of project going in town through this Board. I want more than the Trustees and Ms. Rush to know about it. I'll present it, offer to put it together for nothing, and let's see what they do with it. Trustee Shields, here's something you and the entire Board can get behind and do for very little cost that will make a real difference for all our local merchants. Let's see who steps up to the plate.

   Posted Thursday Jun 14, 2007 22:02 #

6. MikeT
   Member

   Trustee Shields said:

   The most interesting part of the REAP work is the articulation of a set of goals and principals for downtown Riverside.

   Can someone tell us where those goals and principles (I assume it is this word and not the other word) are or can someone point us to a link to the document?

   Posted Friday Jun 15, 2007 10:32 #

7. Tim
   Member

   The Reap recommendations were a smattering of afterthoughts from the Workshops...certainly in need of refinement, but an attempt at moving from vision to goal to plan...

   ...I am surprised that the REAP recommendations are brought up now. These were in the Trustee packets for the "Trustee Workshops" on TIF, but didn't seem very important to them at the time...dismissed as "just another vision statement". Perhaps we will hear more about this in the future. I would welcome the opportunity to participate in the process of creating a workable plan for Riverside.

   Posted Sunday Jun 17, 2007 00:26 #

8. KimJ
   Member

   http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=17&ArticleID=2703&TM=49506.91

   Riverside needs real answers on finances
   I agree completely with Thomas C. Shields' letter "Work must continue to solve CBD problems," (Letters, June 13), especially his view about "the organized opposition to the TIF program" in the Village of Riverside.

   What bothers me about this opposition is that they created such an unfounded mass hysteria with the citizens of Riverside, that most of them were voting against the TIF programs, and/or forming illogical opinions like"we must say no to TIFs," because it will take tax dollars away from our schools. Read the letter from Shields again where he states that the TIF would have "marginal value" once the schools were "made whole," which was a recommendation from those crazy anti-TIF guys on the EDC. To plainly state the painfully obvious, over 50% of the proposed TIF dollars was FROM SCHOOLS!

   Therefore, majority of Riverside citizens voted against TIFs without fully understanding what TIFs are. Let's face it folks, TIFs are not that easy to understand, but we can get answers, proper answers, if we take mass hysteria out of the equation. We are too stupid to understand, heard that one.

   We are a town of approximately 10,000 people, (closer to 9,000 actually) which means we are a very small village with an extremely limited amounts of funds. How are we going to continue increasing homeowners' taxes to pay for increased costs of our local municipalities and public school systems?

   Remember, Riverside-Brookfield High School requested additional funds to pay for their increase costs in teachers' salaries, and our elementary schools appear to be at their maximum capacity of enrollment. The village can always ask for money too, define the need, ask. I can only assume (don't assume, because it makes an ....) we'll have to build another school to answer the increased demands of enrollment for our children, which means more costs to 10,000 taxpayers. btw, District 96 has already stated that building another school is not an option. Again, where's the money? Are any members of this opposition pundits in economic real estate development? are you?

   I really believe we need to revisit the TIF programs and seek advice from other towns who implemented TIFs in their area. Why not talk to the elected officials in LaGrange, Naperville and Hinsdale about how they were able to create a profitable central business districts? They created beautiful lifestyle centers for their residents to enjoy. Gotta love those lifestyle centers. Yeah, what kind of lifestyle could you have in yucky old Riverside, nothin' to do, nowheres to go... While doing your research, ask your friends in those villages what they pay in taxes. There are a lot of success stories with regards to TIFs right in our own backyards. I think it is time to get answers from people who truly understand the impact TIFS have in economic real estate development. Like the lawyers and consultants and developers....

   This organized opposition in Riverside needs to shut up or put up. "Shut Up" ??? And they need to stop dropping their fliers at my door-which are scare tactics (did not mean to scare you) in my opinion-until they can give expert solutions about where the Village of Riverside can get additional funds to rejuvenate our CBD and mitigate the increasing costs of our public school systems without increasing 10,000 residents' taxes.

   Amber Carey Gitter
   Riverside

   Posted Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 13:00 #

9. KimJ
   Member

   Another nice letter to the editor, sadly not as funny as the one above.

   http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=17&ArticleID=2703&TM=49506.91

   No surprise residential taxes carrying Riverside
   With regard to Mr. Shields' letter ("Work must continue to solve CBD problems," Letters, June 13), there is nothing peculiar or unique about residential property values increasing at a higher rate than commercial property values.

   The Cook County Tax Assessor said recently on "Chicago Tonight" that in Chicago, commercial has stayed flat in a period that residential has increased 54 percent. This is not because of anything any government has decided or failed to do; it is the market.

   In Europe, the reverse is currently happening. Commercial value increase is presently outstripping residential, and after a wild run-up in residential value. If that were to come to pass in Riverside, would Mr. Shields then be looking for a way to "shift" taxes back to residential?

   No matter what is done with the CBD, residences will always carry the so-called "burden" of real estate taxes, as residents are intended to maintain the Village of Riverside themselves. Of course, the CBD was but a small part of the TIF area: most of the area was residential. Will he go after bungalows next because they are a "burden" to the owners of Victorians?

   I would submit to Mr. Shields that he stop implying that 80 percent of the voters were deluded by a cynical opposition. Not every solution to a problem is a government program fueled by massive fees paid to consultants and lawyers.

   After all, it was private enterprise that designed and built Riverside, long before the Board of Trustees was ever dreamt of. It is as well to remember that not only trustees, commissions and employees spend their time trying to preserve and improve Riverside, but many other private citizens as well.

   Catherine Love
   Riverside

   Posted Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 13:05 #

10. MikeT
    Member

    (A note the 1st letter writer, and not to Kim)

    Are we re-hashing the TIF? Do we want another 5,000 posts? Below is one of the those 5,000 that is relevant. I did a Forum search on 'free money' (as in, there is none; in short, a tif robs peter to pay paul, and peter still needs to get paid). Even if we suffered this, the fact remained (remains) that there was (is) no compelling plan for the exercise of such robbery. There was a multistory parking deck in the plans, I believe, or something like that. If there was a sufficiently good reason or benefit to do the tif, then it would have been done. The town leaders would have articulated this to the town.

    They finally saw the light of truth, helped by the townsfolks unbinding advice, that there was (is) not sufficient BENEFIT to do the TIF.

    Keep thinking townsfolk and town leaders. We got some good ideas and insights into alternatives as well as a sense of the parameters of solutions (don't kill the charm, for example). Whatever we do, don't kill RIverside. Most people understand that Riverside is really special and this specialness needs to be retained; else people would not have moved here in the first place and would not continue to stay here. They'd move to Lagrange, Oak Park, Clarendon Hills, Western Springs - places w/ good schools and relatively close in to dt chicago. BUT THEY AINT RIVERSIDE!

    Finally, fliers to doorsteps is one means of communication that is a part of America's right of free speech. Not everybody reads the Landmark. Not everybody frequents this fine blow torch of democracy, the Forum. Plain Riverside townsfolk, elderly, or young and robust, who care about their village, and by virtue of that caring are expert enough, and who trudge throughout the town in all kinds of inclement weather to express a valid viewpoint that they feel needs to be heard since an oligarchical few unilaterally impose their will with patently unwise initiative(s) is not scare tactics.

    It's America. And I say to that, Amen.

    http://www.riversideinfo.org/forum/topic.php?id=270&page&replies=109#post-4495

    Let me keep it straight forward.....THERE IS NO FREE MONEY. I don't care when the TIF would begin taking in cash, any TIF is wrong for Riverside.

    As Trustee Shields said last night (it might have been before you arrived), he said that the water tower is a good example. If we had a TIF..BINGO..we would have used TIF funds and the village would not have had to use village (taxpayers) funds. He went on to tout other uses of TIF money to "make the CBD look better", rather then using village (taxpayer) money.

    THERE IS NO FREE MONEY. Every dollar comes AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER TAXING DISTRICT (SCHOOLS, POLICE, VILLAGE,ETC.)

    And more importantly to my own personal point of view, EVERY TAXPAYER'S REAL ESTATE TAXES WILL INCREASE!!!!! When the taxing bodies are capped out, the capped levy is spread against a smaller EVA since the TIF incremental EVA is excluded for 23 years. YOUR REAL ESTATE TAXES WILL INCREASE (above what they would have been without a TIF) FOR 23 YEARS.

    It's really pretty straight forward. The Trustees have used the consultants to confuse and double talk the public into the sham that a TIF is a magical source of money. FREE MONEY. So, if I say it's really pretty simple...

    Posted Wednesday Jun 20, 2007 13:43 #

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