At the last board meeting on 3-19, I heard Mr Shields say that the TIF consultant fees are reimbursable under a TIF.
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What do all these consultants cost?
(35 posts)-
Posted Wednesday Mar 21, 2007 15:28 #
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Right, and now that these copious funds have been expended, there is incentive to justify the bet and proceed with the TIF. By the time the TIF would be discovered to have failed of its essential purpose, this board will be gone and will not have to learn the hard lesson of cutting losses. Many people have bought at the top of a heady market where real estate and its related instruments are concerned.
I would like to see someone answer Mark Shevitz's argument, particularly someone on the board. I have never been able to understand why within the plethora of studies commissioned, there is no feasibility study as to the probablity of achieving the desired results and avoiding the undesired ones.
In the meantime, ugliness abounds with no reason to expect it to stop, especially with welfare handouts to developers. You would think they would have enough sense not to build next to the trains when it has been so hard to sell next to the trains. Downtown, the trains move slowly. Around here, the sound is deafening. I really don't know how anyone endures it. I could never live any closer to the trains than I already do. Not to mention that on cloudy days it is beginning to sound like Bensenville here.
As to the retail, well, I think it is becoming clear that no one except the residents really cares about that.
Posted Wednesday Mar 21, 2007 15:52 # -
The village as a whole saw an enormous increase these last five years (as in most areas) Well now the bubble has deflated and I do not think you'll see any significant increase in land values for quite a few years. We are at the end of a significantly robust and long boom. Any EAV or Land value #'s put up for the next 20 years will be pure speculation, and I personally wouldn't want to be held to any firm #. Re why many business's are gone. To my mind it is that many people prefer to buy at the big box stores because of low prices. If you want to run a successful business in town it will have to be a niche type store that will not be undercut in price.
Posted Wednesday Mar 21, 2007 15:52 # -
We cross posted. Well, I agree with you. So what is the reason for the TIF?
Posted Wednesday Mar 21, 2007 15:54 # -
Eric S. It's written into the deal. Some of the invoices have "TIF Reimbursable" written on them by hand - by someone. Also in the Trustee packet I saw that it was typed into the notes given to the Trustees by way of explanation. Also on legal bills from others. I am not making this up. Having the fees "reimbursable" eases the minds of those that incur them, but we will really just be transferring the money from one side of the ledger to another. The "reimbursement" comes from our own tax revenues. It's just a way of saying "we bet this money and now we won some increase in taxes so we can pay ourselves back with it." If we do this on this basis, and "make the schools whole" by refunding to them what they would get anyway without a TIF (and that's the biggest part of the taxes) then what's the point? How much is going to be left?
You are no doubt correct that a prudent investor might see troubled times ahead with so many of the "creative" mortgages going bad. "Inducing" developers to come in by taking over part of their risk is not a great way to generate a profit. I think we are fortunate to have an independent food store and a bakery and the other small shops that w have. My parents had a pharmacy in Berwyn and it was only because we had such strong relations in the community and with a few doctors that we could survive the first wave of discount retailers. That was when they built the Cermak/Harlem plaza and E.J. Korvette came in. They used to sell things like alcohol and Band Aids and toothpaste for less than we could buy them for, and it drew people in. At first there was hope that Fair Trade (remember that?) would help, but it was washed away by the second wave of discounters. I could name you six different pharmacies on Cermak between Harlem and Ridgeland that were put out of business.
Riverside might be able to support a couple more restaurants, if they are good and reasonable, but with the level of rents that will be asked at the VC and the Arcade if/when it is renovated, it will be difficult to attract people offering that combination. Have you seen the new Menards at The Quarry? Know any small guys that want to open an independent hardware store to compete with that? I hope we can attract, and I am actively trying to find, a really good operator to come in, not because I want them to compete with what we have, but because that was what supposedly was the reason for this in the first place. And I haven't seen any agency or commission try and find someone. Maybe they are active, but I have never heard them mention it.
Posted Wednesday Mar 21, 2007 17:30 #
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