Mayor Rahm Unveils Plan For Equity And Balance In Development

As part of his campaign to convince the public that the mayor really cares about neighborhoods other than downtown Chicago, planning commissioner David Reifman came to the City Club Thursday to unveil a plan for “equity and balance” in development.

TIF, of course, is the city’s Tax Increment Financing program, in which the mayor slaps a surcharge on your property tax bill and uses the money to fund just about anything he wants.

     First up—the recently-launched Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, which Reifman referred to as “a cousin of the TIF program.”

     Along these lines, Reifman said the administration hopes to raise about $10 million a year through these neighborhood opportunity fees, which the mayor will spend in poor neighborhoods like Austin, North Lawndale, and Englewood.

Reifman assured his listeners that the mayor’s PMD initiative was not just about development the Finkl Steel site.

     The mayor recently announced that Related Midwest—a very successful local developer—had “acquired a stake in the site” and “will serve as master developer.”