The expansion of blight
A lot of people think that the quality of life and infrastructure in Chicago has really improved over the last few decades. But, the use of tax-increment financing, an economic development tool used to target "blight," has increased wildly over the last decade. So either "blight" is finding its way into most of our neighborhoods, or this program is egregiously misused. I wonder which one it is...
A lot of people think that the quality of life and infrastructure in Chicago has really improved over the last few decades. But the use of tax-increment financing, an economic development tool used to target “blight,” has increased wildly over the last decade. So either “blight” is finding its way into most of our neighborhoods, or this program is egregiously misused. I wonder which one it is…
Check out this video made by the The Chicago News Cooperative, showing how the TIF program has expanded dramatically over the last ten years:
TIFs Over Time from Chicago News Cooperative on Vimeo.
Authors
Celeste Meiffren-Swango
State Director, Environment Oregon
As director of Environment Oregon, Celeste develops and runs campaigns to win real results for Oregon's environment. She has worked on issues ranging from preventing plastic pollution, stopping global warming, defending clean water, and protecting our beautiful places. Celeste's organizing has helped to reduce kids' exposure to lead in drinking water at childcare facilities in Oregon, encourage transportation electrification, ban single-use plastic grocery bags, defend our bedrock environmental laws and more. She is also the author of the children's book, Myrtle the Turtle, empowering kids to prevent plastic pollution. Celeste lives in Portland, Ore., with her husband and two daughters, where they frequently enjoy the bounty of Oregon's natural beauty.