In an effort to reverse the problems that have cropped up in a number of communities over recent years as a result of the rise
in vacant and abandoned properties, the Cook County Board voted last
week to create a countywide land bank, a move Board Commissioner Bridget Gainer is hopeful will act as a first step towards economic revitalization for some of the area’s most blighted neighborhoods.
Last week, the Cook County Board
voted unanimously in favor of forming the Cook County Land Bank
Authority, which will be tasked with acquiring vacant and abandoned properties
with the goal of making them taxable entities once they’re redeveloped.
Once
up and running, the Authority will be geograpically the largest land bank in the
country. Gainer said much of its focus, in the beginning, will be on helping communities that have been hardest hit by
the foreclosure crisis.
“One of the things that I worried about
when we traveled all over the county talking to people in these
communities was that some of these communities are going to hit a point
of no return with the percentage of vacancies,” Gainer said. “We’ve got
to jump in and stop that from happening.”
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Chicago has not reached the other side of the foreclosure crisis, a new 
It’s not yet clear what pension reform will look like for Illinois,
but more public education will help lead to a solution that’s fair for
everybody, elected officials stressed at a pension town hall in Chicago
Thursday night. 
On Election Day, Illinoisans will see a referendum on the ballot that would, if approved by voters, install a state constitutional amendment that would boost the number of legislative votes
needed to pass statewide pension increases for public employees.
A San Francisco-based firm spent the morning trying to sell the Chicago
City Council on the idea that they can use eminent domain to seize
properties in danger of falling into foreclosure. The firm argued that the use of eminent domain, which occurs when government acquires private property in the name of the greater good, could lead to the public benefit of fewer foreclosures. Representatives from 
The Cook County Board passed a resolution today setting up a committee that has 60 days to devise a model for a county
land bank, an ambitious proposal that board President Toni Preckwinkle 
