Chicago’s tax increment financing, or TIF, program is intended to
spur economic development and create jobs in neighborhoods that need it
most.
But more than 50 South Side residents questioned the program's impact upon learning this weekend that millions of
property tax dollars were diverted from local schools and
other units of government and awarded to private companies.
“Even though they’re for blighted areas, we find that places in the city
are using TIF money, like the Central Business District and LaSalle Street,” Tom
Tresser, co-founder of the CivicLab, said at a TIF town hall meeting Saturday at Chicago State University. Read more »
Researchers on a conference call today questioned the 
