Explore our content

All types | All dates | All authors
Rahm Emanuel
Quick Hit
by Aricka Flowers
3:54pm
Thu Feb 9

Return Of The Golden Toilet: Activists Say Returned TIF Money Should Go To Jobs (VIDEO)

In a show of victory, about 50 activists returned to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) yesterday with a giant check for $33 million — and the now infamous golden toilet meant to symbolize the millions of dollars in TIF money allocated to the CME Group to renovate CBOT's bathrooms. The giant check was indicative of the collective $33 million in TIF funds that were returned last week — including the $15 million the CME Group turned down — by Bank of America, CNA, and the financial exchange.

“We took our money back from CME, and now we’re ready to get that money for jobs for our people,” said Charles Brown, a retired police officer and organizer with Action Now, at the rally.

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Nathan Greenhalgh
2:30pm
Thu Feb 9

Lessons From Emanuel's Social Media Successes Could Help 2012 Candidates

The use of Facebook in Rahm Emanuel’s successful 2011 mayoral campaign could offer progressive causes — and candidates — important lessons in utilizing the social network to galvanize support.

“The ’08 campaign taught everyone in politics that by talking to people where they are, on Twitter and Facebook, you could quickly get your point across to them,” said Thomas Bowen, executive director of Emanuel’s political action committee, New Chicago Committee. “I’ll give you one example. We knew that early voting would be very important, so we used Facebook to push specific messages, even during specific time periods. If it was a weekend, you saw something like ‘your early voting location is open now’ ads.”

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
11:15pm
Wed Feb 8
1 comment

Tea Party Speaker Praises Emanuel On Education (VIDEO)

EmanuelThe Chicago Tea Party may not like many things – taxes, Mitt Romney, even the Republican Party. But the Tea Party did like a video made by Andrew Marcus, which champions Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s education policies.

Marcus, director of the video, “A Tale of Two Missions,” produced by the Michigan-based Education Action Group, was the featured speaker at a Chicago Tea Party event downtown tonight.

Read more »

PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
12:54pm
Wed Feb 8
2 comments

Report Reveals How River Reversal Could Protect Great Lakes, Reduce Coal Access

Environment

A new report that called for reversing the flow of the Chicago River to curb the invasion of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes may have gained attention from top Illinois politicians, but experts are already raising concerns about the proposal, including its price tag.

PI Original
by Matthew Blake
5:17pm
Fri Feb 3
2 comments

Changes At World Business Chicago Amid Scrutiny

Politics

The upcoming G8 and NATO summits in Chicago have fleetingly increased the visibility of World Business Chicago, the non-profit, non-governmental group Mayor Rahm Emanuel put in charge of fundraising for the events, which will take place in May at McCormick Place.

Quick Hit
by Progress Illinois
4:54pm
Tue Jan 31
1 comment

Op-Ed: Progress Report: Promised Reforms to Protect Chicago Tax Dollars ‘Incomplete’

The following is an op-ed from Celeste Meiffren, field director with Illinois PIRG.

Yesterday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he will be immediately implementing some of the reforms proposed by his Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Reform Panel five months ago. All of the proposed reforms are necessary to fix TIF and need to become law before more of our tax dollars are wasted.

Every year, $500 million worth of property tax revenue collected from Chicago taxpayers flows into a funding pool that, up until very recently, has been completely off the books—allowing for an out-of-control spending spree to well-connected developers and other special interests.
Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
2:35pm
Tue Jan 31
5 comments

Turning Point On Corporate Tax Breaks?

CME Group logoThe city announced that CME Group, Inc. financial exchange elected to turn down $15 million in Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, money.

The announcement came the same day that the Mayor’s office announced TIF reform and two other companies – CNA Group and Bank of America – also returned TIF money. Moreover, CME Group's announcement comes after Stand Up! Chicago delivered a golden toilet to the company’s downtown headquarters last week, partly in protest of their tax incentives.

Read more »