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Chicago
PI Original
by Josh Kalven
10:16am
Wed Sep 9, 2009

United's Taxpayer Windfall Grows To $50 Million

Richard Daley

Mayor Daley really has a thing for United Airlines. 

First, he forked over $5.47 million
(PDF) in tax increment financing (TIF) funds last year to help
refurbish the company's new corporate headquarters on Chicago's Wacker Dr.  Earlier this summer, he sweetened the ...

PI Original
by Adam Doster
12:04pm
Tue Sep 1, 2009
1 comment

Hotel Contract Expires, UNITE-HERE Fights On

Wages

Workers at the Congress Hotel haven't had a contract in six years. As of 12 hours ago, neither do 6,000 of their union colleagues throughout the city. A three-year contract covering UNITE-HERE Local 1 workers at 30 downtown hotels expired at midnight yesterday and ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
12:01pm
Mon Aug 31, 2009
1 comment

A Blow To Transparent School Reform In Chicago

Pat Quinn

When uproar over the questionable closing
of more than a dozen public schools hit a fever pitch earlier this
year, State Rep. Cynthia Soto (D) attempted to put the brakes on the
Chicago school district's plans. Regular readers may remember that her
proposal to impose a one...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
2:27pm
Wed Aug 12, 2009
4 comments

Bronzeville Not Buying The Olympic Guarantee

Olympics

Ever since they got a whiff of proposed plans to turn their Chicago
neighborhoods into ground zero for the 2016 Olympics, many South Side residents have grown concerned that they will end up sidelined by the games. Last year, a coalition organizations began ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
1:52pm
Tue Aug 11, 2009

Greising: Subject Olympic Committee To FOIA

Chicago City Council

After insisting for months that Chicago taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook for more than $500 million in cost overruns should the city land the 2016 Olympics, Mayor Daley reneged on this promise in June when he agreed to sign a blanket financial guarantee at the urging of ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
1:01pm
Fri Aug 7, 2009
3 comments

Too Much Sunlight Makes The Browser Crash?

Chicago

If you're interested in Chicago's tax increment financing (TIF) system or government transparency in general, be sure to read the guest column we posted this week examining the city's new TIF website.  Co-authors Max Brooks and Daniel X. O'Neil give the new site a grade of &...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
7:22pm
Fri Jul 31, 2009

A Few Questions For Gene Saffold

Richard Daley

Since rolling out the bad-news budget for next year, there have been
a lot of questions pointed at Chicago Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold.
These include whether he's exaggerated the size of the hole in the
budget (pegged at $520 million) and how money from the leases ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
4:27pm
Thu Jul 23, 2009

Another Towering TIF Subsidy?

Chicago

Here we go again:

The parent company of United Airlines is in talks with the Daley
administration and the owners of the recently renamed Willis Tower
about moving a 2,800-employee operations center from Elk Grove Township
to the 110-story skyscraper...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
11:10am
Tue Jul 21, 2009

Chicago Comm. Trust Tops Unity Challenge Goal

Chicago

Back in December, the Chicago Community Trust (CCT) set out to pick up some of the slack
for state and local governments unable (or unwilling) to finance rising
demand for emergency services like shelter and food aid. The region's
largest foundation launched The Unity ...