(WTTW News)

The mayor has touted the proposal as a fulfillment of a promise he made during the 2023 campaign to make Chicago a more equitable place to live by “investing in people” and expanding the city’s economic capacity — without raising taxes on Chicago property owners.

(WTTW News)

The proposal, now in the hands of the Chicago City Council, would phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on tax-increment financing districts and reshape the way Chicago uses its financial resources to spur redevelopment and eradicate blight.

(WTTW News)

Demolishing the record set in each of the past three years, $1.3 billion poured into the city’s 127 TIF funds in 2022, according to a report from Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough.

Save A Lot is set to open at the site of a former Whole Foods at 63rd and Halted streets. (WTTW News)

It’s been a year since Whole Foods made the surprise announcement it was shutting down its Englewood location. The store has been the site of controversy since it was announced that Save A Lot operator Yellow Banana was taking over the lease.

Community leaders demonstrated outside a controversial new Save A Lot in Englewood on April 5, 2023. (WTTW News)

Activists, community members and local elected officials have for months expressed their concerns to Save A Lot operator Yellow Banana about the poor reputation Save A Lot has among many Chicagoans, particularly Black residents.

(WTTW News)

Many community leaders and residents who spoke out at public meetings didn’t want to see discount grocer Save A Lot move in, citing its limited options and poor reputation among many Chicagoans. Despite that outcry, Save A Lot operator Yellow Banana has been announced as the new tenant in the grocery store space.

(WTTW News)

Demolishing the record set in each of the past two years, $1.22 billion poured into the city’s 129 TIF funds in 2021, according to a report from the office of the Cook County Clerk.

(WTTW News)

The growing share of city property taxes sent to tax increment finance districts has fueled a perennial argument over whether the districts actually spur redevelopment and eradicate blight or serve to exacerbate growing inequality in Chicago.

(Ken Teegardin / Flickr)

The growing share of city property taxes sent to tax increment finance districts is sure to fuel the argument over whether the districts actually spur redevelopment and eradicate blight or exacerbate growing inequality in Chicago.

(Ken Teegardin / Flickr)

As a candidate, Lori Lightfoot pledged to overhaul the tax increment financing system. On Wednesday, her administration unveiled how it's beginning to make good on that promise. 

The battle over the massive $6 billion Lincoln Yards development is far from over. We discuss the controversial project with Aneel Chablani, chief counsel of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, and 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins.

(Ken Teegardin / Flickr)

The city of Chicago could be in line for a giant windfall of tax revenue, just in time to face down a $700 million budget gap.

A rendering of the Lincoln Yards development.

After months of debate, the controversial $1 billion public subsidy for Lincoln Yards is now law. City Council approved the measure hours after Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot softened her opposition to the project.

An artist’s rendering of the Lincoln Yards master plan released in January 2019. (Courtesy Sterling Bay)

An obscure city commission voted Tuesday to approve a $900 million tax increment financing district that will help fund infrastructure upgrades for the proposed $6 billion Lincoln Yards development.

,

The governor says Chicago could solve a lot of CPS’ financial problems by getting rid of TIF districts, but the mayor and other budget watchdogs say that doing away with them could actually cost public schools money.

“The kids of the city of Chicago will be in school to the end of the school year. That is where they belong,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Friday. (Chicago Tonight)

Chicago Public Schools will stay open until June 22, the end of the regular school year, instead of closing early on June 1. “You will be in school until the end of the school year. We will be here working to find the resources,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel.