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Tax Increment Financing
- TIF Districts are areas where the percentage of taxes that go to the general fund are frozen
- Taxes above this amount go into account that mayor controls
- Only supposed to be blighted areas in need of redevelopment
- 1 billion in TIF funds in a total budget of 6 Billion
- Direct spending By municipality not open to review.
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Parking meter Privatization
- Initiated under Daley
- 75 year lease for 1.2 Billion
- Bid info never made public
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City of Chicago Infrastructure Trust Fund
- Pool of money raise by private investors to do infrastructure
- Overseen by Non-Profit Board appointed by Rahm
- Because it is a Non-Profit not subject to open meeting laws and FOIA
- Rahm will use 2.7 million of Public money to start Trust Fund
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CTU Strike
- Stand for children pushes law to eliminate collective bargaining for teachers
- That is not passed but compromise requires teachers to get 75% of voting members to authorize strike it is thought to be impossible
- Teachers get it and strike for first time in 25 years
- Strike not really about money but "corporate reform agenda"
- Teachers are fighting charter schools, excessive testing and performance based pay
- While not covered in media this way CTU actually wins big concessions beginning to push back against corporate agenda that has dominated education "reform" for years
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Hyatt Boycott
- Global boycott
- Hyatt hires contractors to provide housekeeping services
- Contractors pay minimum wage and overwork workers leading to injuries
- Hyatt and contractors conspire to keep contractors workers from taking full time jobs with hotels.
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City Janitors
- City changes contractors
- Company that got contract dayspring has history of union busting
- Union members forced to take pay cuts
- Some still laid off
- SEIU pushes for Responsible Bidders ordinance requiring that companies prove they have not violated federal labor laws and pay prevailing wage
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Airport workers
- Unite Here local 1 negotiates contract that pays workers 10 million more
- City may switch companies rendering contract moot
- New company may fire all workers and bring in non union workers
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Wal Mart Workers
- OUR Wal-Mart
- Organization united for respect an association of wal mart workers
- strikes and rallies on Black Friday
- strikes at suppliers
- Wal-Mart retaliated Managers threatened employees, Filed grieavence with NLRB
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Fight for 15
- Action Now and Stand Up Chicago released report that shows that CEO's of Downtown Chains make 400 times their employees
- Recommend 15 dollars an hour
- The workers organizing Committee of Chicago Started Campaign called 'fight for 15' calling for retail and food chain employees to make 15 dollars an hour
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Midway privatization
- Original attempt for 99 year lease died in 2009
- Rahm pushes new plan in 2012 for 40 year lease
- Federal aviation administrations airport privatization pilot program would allow private companies to make profit from airports, city governments are not allowed to remove any profit from airport
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Chicago Foreclosure Crisis
- Chicago has highest number of foreclosed and idle homes of any American Metropolis
- 1 in every 384 houses in Chicago in foreclosure
- Sheriff Tom Dart has twice implemented eviction moratorium's in 2008 and again in 2010 the second in response to the robo-signing scandal
- Has been told he cant do it again
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Action Now Proposal for Housing Trust
- Chicago Housing Trust set up as a 501c3
- Receives properties donated from lending Inst and the city
- Properties are lent to developers through contract that requires neighborhoods needs to be met and financial obligations to be fulfilled
- Upon fulfillment of contract Housing Trust quits all claim to property
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regulation of street protests in advance of NATO
- Sold as temporary for NATO summit actually permanent
- New higher fees and fines
- Gives Rahm power to deputize any law enforcement official he wants even private security companies
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Production side explanation of gentrification; Rent Gap
- Constant search for profit has played role in pushing suburban development
- This created Valleys of low rent in the city
- Once the difference between actual rent(capitalised ground rent) and potential rent is large enough capital swoops in
- Capital drives gentrification
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Consumption side explanation of gentrification
- Individuals looking for deals or authentic neighborhoods move in and renovate buildings
- Once enough middle class have moved in they demand changes to neighborhood
- New class dynamics
- family make up changes less children
- New gentry define themselves by "taste"
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Frontier Myth
- Neil Smith
- selling the city as a new frontier
- Implies that city was empty and unused and the inhabitants are savages
- Seen in advertising for developments as well as a fashion trend that coincided with gentrification
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Neil Smith evidence of gentrification
- Developers buy up cheap property in distressed neighborhoods
- often use artists as first wave of gentrifiers
- Sometimes let building fall into disrepair so that they can raze them
- Government plays part by giving seized property to developers, bankroll and push revitalization projects and use law enforcement and gov agencies to harass and displace undesirables
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John Betancur
Process of gentrifying West Town
- Post WWII West Town begins cycle of disinvestment
- Puerto Ricans moved in from closer in areas that had already gentrified
- West Town had good housing stock cheap
- Starting in 70's real estate companies who had previously red lined West Town start moving in particularly in Wicker Park
- Use artists as first gentrifiers
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Order-maintenance policing
- an approach to policing that emphasizes creating and and maintaining orderly public spaces
- Driven by "broken Windows theory"
- often goes hand in hand with incapacitation theory
- Hard to tell if it works as it usually means an increase in police which is actually a surveillance theory
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Displacement
Smith
- Sees it as class warfare
- Pioneer myth driving out the indian's
- Civil Vs Uncivil
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Displacement
betancur
- Racial and political conflict
- Fueled by developers and gov
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Displacement
Freeman and Branconi
- Say displacement doesn't happen
- see higher rates of mobility in poor neighborhoods
- Do not count replacement as displacement
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Displacement
Hartman
- Right to stay put
- renters rights
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Displacement
Newman and Wyly
- Question Freeman's methodology
- find higher levels of displacement
- not a long enough time frame
- Freeman's study took place after gentrification well under way
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Displacement
"Boom"
- developers target buildings with long term residents= worth less
- old people long term
- gentrifiers want to change neighborhood dynamics
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