Christopher Silber

First page of November 8 1995 Chicago Tribune article by Julie Deardorff detailing the Chicago Bears PR strategy for pitching a new stadium to the media.

Second page of November 8 1995 Chicago Tribune article by Julie Deardorff detailing the Chicago Bears PR strategy for pitching a new stadium to the media.

Found a fun Tribune article from 1995. The newspaper got a hold of the Bears' internal PR strategy for using the media to help the team get a new stadium.

And yes, almost exactly 30 years ago the Bears said they were looking at Indiana to persuade Illinois to go in on a new/refurbished stadium

As a reminder: the TIF distribution calculation changed in tax year 2024. What had been tax code-level distribution calculations now occur at the property-level, necessitating a PIN table to explain TIF revenue.

Screenshot of the Cook County Clerk's website highlighting the new "TIF PIN List" table for tax year 2024

btw, it looks like the Cook County Clerk published the new PIN-level TIF distribution table on its website.

This is the same table I used to do the TIF analysis section of the Treasurer's Office 2024 Tax Bill Analysis. Link here:
www.cookcountyclerkil.gov/property-tax...

I admit today was a bad day to get a flat tire

Yeah, I think that's fair, and probably worth taking a hard look at in future TIF studies. I don't think either way is wrong, just diff interpretations of how TIF works.

I saw Prof. Weber mentioned the differences in a paper back in 2007, if you're interested (p10): www.cdfa.net/cdfa/cdfaweb...

(I don't have an official answer bc the Clerk's Office handles TIF distribution.)

I think in the past the Clerk was limited by the old mainframe. The new way is how many collar counties do the calculation (see Lake, for example), and IMO it's more transparent.

www.lakecountyil.gov/268/Tax-Exte...

Graphic showing TIF tax amount changes from 2023-2024. The South suburbs increased by 19.1%, higher than the north (9.7%) and Chicago (10.4%)

It's one reason why this year the tax amount going to south suburban TIFs increased by 19%, even though it's not a reassessment year:

This means individual properties in a TIF will have different distribution percentages depending on how much each property's value increased.

The main difference is that now TIFs with a lot of properties losing value will collect more money, because any property gaining value will add increment.

Snippet from the Treasurer's 2024 tax bill analysis noting that the TIF distribution calculation method changed in 2024

For Chicago TIF data wonks: you might be surprised to find out that Cook County's TIF distribution calculation method changed this year!!

In the past, current/frozen EAVs were aggregated at the tax code level to determine an area TIF distribution %. Now, this calc occurs at the property level.

Screenshot of the Treasurer's Office 2024 Tax Bill Analysis map dashboard showing a 76.71% tax bill increase for residential properties in North Lawndale.

For this year's tax bill analysis, I revamped our map dashboard! Users can view block-level AV and tax bill changes by property type in any Cook County municipality, Chicago community area, or assessment region. Works on phones, best on a computer! Link:

www.cookcountytreasurer.com/taxbillanaly...

I've seen some great articles on our report, including pieces in the Tribune (featuring web maps!), the Sun-Times, and Crain's. Give them a read!

Today marks the release of the annual Cook County property tax bill analysis!

It wasn't an easy year to put this together, but we hope it helps shed light on changes to your tax bills.

You can read the full report and view our data dashboards here: www.cookcountytreasurer.com/taxbillanaly...

Read my Cook County property tax collections update on the CCTO website!

Major topics:
-Collections have rebounded after a slow start
-Southland residents are struggling
-many place still have very low collection rates

Read and and peruse the data here: www.cookcountytreasurer.com/pappasportal...

I'm not even mad, Yamamoto was so good he deserved to finish it

Do new CTA bus stop signs not tell you the number to text 41411?

Kinda obsessed with the concept of a pedway sidewalk cafe

Bucktown, Chicago (2025)

Screenshot of a Google search for the Milwaukee Ave YETI store showing that it is permanently closed

Would be cool if they brought back a music venue here. But I don’t have much faith in this landlord

Every day is muggier than the last

Chicago building permit for the reconversion of a 4 unit, 2.5 story apartment into a single family home

Deconverting a 4 unit apartment into a single family home shouldn’t be legal in the city of Chicago

Strava showing our walk of manhattan north to south

Manhattan was light work 😤

Row of buildings in Harlem, New York

It’s beautiful 😍

I have seen the light. Chicago’s bagel/deli desert must be remedied

Coming to terms with the fact that I just look severely midwestern

What should I do in New York City

The CTA is always innovating, today I got the sauna car 🤩

Scientists believe the universe began at the intersection of Madison and State streets. After some catalyzing event, the universe expanded in all directions in a grid-like fashion, as calculated by comparing street address numbers near the intersection with those further away.

Press Release from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office stating that the office plans to postpone the annual tax sale until March 2026 once legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly officially becomes law. The postponed sale will allow the office more time to work with state legislature to pass comprehensive property tax foreclosure reforms. During the delay, no extra interest will be added to delinquent taxes subject to the sale.

FYI - the Cook County Treasurer plans to postpone this year’s tax sale. During the delay, no extra interest will accrue on delinquent taxes subject to the sale. Here’s the press release with more info:

In-person and Online: Cook County Treasurer's Office - Chi Hack Night The Cook County property tax assessment appeals system shifted nearly $2 billion in property taxes onto homeowners from businesses over just three years, with lower-income, Black and Latino homeowners...

Join us at i.c. stars or online tonight to hear from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office about their new study, which found that the Cook Co. property tax assessment appeals system disproportionately burdened lower-income, Black and Latino homeowners. Doors open @ 6pm chihacknight.org/events/2025/...

In-person and Online: Cook County Treasurer's Office - Chi Hack Night The Cook County property tax assessment appeals system shifted nearly $2 billion in property taxes onto homeowners from businesses over just three years, with lower-income, Black and Latino homeowners...

Hi, I’m going to be doing a little presentation about the Treasurer’s Office Appeals Report at Chi Hack Night tonight!

It’ll be in person and online. Follow the link for more info/RSVP:

chihacknight.org/events/2025/...