Abraham Lacy’s Post

I just have to ask, what did Black residents and businesses in Cook County do to deserve this treatment? We desperately need the Illinois General Assembly to fix this discriminatory and regressive property tax system, including the property tax sale process, per the report, that extracted more than $280 million out of the grasps of suburban municipalities. Now, we cannot ignore the historic $5.3 billion Red Line Extension investment on Chicago's far south side, Quantum Facility on the southeast side, and the new Harvey Pace Transportation Center. These are long-awaited catalytic project anchors needed to boost communities that have experienced decades of chronic and intentional disinvestments. While we celebrate these long-term investments, predominantly Black residents are getting hammered currently from almost every area. It's like our quality of life is being attacked. Black residents in one south suburb are experiencing 122% property tax increases and Black residents in Woodlawn are being priced out of their homes. Plus, we have limited options when it comes to grocery, pharmacies, and affordable housing. What is truly troubling is Black residents will not be able to pass down any generational wealth, or what's left of it, to their children as it pertains to property. Now, this could be a temporary hit as local municipalities are trying to balance their financial obligations, but why hit Black residents and businesses that are suffering the most in terms of all forms of insecurities in housing, food, health, procurement, employment, public safety, education, etc? I have friends that moved from the area giving me the "I told you so talk." If it's not property taxes, it's sales taxes, utilities, or fees/violations. After getting pummeled by COVID and then high inflation, imposing extremely high property taxes is outrageous, especially in communities and villages that can least afford it. How do you go from a $1,939 tax bill in 2022 to $9,237 in 2023 in Harvey, Illinois (from the article)? And haven't received little to no economic development since 1970. Meanwhile, billions of dollars are pouring into downtown Chicago in some of the wealthiest communities and suburbs. As a resident and an organization manager on the southern half of Chicago/Cook County, this broke my heart. And predominantly Black areas in Cook County can no longer wait for an election year, which our insecurities will be used to extract votes by coming up with temporary pilot programs. Cook County still holds the third largest Black resident population in the country. Let's maintain that or grow it. The suffering needs to stop now!

As concerning as this report details and shout out to dennis rodkin from Crain's Chicago Business and the University of Chicago, this is not shocking when it comes to homeownership or how wealth creation was specifically for certain populations and excluded others. Chicago was one of the worst major urban cities that promoted redlining, restrictive covenants, and inhumane housing conditions that caused Dr. King to march in Chicago, which ultimately led to the Fair Housing Act. Now, I want to clarify that this is about a system, not individuals. So what has changed since the 20th Century? Per The Chicago Community Trust report "The Color of Wealth", Black households have ZERO net wealth. Even if you do acquire a home as a Black homeowner, the value of your home is appraised lower, city municipalities are not allocating adequate and consistent resources to maintain public amenities and institutions and/or new investments that would increase the value of your home, and increases in taxes and fees that will make it harder for Black households to save. Blacks are the most housing insecure, live in grocery and pharmacy apartheid neighborhoods that have reached the level of a public health crisis, and suffer from environmental neighborhood conditions. What's crazier? If you are a Black developer, you cannot even develop in your own neighborhood or own commercial properties. It's so restrictive that the city had to create a procurement policy to include Black developers or contractors or some form of community representation in projects in Black communities. Usually, Black inclusion is when you have no real ownership or resources in your name, you're given a small participation fee, and you get some publicity that pretends you are actually "leading" the project. Last week, I posted a report from CNBC that showed that 13 of the largest single-family housing developers received $2.4 billion in unrestricted cash from the federal government and control 50% of the single-family housing market. In cities like Tampa Bay, several groups control 80% of the single-family and multifamily housing market. To my understanding none of these companies that received the $2.4 billion were Black. Talk about a set-aside. Do you think Black families are getting those mortgages when the average home sale price is over $400K? Would love to see Black companies and organizations receive gracious allocations of public and private funds as shown with some of Chicago's mega projects to build in Black communities. Or are we not trusted with money? To change this trajectory in a positive direction, I propose the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois put together a $1 billion pilot program, in which they can select 10 Black-led/owned organizations and companies in Chicago for each receive $100 million in seed funding to do projects in Black communities. These projects can include housing, mixed-use, commercial, and industrial uses. Otherwise, what has changed?

We really need to get a handle on this smash-and-grab criminal activity that has become a daunting challenge in our city. Whether its using stolen vehicles to crash into storefronts or carving holes through brick and concrete walls, businesses have lost thousands, if not millions, of dollars across the City of Chicago. Burglaries have shifted slightly from residential locations to small retail. [Note: Per the Chicago Police Department database in the last months, there were more than 29,000 vehicle thefts (stolen vehicles and carjackings). In one week between January 29th and February 4th of this year, 457 cars were reported stolen. That's nearly 65 cars stolen per day.] It is challenging enough to attract and retain businesses along commercial corridors, especially in low-to-moderate income communities in this post-COVID/inflation environment. Especially, when many of our corridors, prior to COVID and high inflation, have experienced continuous chronic disinvestment and underinvestment for decades, including areas like Halsted Street on Chicago's far south side. A possible solution, in addition to more concentrated investments, is to decentralize our police district locations by expanding satellite locations throughout each police district on residential blocks and commercial corridors with a patrol radius. These micro-locations will allow for fostering deep integration and relationship-building with communities on block level. Residents and businesses can work with police satellite offices to identify problematic areas and develop solutions. This will allow for 24/7 monitoring of a patrol radius and faster response time to incidents. https://lnkd.in/gEdY3B4f

So much for competition. If a handful of groups are retaining more than half of the market share of building housing units, then what chance do Black and Brown developers have? There is some great information in this video about several issues contributing to the national housing shortage, including housing supply, mergers and acquisitions, and government regulations. From the video: "The shortfall in new construction sent home prices trending higher over the past decade. The typical newly built home in the United States cost about $417,000 in June 2024...But the typical household only brought in around $75,000 per year in 2022." "About 18 million households were priced out of homeownership between early 2022 and October 2022 as mortgage rates rose, according to the National Association of Home Builders." "Just ten builders are behind more than half of the new homes in 49 of 50 metro regions in the United States. We're seeing cities like Tampa Bay [Florida] as an example where today the top ten builders have more than 80% of the market share. That just makes it very hard for any new builder to get a foothold." "...But not only that, a lot of them [large companies] were receiving a massive liquidity boost from the [economic] stimulus. The 13 largest home builders received around $2.4 billion [ average $185 million per company]. They could use these resources in any way they wanted." So the issue is not about limited resources, it is about who has access to the resources. If you want to reduce the housing shortage, we must increase competition by allowing more companies to enter the industry, including increasing diversity. https://lnkd.in/gKvq2u29

I agree 100% with the Editorial Board that the Johnson Administration needs to unveil a massive support plan amounting to a minimum $1 billion for affordable housing, business development, health equity, public safety, and education for Chicago's far south side to support the Red Line Extension. #InvestFarSouth #BCBI

This may be way too late to recommend. It would be a great touch if the city would have organized a groundbreaking for the 130th Street Chicago Transit Authority Red Line Extension Station with Vice President and Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. The Biden/Harris Administration has invested hundreds of millions of dollars for the Red Line Extension, which is the largest public transportation project in Chicago's modern history. Plus, VP Harris' campaign platform is about an Opportunity Economy, which one pillar is breaking down systemic barriers plaguing under-resourced communities. With this $5.3+ billion investment, residents of Riverdale will no longer suffer from 60+ years of isolation and segregation from the rest of the city. Additionally, this transformative project will open up new and better employment opportunities, quicker access to public amenities, and reduces travel time and costs for working class families. I know we want to highlight the best of Chicago and it's beauty, which most of the attention will be concentrated downtown. But we can also highlight the work-in-progress areas as well. Besides, most of the voters that will be impacted by policies, such as the Red Line Extension funding, will not be at the DNC Convention. Voters in our communities will not remember the convention as long as it stays within the walls of the United Center. As many of us do not remember the 1996 Convention. But what voters will remember is the Vice President and Presidential Candidate during a historic convention removed another barrier in a long neglected community of Riverdale by ending a 60+ year public transit challenge due to past racist redlining policies. #InvestFarSouth #BCBI #RLE #CTA #DNC

It is disheartening to see Chicago may possibly join the other large urban cities to shun Greyhound bus terminals. Each year, more than 60 million passengers rely on intercity buses. Unsurprisingly, 75% of the people whom this will impact have incomes less than $40,000 per year. I agree with the recommendation for the city to model its bus terminals similarly to the airports. If the city is seeking additional revenue, this is one avenue to invest in by acquiring or building a terminal and receiving rental income from intercity busing companies. If downtown is becoming too expensive for Greyhound (and other intercity buses) to operate, could the city open a Request For Proposals (RFP) for neighborhoods to bid on? Based on a Block Club Chicago article by Quinn Myers, this Chicago terminal has more than 500,000 people traveling through each year. Imagine a neighborhood with local businesses and retail surrounding the proposed station experiencing more than 500,000 people annually. Especially in areas in need of economic development and foot-traffic for its commercial corridors. Imagine the boost in ridership and revenue it could give to local rapid transit rail lines existing and proposed extension. Imagine if the neighborhood(s) were building new affordable housing and renovating existing housing for residents who have an average income of $40,000 per year. Imagine if Chicago were to try and retain at least 10% (50,000) of these travelers and how it could boost the neighborhood economy. And even smaller and more reasonably priced hotels with entertainment on commercial corridors. If we are excited (as we should be) that the DNC Convention will bring 50,000 travelers to the City of Chicago, then Greyhound delivers ten "DNC Convention" population sizes every year. #InvestFarSouth #BCBI https://lnkd.in/gxNKcyyM

Ok...reading this article surprised me of how some of our corporate incentives on megadeal projects in Illinois are structured. No wonder we are in such a tight place when it comes to economic development in our communities. This may be a stretch but the term "indentured servitude" popped up in my head when reading this article. Some large employers, that receive these exceptionally friendly incentives, are literally collecting payment from their employees to pay off their debt from their mega projects. Plus, they are receiving the benefits from their employees' productivity. So, instead of returning the State Personal Income Tax to employees to have more take home pay or toward societal benefits (i.e. schools, parks, street repairs, transit, new housing), your employer is allowed to retain your State Personal Income Tax to pay off the company's capital project debt. Now, I am not saying some of these mega projects do not have some societal benefits that the article did not mention (i.e. community inspiration, leverage of additional investments, increase value on surrounding properties). We just need to closely monitor these megadeals. For instance, the White Sox wanted to pay for its stadium by retaining the Sales Tax revenue from the surrounding businesses. From the article: "It allowed a costly program, Economic Development in a Growing Economy, or EDGE, to fail mandated reporting for 20 years — and then extended it. It has three major programs that allow corporations to keep their employees’ state personal income tax payments — terrible tax policy."

Once again, Alden Loury is spot on with his opinion piece in this Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times article. Despite the seemingly never ending obstacles when advocating and requesting resources for communities starved of economic investment, my years of doing this work has been more rewarding than failures. And it also depends on what day you ask me. But to expand on the article a little, these mega developments are channeling through the same conduit as it has before, especially in Black neighborhoods or adjacent Black neighborhoods. We have yet to see a mega development that is lead by a Black-owned development company. More than likely, Black-owned companies are a "write-in" to meet diversity requirements. Several of these deals are made possible primarily because it is supported and secured by government subsidies/incentives to make the project financially feasible. Correct me if I am wrong, I have yet to see one Black-owned development company receive a billion dollars in government subsidies/incentives to leverage and attract other investments to build in Black communities or anywhere else in the city. Instead, we hope that these mega projects will have a trickle-down effect that we could possibly benefit from. Because, it is hard for me to believe that there is not one Black-owned development company in Chicago that can manage a billion dollar fund over a 10 - 15 year span to build up our communities in an equitable way, as we see in other mega project investments. You will never have to worry about meeting diversity requirements. And before I get the backlashing of "what if it fails or is delayed", what's the status of some of our mega projects now??? So, let's give some grace to Black-owned development companies and not write them off before we even give them a chance to prove themselves (ourselves). For the longest time, we have had the label of being a "Tale of Two Cities". I would further argue a subcategory is a "Tale of Two Standards" that we must vigorously work to eradicate for a more equitable and just city. Otherwise, the article brilliantly connects history with some large projects being sold as for us but not lead by us, and ultimately hurts us. ##BringingCommunitiesBackInitiative #BCBI #InvestFarSouth

I want to thank Cassandra West for the feature in the article regarding stadium financing last week in Crain's Chicago Business. We need to develop a new funding model for public stadium investment. It is hard to believe that the public investments in stadiums will make their way to neighborhoods like Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale, as it has never done so before. And in some cases, past behavior is a predictor of future behavior. Plus it seems odd that every team we have in the City wants a new stadium rather than share stadiums since there is less than a handful of owners. To make large investments real for struggling neighborhoods, our next capital budget should include "tri-government" participation with federal, state, and city on repurposing underutilized strip/retail malls into mixed-use developments with affordable housing in neighborhoods. This is outlined in a White Paper produced by Enterprise Community Partners - Repurposing Underutilized Strip Malls to Create Multifamily Housing (Ahmad Abu-Khalaf). If we focused on 10% of retail strip malls in Chicago's metro area - focusing first on low-to-moderate income communities, such as Chicago's far south side - we can significantly reduce housing insecurity, retain existing retailers and businesses, attract new businesses given their customers are on-site, and be an anchor for communities to build around. Similar to our Morgan Park Commons, our project seeks to redevelop a vacant commercial area into housing, retail, recreation, and public outdoor spaces that would fuel the resurgence of business commerce activity, supply needed affordable housing, and increase usage of public transportation, schools, and parks/trails. From the White Paper: "Recent research from Boston’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council projects that, based on a range of factors including location, site conditions, regulatory conditions, and development potential, redeveloping the best-suited 10% of each municipality’s strip malls into mixed-use developments could create up to 125,000 homes across the Boston metropolitan area. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, the U.S. has 947.5 million square feet of strip mall space nationwide."