Valerie F.

Leonard
4111 West 21st Place
Chicago, IL 60623 (24th Ward)
773-521-3137

Public Testimony to the Joint Committee on Finance and

Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development
In Support of the Proposed Sunshine Ordinance
March 16, 2009
Good morning. My name is Valerie Leonard, and I live in North Lawndale, in the 24th Ward. I live
within the boundaries of the Ogden-Pulaski TIF, and I have been active with the Lawndale Alliance,
a group of local residents that have come together to address issues surrounding the
implementation of that TIF, as well as other issues of concern to local residents. I am here today to
provide my support for the Proposed Sunshine Ordinance, and make suggestions as to how it might
be strengthened.

I have had the opportunity to read the Ordinance, and I am very pleased to see provisions that will
require that the TIF Redevelopment Agreements and related documentation from every TIF District
in Chicago be archived on the City’s website. This is consistent with the groundwork in
transparency that has already been laid by the City, particularly the City Clerk’s office.

I have seen a marked improvement in the amount of information related to City government
operations and the TIFs posted on the City’s website in the past year. There are TIF annual reports
for individual TIF districts, and more detailed definitions of what TIFs are and how they work.

The Sunshine Ordinance raises the bar by requiring access to documents that heretofore have
required a FOIA request to obtain; standardizing the documentation that will be provided for each
TIF in the City and providing a centralized location for all TIF related documents. This access will
increase transparency and accountability, and provide for a more engaged electorate. While I
recognize this will require a significant investment in staff time and technological resources, over
the long term, it is expected that staff will spend less time responding to outside requests for
information, and be freed up to spend time on other tasks that are more germane to their duties.

While the Sunshine Ordinance outlines the letter of transparency, it is important that the spirit of
transparency be honored as well. It has been my experience that some of the PDF files on the City’s
website, and that I have obtained through FOIA, print blank pages. Examples include the Interested
Party Form, and the annual financial audits for each TIF. You cannot convert the files to Excel or
Word without a password. Nor can you copy and paste sections to export into other documents. I
have found myself literally copying figures by hand so I can type into other documents. If these
documents are going to be available to the public, they should not print blank pages.

I appreciate the fact that the Ordinance provides that the information regarding TIFs be posted on a
website. However, we should be mindful that the Digital Divide is still an issue, particularly in low-
moderate income minority communities that would most likely be impacted by TIFs. There should
be provisions in the Ordinance to increase transparency for those who do not have computer
access. This could be achieved through written notifications, articles and public service
announcements alerting us to the fact that the documents are available at our local libraries, or at
City hall. It would also be helpful to hold periodic public meetings.

I realize that every community is different, but North Lawndale is impacted by 7 TIFs. On a
consistent basis, the City, our elected officials and developers hold out promises of jobs, contracts
and affordable housing in order to sell local residents on the TIFs. In some cases, the TIFs clearly
outline goals of increasing opportunities for minority and women owned businesses and
community residents.

I did a FOIA last year asking the Department of Planning to provide statistics on the businesses that
received TIF assistance and the number of jobs and contracting opportunities the TIFs created for
North Lawndale residents and minorities. They did provide information on the businesses that
received TIF funds. They were not able to produce the information on the number of jobs produced,
residents hired, or number of minority employees and contractors hired. I understand that this
situation is being rectified. The Sunshine Ordinance should require the disclosure of this
information on the website as well.

The Sunshine Ordinance does not provide for a funding mechanism to pay for the upfront
investment in staff time and technology. There should be language included to specify the funding
source. In the event that no such source exists, I recommend that the funding source come from the
TIF funds. The precedent for this has already been set. For example, the administration line item
for every TIF redevelopment budget includes the City’s reimbursement to itself for Department of
Planning staff time spent on TIF administration.

In closing, I thank you for your time and consideration. I would be happy to provide further input
or clarification of any comments that I have made if necessary.