As I was reading the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, I noticed a story by Graydon Meganthat saying that Target and the Village of Arlington Heights are parting their ways.Arlington Heights, you may remember decided to condemn the businesses in its International Plaza in order to attract Target.
Municipal officials can condemn property in a Tax Increment Financing district.
It’s called eminent domain and is being used in the Vulcan Lakes TIF project in Crystal Lake, even though Mayor Aaron Shepley said there would be no condemnation of property.The Arlington Heights businessmen—mainly immigrants--went up for grabs.
Enter libertarian-minded activists angry at the condemnation of property for economic development.
They protested.
They leafleted door-to-door. Candidates used the issue to make the incumbents look bad.
And, although the challengers did not succeed, the incumbents and Target threw in the towel.
"We just made it uncomfortable for Target," Scott Bludorn, one of the citizens activists told McHenry County Blog.
"We certainly made the incumbents look shameful."
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Bludorn is seen in front of the map above.
A $13 million Elgin TIF condo subsidy story on McHenry County Blog can be found here.
Cal,
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that the condemnation is over and done, or are they still condemning the land to hand over to some other corporate welfare queen?
If it's really over, that would be great. Would that Illinois had a few Scott Bludorns instead of Hacks like Sid Mathias.
I spoke to Scott after the elections, and he was crestfallen. I hope this cheers him up.
It's so rare to see the good guys win one. Thanks to Scott, (and you, Cal) one tiny corner of America is more free than it would have been.
There may come a day when the world of men comes crashing down, but not this day.