Quote:
Originally Posted by Khantilever
Let's be honest. The "but-for" standard, as people like to use it, is nonsensical. In theory, any and all parcels can and likely will be developed at some point without subsidies, once demand is sufficient. The question is really when and at what intensity.
There is no way Lincoln Yards would be developed at this intensity and so soon without significant TIF subsidies.
Also, saying that the TIF wouldn't have qualified if we accounted for rising land prices, which are themselves a function of expectations regarding the TIF... By that logic, no TIF can ever be justified. This was a long time coming and expected by everyone. If you look at assessments the moment the TIF deal is about to be signed, it would be surprising if they didn't already significantly capitalize the revised expectations of accelerated development.
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Under your logic, everything could pass but-for, because a developer could just propose something that is denser/larger/in some way wouldn't be able to be built without public assistance. Nice try. That's not what TIFs are for.
At it's core, LY is a poorly planned project, and a horrible use of TIF.
I do hope the lawsuits at minimum cause a great deal of delay here, if not meet with some success. And, that the Lightfoot administration heavily renegotiates everything after the first allocation of TIF $ to something that is much more reasonable and justifiable. And, that investigative journalists continue to dig. There just may be more to find - we shall see.
Finally, I see the SB bots have swarmed into action.