Worth a Read

2013 Summer Fellowship Program

Crain's Chicago Business: "Cook County Pension woes worsen"

Press Release: "Financial Reports Show Further Decline in Cook County Pension Funded Status"

Chicago SunTimes: "'New Jim Crow' incarcerations raise uncomfortable questions"

The Economist: "Cities Finding Useful Ways of Handling a Torrent of Data"

Wall Street Journal: "The Pension Rate-of-Return Fantasy"

Atlantic Cities: "America's Most Post-Industrial Metros"

The American economy has long been transitioning from goods-producing to service. But how has this transition occurred across America's cities and metro areas? What does its geography look like?

To get a finer-grained sense of this, I turn to a new metric which compares the ratio of services to goods produced across metro areas, created by Jose Lobo of Arizona State University and based on data from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

For the U.S. economy as a whole, the ratio of services to goods is roughly 3 to 1 (3.22). But there is considerable geographic variation: 210 metros rank well above this average ratio -- including 40 of the 50 largest metros (those with more than one million people) -- and 154 are below the average.

The map above by Zara Matheson of the Martin Prosperity Institute charts the ratio of services to goods for all metros. Post-industrialism is strongly concentrated across the Boston-New York-Washington corridor, along the Florida coast, in Southern and Northern California, and in other pockets across the country. 

The table below lists the top 20 large metros across the country (those with over one million people) that score highest on the of ratio services to goods.

Washington, D.C., not surprisingly, stands out on this measure with a ratio of 11.17, more than three times the national average. Greater New York is second with a ratio 9.86, roughly three times the national ratio. Miami is third (7.75) more than twice the national average. Many metros along the Bos-Wash corridor have high service to goods ratios: Boston ranks fifth, Baltimore sixth, Philadelphia 10th, Hartford 11th, and Providence 20th. Miami and Tampa, both in Southern Florida, rank third and fourth. In the Sun Belt, Atlanta is seventh and Phoenix 19th. On the West Coast, San Diego is ninth, Los Angeles 12th, San Francisco 16th, and Seattle 18th. But a number of Midwest metros also show a considerable service-orientation. Kansas City is eighth, Columbus 14th, Chicago 15th, and Minneapolis 17th. 

The transition from goods production to service production has been happening for almost four decades now, but it is unfolding unevenly across America's economic landscape, as these numbers clearly show.

For the link to the article, click here.

Atlantic Cities: "After the School Closings, the Real Estate Mess"

Wall Street Journal: "Chicago Mayor's Pension Conundrum"

Property Tax Assistance Office Hours for Lakeview Township

New York Times: "The Mayor's Geek Squad"

Center for Community Progress Features: "Chicago Gets a Land Bank - An Interview with its Champions"

Last year the six-county Chicago region experienced the nation's largest increase in vacant properties, capping off a five-year period in which the number doubled in Chicago and quadrupled in Cook County. While various attempts to stem the tide of vacancy and abandonment had been implemented in the region, from vacant property ordinances to individual communities implementing creative Neighborhood Stabilization Program projects, it became clear that new tools were needed.

To address the virtual epidemic of vacancy and abandonment, in January 2013 the Cook County Board of Commissioners created the a land bank that is the nation's largest from a geographic perspective, covering 946 square miles of territory as well as encompassing 130 municipalities and 5.1 million people. Like similar entities across the nation the land bank "will acquire, hold and transfer interest in real property... to promote redevelopment and reuse of vacant, abandoned and tax delinquent properties; support targeted efforts to stabilize neighborhoods, stimulate residential and industrial development". In contrast to others, however, the land bank was created by the Cook County Board of Commissioners drawing on its unique home-rule powers rather than by State authority.

What follows is an interview with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, who together were the driving force behind the legislation.

Community Progress: What prompted your interest in the issue of vacant properties?

Preckwinkle: Prior to becoming Cook County Board President, I served as Alderman of the 4th Ward of Chicago for almost 20 years, during which I became very aware of the devastating impact of vacant and abandoned properties, and spent considerable time trying to find solutions that would bring stability and economic growth to the area. When I became County Board President, as I travelled around the county, it became clear that individual municipalities had neither the resources nor the expertise to address the crisis they were experiencing nor the ability to effectively put properties back into the hands of responsible, tax paying owners.

Gainer: When you grow up in a city like Chicago, you know the importance of neighborhoods - how strong ones improve the quality of life for people that live there, but also that they are living organisms that need to be tended. I worked in Englewood and Chicago Lawn in the mid-90s, two South Side neighborhoods -- one already overwhelmed by vacant and abandoned homes and one struggling to maintain. I knew even then we were only scratching the surface of this problem. We could demo a building to remedy immediate public health and safety risks, but we weren't doing anything at the scale or scope necessary to invest, develop or strengthen these neighborhoods. Fast forward to 2009, I am a Commissioner on the County Board; the economic crisis is crippling already struggling communities and the phones in my office were ringing off the hook with requests for help, not only from those undergoing foreclosures, but also from neighbors unable to find anyone responsible for the vacant homes next door. It became clear that we had to be bold or we were going to lose communities to vacancy and foreclosure.

Community Progress: What made you think about land banking as a remedy to the vacant property issue?

Preckwinkle: One of my first acts as President was the creation of a Bureau of Economic Development that could assess the needs and opportunities for community stabilization and economic growth in the County. It became clear that addressing the foreclosure epidemic and assembling land for needed residential, commercial and industrial development was essential to success -- and that land banking, in turn, was critical not only to stop deterioration but to implementing forward-looking plans for healthy growth.

Gainer: It was an evolving process. What started as the establishment of court advocacy for the hundreds of new homeowners going through foreclosure became a need to help the thousands of neighbors and businesses who live and work next to vacant homes through our Vacant Building Ordinance. Knowing that we needed to turn the corner from just maintaining communities to rehabilitating them, I looked to other states that had found smart solutions. I found other jurisdictions that had similar or worse vacancy and foreclosure issues but were seeing stabilization, and in some cases economic growth, and the common denominator was land banking. With the help of the Center for Community Progress, we were able to understand the fundamental elements of a successful land bank and tailor one for Cook County.

Community Progress: Are there any particularly unique features about Cook County's land bank that set it apart from others created across the country?

Preckwinkle: Our size and the diversity of the communities we serve make us unique to begin with. So does the diversity of the Cook County Land Bank Board. We've also created a governance structure which, by ordinance, guarantees that the varied needs and voices of the disparate communities will be heard and that the land bank's actions are in alignment with community plans while garnering the expertise needed to be effective. The 13-member Board represents Cook County, Chicago and suburban governments, financial institutions, as well as those representing concerns with real estate open space, industrial and commercial interests. The south suburbs already have a land bank in place and we will work closely to coordinate our work. We have already collaboratively received seed funding from the Searle Funds of The Chicago Community Trust to cover start-up expenses for the Cook County Land Bank Authority.

Gainer: We are one of the few land banks in the country that have been established using only our municipal home-rule authority instead of seeking statewide enabling legislation. We knew that if we were going to be impactful and keep this region healthy we needed a local solution that could not only be established quickly, but transparently. While we've drawn from other successful land banks, this is the first response in this region that has a clarity of purpose and laser focus on fighting vacancy and foreclosure.

Community Progress: Prior to introducing the land bank ordinance you had introduced and passed a Vacant Property Registration Ordinance? How do the two relate?

Gainer: In 2011 I read an article in the New York Times, that noted that the Chicago/Cook County region had the nation's largest inventory of foreclosed homes, because it was harder here -- more so than anywhere else in the Country -- to unload troubled properties. We also knew that the Circuit Court was experiencing unprecedented levels of foreclosure filings, and as a result, it was taking upwards of 600 days to complete a foreclosure case, which Woodstock Institute found 90 percent of the time, ended in default judgments. This left an explosion of vacant homes for which no one was responsible. These vacant homes coupled with the years it was taking to complete foreclosures created another set of victims -- the neighbors next door or on the block who were trying to do all the right things. We needed to address basic stabilization for the community -- secure the building, cut the grass and register the property, creating a clear line of accountability. That became the Vacant Building Ordinance. If you think about these elements as a spectrum, you can see that the foreclosure mediation program, the Vacant Building Ordinance and the land bank all work together.

Preckwinkle: The Ordinance, which became effective in February 2012, is part of a complete package of tools for the County and its municipalities. Modeled after one passed by the City of Chicago in 2011, the Ordinance requires that property in unincorporated Cook County be registered. However, we are reaching out to municipalities, inviting them to join our efforts at registering vacant and abandoned property. So far, Oak Lawn has partnered with us and we are continuing these efforts in 2013. The Vacant Building Ordinance has a focus on vacant buildings, rather than vacant parcels, but the efforts are closely aligned at bringing economic vitality to communities within Cook County.

Community Progress: There are many land banks around the nation, but most of them are authorized through State legislation. Why did you choose to make this a County-created entity?

Preckwinkle: Legislation introduced in Springfield in the last session of the General Assembly making it easier to create land banks went nowhere. We started at the County level because we needed to "get the ball rolling." Commissioner Gainer had also been working hard on the land bank issue. Given the magnitude of the problem, I felt the time to act was now.

Gainer: All of the functions required of a land bank were enumerated in the County's home rule authority; we didn't need to go to the State for any additional powers.

Community Progress: What were the greatest challenges in conceiving of and passing the ordinance?

Gainer: Making sure we brought all stakeholders to the table. We spent the last 18 months reaching out to anyone who not only would have a role in the land bank, but also might have been in opposition. Because everyone -- realtors, developers, affordable housing advocates, suburban mayors, etc. -- had a seat at the table and their input was integrated into the land bank ordinance and there were no surprises and we received a unanimous vote of approval.

Preckwinkle: Time was a big factor. The Cook County Land Bank Resolution creating the Land Bank Advisory Council (LBAC) gave us 60 days to produce final recommendations for the Ordinance. However, the Advisory Committee worked very hard, and gave me a set of well thought out recommendations that had unanimous support.

Community Progress: In many places there has been stiff opposition to the creation of land banks. Did you find opposition here? And if so, how did you overcome it?

Preckwinkle: Many people immediately understood the need for a land bank due to the number of vacant properties and foreclosures. Our Land Bank Advisory Committee (LBAC) however, really made a critical difference. For example, at the outset, realtors were not convinced that a land bank made sense. However the LBAC and several meetings with my staff were enough to persuade them that a land bank could make a material difference in improving our neighborhoods.

Community Progress: When do you foresee the land bank becoming operational?

Preckwinkle: All thirteen members of the Land Bank Board of Directors have been nominated by me and approved by the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Once they convene, they will search for an Executive Director and staff. We are working as hard as we can to get these pieces in place as soon as possible.

• For Center for Community Progress "Features" website, click here.

2012 Property Tax Exemptions

2012 First Installment Property Tax Bill due March 1, 2013

The Cook County Treasurer's Office has mailed out the first installment of the 2012 property tax bill. Payment of the first installment is due by March 1, 2013.

Have questions or need additional assistance?

• Please contact my office at 312-603-4210 or email Info@BridgetGainer.com.
• Visit the "Property Taxes" page by clicking here.

Cook County Unsung Heroine 2013 Nominations