I've been a little too busy to blog much about eminent domain issues, so take a look at what the Sam Adams Alliance has to say about International Plaza. In July of 2002, the Village of Arlington Heights, Illinois handed down a bogus “blighted” designation to the International Plaza, a local shopping center, in order to bulldoze it and put up a Super Target store. This move … [Read more...] about Sam Adams Alliance on International Plaza
Eminent Domain
Des Plaines TIF: Suburban Transmission
Here's another property threatened by eminent domain in the Des Plaines Five Corners/River-Rand TIF District. The last two businesses I blogged about, the Geiser-Berner plumbing shop and the corner BP Gas Station are both inside what I'm calling the Inner Triangle, the region bounded on the east by River Road, on the southwest by Rand Road, and on the north by the Union … [Read more...] about Des Plaines TIF: Suburban Transmission
Des Plaines TIF: BP Gas Station
This BP gas station is another of the businesses that the Des Plaines City Council is calling "blighted." Located on the northwest corner of the intersections of Rand and River roads, it's very nearly at the center of the TIF district.Corner BP Gas Station (Visit the previous Des Plaines entry .)[Update: Visit the next Des Plaines entry.] … [Read more...] about Des Plaines TIF: BP Gas Station
Des Plaines TIF: Geiser-Berner
Protest Signs I've got hundreds of photos from the Des Plaines River-Rand TIF, and it's about time I posted a few of them. I'll start with this batch from Geiser-Berner Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning. Its owners, Robert Janczak, Ed Lehman, and Scott Olson are among the more outspoken opponents of the TIF.Geiser-Berner Their shop is a standalone building … [Read more...] about Des Plaines TIF: Geiser-Berner
Distributing the International Plaza Survey
A bunch of folks showed up at the International Plaza shopping mall yesterday to distribute fliers and conduct a survey as part of the effort to save the plaza and a few neighboring properties from eminent domain abuse.Picking Up a Survey Packet (The young lady at right is a reporter who showed up to cover the effort.) The village of Arlington Heights is trying to … [Read more...] about Distributing the International Plaza Survey