CivicLab Announces New Crowd-Funded Book: "Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve"

    CHICAGO, IL, July 13, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A group of Chicago experts have written short articles outlining ways to save and generate MAJOR revenues for Chicago.

The organizer and editor is Tom Tresser (www.tresser.com) and the book is based on this Huffington Post Chicago from September 2015: http://tinyurl.com/We-Are-Not-Broke-HP.

The project has been made possible via a crowdfunding campaign. As of July 8, 2016 200 people chipped in $8,367 towards a goal of $10,000.

The web site for this project is: www.wearenotbroke.org. The crowdfunding campaign is being hosted on Generosity (a sister site to Indiegogo.com) at http://tinyurl.com/Chi-Not-Broke-Campaign.

"We are seeking to broaden the conversation on civic possibilities in Chicago well in advance of the 2017 budget cycle. This project is based on the three years of research and public education done via the TIF Illumination Project as well as my past ten years work fighting privatization and doing grassroots democracy all over Chicago and Cook County," says organizer Tom Tresser.

The book is designed by Alison Sustarich of Tiny Bold Design Studio - http://tinybold.com.

Besides a physical print book, we will also place the material on a book-related wiki site which will have links to references and examples. We will invite people to use this wiki to ADD and DEEPEN the references and examples used in the book.

We see this as a massive, ongoing popular education campaign that will bring thousands of ordinary Chicagoans into substantive public policy discussions about the future of Chicago.

The book follows this outline:

1. Preface - Why this book, Tom Tresser

2. How to Think About Budgets - Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability - http://www.ctbaonline.org

Section 1 - Money That Is Stolen From Us - That We Did NOT Have To Spend

3. The cost of corruption in Chicago - Prof. Dick Simpson, University of Illinois at Chicago - http://pols.uic.edu/political-science/people/faculty/dsimpson

4. Toxic Bank Deals - Jackson Potter, Chicago Teachers Union - http://www.netrootsnation.org/profile/jackson-potter

5. The Cost of Police Violence - Jamie Kalven, Invisible Institute. - http://invisible.institute/jamie-kalven

Section 2 - Money That Is Hidden From Us

6. Tax Increment Financing - The Off the Books Slush Fund - Tom Tresser.

Section 3- Money That We Are Not Collecting

7. A Progressive Income Tax For Illinois - Hilary Denk, Co-Chair, Issues Committee of the Board of the League of Women Voters Illinois - http://denkmediation.com/about-hilary-denk

8. What a LaSalle Street Tax Would Do For Chicago - Ron Baiman, Assistant Professor of Economics in the Graduate Business Administration program at Benedictine University -https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-baiman-05186113

9. A Public Bank For Chicago - Amara Enyia, PhD, former candidate for mayor, Public Policy Consultant, Principal of ACE Municipal Partners -https://www.linkedin.com/in/amara-enyia-0ab93064

Conclusion, Final Box Score Number of Proposed Revenues, Call To Action - Jonathan Peck, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tucson Urban League has over 25 years experience working within the community development field facilitating projects, coalitions, and alliances at the neighborhood, citywide, regional, national and international levels.https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathantdpeck

We will activate our networks to book the authors for speaking gigs around the city after publication.

The book will be available for sale and download online. We will approach local civic organizations and public sector unions to purchase large quantities of the book for their members.

Legendry political strategist Don Rose called the book "required reading" - see the review here.

Tom Tresser
Civic educator
312-804-3230
[email protected]
www.tresser.com
www.civiclab.us
www.tifreports.com
www.nogameschicago.com
www.protectourparks.org

About Tom Tresser:
Tom is a civic educator and public defender who has been doing public work for over 40 years. His voter registration campaign was in 1973. He calls himself a "public defender" because Chicago's history of corruption and local corruption has made this city Ground Zero for bad deals which strip mine public assets for private gain. Chicago's infamous parking meter deal being the most well known (and hated) example. In 2008 Tom led the creation of Protect Our Parks (www.protectourparks.org) to stop the privatization of Lincoln Park. In 2009 he was a co-leader of No Games Chicago (www.nogameschicago.com) which worked to derail the bid for the 2016 Olympics. Tom was a co- founder of the CivicLab (www.civiclab.us) which operated as America's only co-working space dedicated to social justice and civic engagement for two years in Chicago's West Loop.Tom has been the lead organizer for the TIF Illumination Project for the past three years (www.tifreports.com). This all- volunteer effort has been investigating and exposing the impacts of Chicago's massive Tax Increment Financing program on a ward-by-ward basis. He has presented on TIFs at 45 public meetings in front of 4,600 people.

Recent Media Appearances:
- "In the Loop" on CYCC Public TV from 4/14 -http://tinyurl.com/In-The-Loop-4-14-16 (11:42)
- "Chicago Newsroom" on CAN-TV Channel 19 from 4/7 - http://tinyurl.com/Chicago-Newsroom-interview
- "CounterSpin" interview from 3/18 -http://fair.org/home/whos-developing-what-for-who
- "This Is Hell" radio show on WNUR-FM from 3/12- http://tinyurl.com/This-Is-Hell-interview

We've assembled an awesome team of subject matter experts to tell us why Chicago is NOT broke.

The campaign is at http://tinyurl.com/Chi-Not-Broke-Campaign

Ron Baiman is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Graduate Business Administration program at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL. He is a member of the Chicago Political Economy Group also a long-time member of the Editorial Board of the Review of Radical Political Economics.
Topic: "What a LaSalle Street Tax Would Do For Chicago"

Hilary Denk has resolved over 250 matters and participated in over 200 formal mediations. As Vice President for Associated Claims Enterprises, a national third party administrator, Hilary managed claims, coverage and programs in the following fields: real estate, employment practices, lawyers malpractice, and commercial liability. She serves on the board of the League of Women Voters of Illinois.
Topic: "A progressive Income Tax for Illinois"

Amara Enyia is a public policy consultant across policy areas. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of ACE Municipal Partners LLC, a full service municipal consulting firm that works with small and mid-sized cities in the Chicago area, Central America, South America and West Africa. She has also served as Executive Director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, Policy Director of Manufacturing Renaissance, and Public Policy Analyst in the City of Chicago Mayor's Office. Amara was a candidate for mayor in Chicago's 2015 elections.
Topic: "A Public Bank for Chicago"

Jamie Kalven is a co-director of the Invisible Institute, a journalistic production company on the South Side of Chicago. that works to enhance the capacity of civil society to hold public institutions accountable. Jamie is a writer and human rights activist. His work has appeared in a variety of publications; among them, Slate, the Nation, the Columbia Journalism Review, and the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago Reader. In recent years, he has reported extensively on patterns of police abuse and impunity in Chicago. He is a recipient of a 2016George Polk Award for his coverage of the killing of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer in October 2014.
Topic: "The Cost of Police Violence for Chicago"

Ralph Martire is is Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. He teaches a Master's class on Education Finance and Fiscal Policy for the University of Illinois and Roosevelt University where he is also a distinguished lecturer on public policy. Additionally, he has taught fiscal policy seminars for various universities and the International Fulbright Scholar Program. He was elected to serve on the School Board of River Forest District 90, where he still serves. Ralph is also a regular columnist on education, fiscal and economic policy for the State Journal Register and Daily Herald.
Topic: "How to Think About Budgets"

Jonathan Peck, is the Restorative Justice Coordinator for Alternatives, Inc. He most recently served on the Police Accountability Task Force with the Community & Police Relations Working Group. He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tucson Urban League and has over 25 years experience working within the community development field facilitating projects, coalitions, and alliances at the neighborhood, citywide, regional, national and international levels. Jonathan worked as a community organizer, and later as Associate Director of the Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC), a Chicago based organization dedicated to the healthy development of low-income children, youth and families. Jonathan Peck has extensive experience in the international arena, most notably working on the ground in Southern Africa and Nicaragua. Jonathan has worked and visited over 15 countries across North and Latin America, Europe and Southern Africa. Mr. Peck has extensive experience as an Advisor and Consultant, providing strategic advice in the areas of organizational development, strategic planning, and nonprofit executive leadership and business management. Mr. Peck is a Master Facilitator, Organizer, Trainer, Coach and Mentor and has provided these services to over 5,000 individuals.
Topic: "Reflecting on all the ideas and "What next?"

Jackson Potter is a Chicago Public Schools graduate. He was a high school activist who led a walk-out at Whitney Young in 1995 to push for equitable funding for schools in Illinois. He became a teacher at Englewood High School and was the union delegate there when former CEO Arne Duncan called the school a "culture of failure" and started a phase-out in 2005. He and Al Ramirez formed the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) in May of 2008 and the Grassroots Education Movement, with community organizations, shortly thereafter. In June of 2010, CORE won the general election for the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union, the third largest teachers local in the country. Jackson currently serves the CTU as the staff coordinator.
Topic: "Toxic Bank Deals in Chicago"

Dick Simpson is a professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dick is the a Alderman of Chicago's 44th ward (1971-1979, a candidate for the U.S. Congress and a distinguished scholar and author. His most recent publications include: The City, Revisited: Urban Theory from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York.Edited with Dennis Judd (University of Minnesota Press, 2011). Inside Urban Politics: Voices From America's Cities and Suburbs.(Longman, 2004). Rogues, Rebels, and Rubberstamps: The Story of the Chicago City Council,(Westview, 2001). Winning Elections: A Handbook of Modern Participatory Politics, (Harper Collins, 1996) new edition forthcoming, (Longman 2008).
Topic: "The Cost of Corruption in Chicago"

Tom Tresser is a civic educator and public defender. His first voter registration campaign was in 1972. In 2008 he was a co-founder of Protect Our Parks, a neighborhood effort to stop the privatization of public space in Chicago. He was a lead organizer for No Games Chicago, an all-volunteer grassroots effort that opposed Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. WithBenjamin Sugar Tom co-founded The CivicLab, a co-working space where activists, educators, coders and designers came to work, collaborate, teach, and build tools for civic engagement. Located in Chicago's West Loop, the space operated for two eventful years closing on June 30, 2015. He is the lead organizer for the TIF Illumination Project that is investigating and explaining the impacts of Tax Increment Financing districts on a community-by-community basis.
Topic: "Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) - The Off the Books Slush Fund" The CivicLab (www.civiclab.us) and the TIF Illumination Project (www.tifreports.com) has published a new crowd-funded book. "Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve." A group of Chicago experts have written short articles outlining ways to save and generate MAJOR revenues for Chicago.

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