North Michigan Avenue has lost a good deal of its sheen this year, thanks to the pandemic and the summer’s unrest — with its looting and widespread store damage — scaring away shoppers.
So we support the creation of a special taxing district that would raise funds to revive the Mag Mile. But we also agree with the aldermen who put the brakes on the measure this week, claiming that rushing to approval in just five months, when the process normally takes a year or so, is risky.
“The SSA [Special Service Area] process has really important way stations and checkpoints to protect the taxpayers who are being asked to pay this extra burden,” Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), whose ward includes the Mag Mile, told the City Council’s Committee on Economic and Capital Development this week.
“When we go through shorter, rushed processes, we make mistakes,” he said.
We can’t argue with that. The city made its most egregious screw-ups when it hit the gas pedal. Think of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s fiasco of a parking meter deal in 2008 to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s hasty 2013 decision to close 50 public schools.
The stakes wouldn’t be as high if we could afford the SSA going sideways. But given Michigan Avenue’s importance, the appropriate time and care must be taken to create a taxing district that really works.
Worth the time to get it right
Chicago has more than 50 special service areas, each funded by an added property tax paid by businesses within each district. SSA revenue can pay for a range of enhancements designed to make commercial areas more attractive to shoppers and shop owners, including added security, street clean-up and signage.
The Chicago Loop Alliance, which administers the State Street SSA, also uses its revenue to market the thoroughfare as a destination, provide infrastructure maintenance and handle outdoor public art installations. The group also undertakes urban planning exercises to re-envision the future of the street.
The State Street SSA also benefits from longevity, having been created in 1977, with renewals over the past 40 years. The proposed Michigan Avenue SSA — which would stretch from Oak Street to the Chicago River — would have only a three-year lifespan.
Presumably, it could be renewed but playing such short ball gives credence to the belief the plan is rushed and undercooked.
“This needs to be a standard SSA,” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), whose ward also encompasses the Mag Mile, told the City Council committee this week. “It needs to be a 10-year lifespan. The budgetary issues need to be resolved in advance. There simply wasn’t time to do this.”
Meanwhile, Reilly said the Michigan Avenue SSA needs “hard improvements to infrastructure,” such as retractable protective bollards and a network of security cameras. He might have a point in that, but the city and shop owners should take the time — certainly more than five months — to figure out the level and type of security needed to keep the area from feeling like a hyper-monitored encampment.
The aldermen also beefed about how much of the taxing district’s revenue would be spend on salaries and operating costs.
For instance, the Mag Mile taxing district would raise $742,000 over its three-year life with $200,000 going to the Magnificent Mile Association, the group that would be administrators of the district. Another $100,000 would go to people-counters who would tally foot traffic along the strip.
“Any one of us can walk out on the avenue and count the people on two hands. That’s not a good investment right now,” Reilly said.
That’s 40% of the district’s haul spent on salaries, contracts and operating expenses alone — and the $100,000 worth of people-counters caused our eyebrows to raise, also. But running a major, mile-long SSA isn’t cheap. The State Street SSA collects $3 million in revenue a year and spends $800,000 — about 26% of its take per annum — on salaries and benefits, but another $1.5 million in contracts for landscaping, pressure washing and banners. And the street is the better for it.
Still, given the size of the proposed Mag Mile district, the aldermen are right to want to devote more time to getting the thing right. As Hopkins told the City Council committee, “vote this particular version [of the Michigan Avenue SSA] down and stand with us as we hit the reset button . . . on a process that can and will result” in a better proposal.
That’s precisely what’s needed.
Get to work on a better plan
No surprise, Mayor Lori Lightfoot criticized Reilly and Hopkins for shooting down the SSA plan, calling their move “aldermanic prerogative at its worst.”
The mayor and the city’s Department of Planning and Development wanted to seal the deal before a Dec. 29 filing deadline. Now the measure is trapped in committee, allowing aldermen to hit the reset button as Hopkins suggests, but it also means the taxing district and the needed revenue it would generate are at least 15 months away.
“The Mag Mile has never been in a tougher situation . . . It’s really a dire situation . . . not just for people on the avenue,” Grant DePorter, CEO of Harry Caray’s Restaurants, said.
No doubt this is true. But a hastily created SSA won’t make things much better.
Now it’s time to get to work to create a better one.
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