The Selling Of The Southland: The WBEZ/BGA Study On The Expansion Of Amazon “Fulfillment Centers And The Impact On South Suburban Communities
This excellent but troubling story came out last fall. Many of us talked about the negative impact of the negotiations between the behemoth and local governments, but the story hid in plain sight, like many other questionable local deals. There was a letter from five local mayors endorsing my opponent in the Rich Township Supervisor’s race. One of the many scurrilous mailers that they put out talks about my raising taxes in the Township. That’s a lie, it never happened. However, two of those mayors account for a staggering $190 million dollars of local and County tax abatements in their Amazon deals. Some of these deals involve local residents being in hock over 20 years. No value added, no using the funds for real economic development; money just gone. Ironically, the flat Township levy and this multi million dollar giveaway are both in the public record. The difference is, the media and a watchdog group had to conduct a study to bring this to the public. The budget, levy and audit of the Township is on the Township website.
Story:
https://www.wbez.org/stories/amazons-massive-chicago-area-expansion-was-fueled-by-741-million-from-taxpayers/300fa829-1b71-4d9e-a2f4-1776e88d4cb3
Spreadsheet of the projects and what was given to Amazon:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1umM8Q9Zyf511N68rjY8AyYAlWuu6eRf1ktaHlZGlE74/edit#gid=0