Postcard Asking If We Believe in Wonder Prompts Wonder About Need for Supplemental Service Area (SSA) Tax Dollar Spending in Tough Economic Times
By chicago-pipeline at August 9, 2012 | 7:42 pm | Print
As recently as a few months ago, the Wicker Park and Bucktown Chamber of Commerce had its own logo, independent of the logo for the Special Service Area #33/WPB, which shares an office with the Chamber at 1414 N. Ashland Ave.
So, when we picked up a postcard for Out of Site Chicago, a series of 12 ‘unexpected encounters of public performance’ at Filter Cafe last night, we were surprised to see the back of the card listing the project as being supported by ‘Wicker Park/Bucktown Chamber of Commerce SSA #33′ with the two entities merged as one.
The front of the card asks, “Do you believe in Wonder?”
Curated by the Defibrillator Gallery, Out of Site Chicago targets commuter-audiences from 5-7 p.m. as they leave work on 12 consecutive Fridays through Oct. 12, 2012.
At the inaugural July 27th performance, near the Polish Triangle, Time Out Chicago writer Laura Pearson observed 10 to 15 members of the ROOM Gallery hold up palms painted fire-engine red and stand there wordlessly before breaking into a collective ‘ooooh.’” Photo at right by Cesario Moza.
The performance caused a witness to say “”What the fuuuck?” according to Pearson’s full account, which can be read here.
The following Friday’s performance (see photos here), on August 3rd did not go off as smoothly.
According to Carron Little of the Defibrillator Gallery, who replied to our inquiry via email, “The policeman wanted to arrest two of the women for causing public obstruction for lying on the sidewalk. This happened directly outside the Damen L-Station at 6.30pm.”
So how much do WTF-inducing and near-arrest moments of wonder cost and who’s paying for them?
Based on the minutes from the SSA #33 meeting on May 16th, it looks like $15,000, which irons out to $1250 per episode of wonderment for the 12 part series.
The Pipeline loves performance art, so in no way are we asserting that events like Out of Site shouldn’t be occurring, in fact we are looking forward to catching tomorrow’s show.
However, what we’re ‘wondering’ about is how– in a challenging economic climate when our city is closing police stations, small business owners are shuttering their doors, libraries are cutting hours, and school budgets are in the red– tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars can be collected through the SSA districts and used on public art projects and performances, as well as other cool-but-perhaps-not-essential programs like an upcoming Open Streets event which will close an entire stretch of Milwaukee Avenue from Ashland to Western to motorized traffic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 16th. Read more about this on Grid Chicago.
Open Streets was initiated by the SSA #33, which hired out the Active Transporation Alliance to organize it. Per the latest chamber/SSA #33 e-newsletter, Open Streets is an opportunity ”for people to play, walk, bike and enjoy healthy recreation without motorized traffic.” It’s being billed– like all of the SSA sponsored programs–as free. However, it’s not actually free. The SSA #33 is footing the bill for Open Streets by using taxpayer dollars and paying the Active Transportation Alliance to run Open Streets.
Milwaukee Avenue business owners were visited recently by representatives from the Active Transportation Alliance, requesting their signatures of support for Open Streets.
A business owner who requested to remain anonymous wrote into the pipeline about the letter from Active Trans Alliance:
”It even had a thing at the bottom where they wanted your name, business name, address, telephone number, etc., and they wanted you to sign on a line that said something like, “I fully support the Active Transit Alliance in its effort to spread joy and happiness and bubbles and candy and golden rays of sunshine and smiles on Sunday Sept 16th and I have no problem with the street being closed”
After looking at the SSA #33 Commission’s Public July Meeting Minutes for its Transportation subcommittee, it appears that of the 135 surveyed businesses located along the 1.4 mile stretch of Milwaukee within the SSA #33 district where the Open Streets event will occur, signatures of compliance were obtained by only 40% of the businesses. Despite the fact that the majority of business owners on the stretch do not appear to be in support of Open Streets, it will nevertheless be using their property tax dollars anyway, while adversely affecting revenues for businesses who might rely on customers who drive, such as car washes, and boutiques and salons which do strong business on Sundays.
As previously reported by the pipeline’s Jon Graef when he attended a meeting last month wherein East Village property owners aired their thoughts on receiving a property tax increase due to West Town’s SSA #29 expansion, SSAs are taxing districts that fund expanded services and programs. Examples include providing publicity for SSA businesses and public way maintenance.
According to the City of Chicago’s Inspector General resource page, as of May 11, 2011 there were 43 active SSA districts in the city, with an aggregate budget of approximately $23 million. The SSAs are partnered with local non-profits called Service Providers. In most cases, these service providers are chambers of commerces or local community groups/councils. See list.
In addition to marketing the neighborhood and contracting with vendors like Time Out Chicago, which produced a guide to WPB for the fourth consecutive year, costing the chamber/SSA #33 some $24,000 for the 2012 edition, the SSA#33, which had an annual budget of $1,153,998 in 2011, also contracts with vendors like Clean Slate to provide supplemental street cleaning.
Among the tasks given to Clean Slate workers is the removal ‘low level’ graffiti. However, The Pipeline wonders why there is a need for a separate private contractor when another city department is already handling street cleaning and graffiti removal? Earlier this morning (August 7th), we witnessed a worker from the city’s Streets and Sanitation Dept. cleaning graffiti off of a brick building across from Aldi Foods in the 1700 block of N. Milwaukee Ave. If the Streets and Sans workers are capable of removing high level graffiti, could they also remove low level instances, too?
One can only wonder. Until then, it looks like if you check the Clean Slate customer list and the SSA Provider List on the Office of the Inspector General website, you’ll notice plenty of crossover. Since public way maintenance and street cleaning is one of the larger SSA-funded programs, what chunk of that aggregated $23 million budget from our city’s 43 SSA districts is going to Clean Slate, and could that money be better used on police officers or teachers?
Suzi, 7 months ago
this is an abhorrent waste of our tax dollars. btw, the “open streets” cost $70,000, approx equal to a CPS teacher’s average salary. WTF indeed. SSA’s should absolutely be abolished. There is little/no ovesight on their spending. As a CPS parent, I know my school could put those funds to excellent use, in a manner we can make last for years (technology, soccer uniforms, facade improvement). The “investments” made by this SSA have NO lasting impact.
Buster, 7 months ago
No offense to Suzi…but a ton of my tax dollars go to schools, and I have no kids. I, however, very much enjoyed the open streets event. Do I want more of my tax dollars going to your kid’s teacher or your kids soccer uniform? Heck no. But that’s just my two cents. My taxes go to a many things I have no use for…but I keep on paying them. I love it when a relatively minuscule amount of funding goes to public events such as open streets and art events. These types of things are reasons I live in and pay taxes in Chicago.
Teddy Varndell, 7 months ago
Buster (the faceless)- What address are you paying into SSA 33 at? Mine is 2153 W. North Ave and I say open streets is a cronyistic waste of my tax dollars. Pay up or shut up.
Adam, 7 months ago
There is a still a question of whether or not the city will be on the hook for the lost parking revenue. Milwaukee Avenue on a Saturday night brings in tens of thousands of dollars (to LAZ parking). Why didn’t the SSA think of that ahead of time?!
LK, 7 months ago
The Performance Art is such a scam, and I’m sick of it. $30,000 of tax dollars going for Out of Sight, REALLY? I’d love to see the breakdown of who is actually pocketing that money, considering the “artists” are volunteers, Their “performance” tonight, was one girl convulsing on the street why 3 other “artists” watched her. GIVE ME A BREAK… the Chamber of commerce doesn’t need to pay people to walk the streets and act weird, people do it for FREE every day in Wicker Park.
E Ukie V, 7 months ago
This article completely misrepresents SSAs. A very small amount of research of fact checking would reveal that none of the funds used for these projects, let alone any SSA funds, could be using to fund libraries, schools, or police. I am very disappointed that a local publication would so completely misrepresent a local organization. You lost a reader today Chicago Pipeline. I strongly advice any readers to personally fact check anything they read here. I find the lack of facts in this article is abhorrent.
CJR, 7 months ago
That photo is great. I think the expression on people’s faces says everything we need to know about how worthy of a cash spend this is.
chicago-pipeline, 7 months ago
E UK Village: SSAs are not organizations. They are funding streams, and the chambers manage them. Volunteer commissioners oversee the budget and spend the SSA’s money based on recommendations from five subcommittees. This is how I understood it in a conversation with Adam Burck, director of the WPB Chamber, and Jessica Wobbekind, SSA #33 program manager, yesterday afternoon. We do strive for accuracy and in any future SSA #33 posts, will get feedback from the powers that be within the SSA and Chamber. The 27K on advertising was in the July minutes a meeting attendee gave to me post meeting. Wobbekind said that there can be many things included in that figure.
KL- $15K was spent on Out of Site, not $30K. But regardless, I find it interesting that a performer yesterday told you that she was volunteer and not paid, because Carron of the Defibrillator Gallery (one of the bright-orange shirted people following the performance) told me that the performance artists get paid. I will follow up with Carron to find out exactly how the 15K was spent. If it happened on public street using taxpayer dollars, we have a right to know.
Headed to a meeting, but will post a few pics from yesterday’s performance art show to the pipeline’s Facebook page. I will write a post about yesterday’s performance later on.
LK, 7 months ago
Isn’t the purpose of the SSA to promote commerce within Wicker Park / Bucktown? Hence the reason, the tax is collected from the retail districts? I’m not against that at all….. But the way the tax money gets spent is not logical. Why spend so much on performance art? What is behind that? Is that driving retail sales in the neighborhood? An idea I love that is funded by the SSA is the Fall Dinner Crawl — its fun, gets the neighborhood involved, brings people to the neighborhood, and promotes sales at our local restaurants.
I’m not against art, spend some of the SSA money to promote it in the neighborhood, but it seems like someone is profiting greatly from these “performances”. Didn’t the SSA or Chamber fund the performance art at the Wicker Park Fest too? How much has been spent YTD, and is the same company getting these contracts?
Buster, 7 months ago
I’ve never seen much on the fall dinner crawl….the open streets event is really the first SSA event I’ve seen that’s been given much press exposure. I could live without the performance art…but open streets brought me out to spend some money. Since it was the first one…the attendance didn’t seem that tremendous…but I was there right when it opened.
Teddy Varndell, 7 months ago
LK- Promotion of commerce is not the purpose of the SSA. Providing additional services, not provided by the City, to the tax payers in the SSA boundaries is the purpose. Those tax payers include the residential floors with PIN #’s in the SSA. (Snow removal has been touted as a SSA service that benefits the residential SSA tax payers. I’m not so sure.) Early in its existance, SSA 33 held expensive planning sessions, with contract facilitators, to determine what sorts of things the residential component felt would benefit their particular class. Public art, # 1 by a wide margin.
Under the auspices of the “Chamber”, SSA 33 has been good at giving the impression that it exists solely to benefit the mercantile component of our neighborhood, but that is not the case. The SSA is obligated to provide for the residential owners as well as the license holders and their landlords.
chicago-pipeline, 7 months ago
Teddy, are you referring to The Master Plan? Around that same time, $30K was spent to make the SSA #33 logo, too. You can crowdsource a logo for $500 these days. LK- many of your questions might be answered soon. There will be a 5-Year SSA #33 Annual Report issued soon and Teddy, from what I understand, it will be MAILED to all SS Pin # addresses on North, Damen, Milwaukee, Ashland, etc. Hopefully the report will indicate not just the number of $ spent on certain things, but the recipients of those contracts, too.
Teddy Varndell, 7 months ago
CP—Who’s cousin got paid 30k to “design” that horrific, derivative piece of graphic branding? I’m not sure if the syringe turret is a nod to Nelson Algren, or just a total lack of regard for the laws of physics. Either way, the Fountainhead reference leads me to suspect a teabagger architect. Am I close?
Suzi, 7 months ago
I have requested a FOIA on SSA #33, and also on the new, proposed, expadned SSA in West Town. I can provide to anyone. The issue in West Town is that the residential streets are being asked to pay into the “expansion”. why we’d want to expand a government “spending” fund is beyond me. I realize SSA money cannot be used to pay teacher’s salaries; however, 2 schools in SSA #33, Pritzker and La Salle, would have LOVED to share that 70k for facade improvement. Luckily, the Alderman who covers my daughter’s school has asked for no SSA in that area. He knows it’s a money grab.
We Are WPB, 7 months ago
SSA’s are subject to the Open Meetings Act. Meetings are open to the public and all meeting schedules and minutes are posted online. Additionally, all of our financial information, including budgets, financial activities and yearly audits can be found at our website, http://wickerparkbucktown.org/commission-meetings/ .
And to clarify, Pritzker School is not in SSA #33. But we recognize that the school is a valuable asset to our community and we have given grants to Friends of Pritzker School for their annual fundraiser when it is held within the SSA district (2011, 2012). We also gave a grant to La Salle to assist them with the mural that enhances their facade on Division (2010).
We encourage community engagement, please take our survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WPB5YearUpdate
Or if you have questions, call our office 773.384.2672 X214