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Health & Fitness

Dempster Street May Be Considered For TIF District

Workshop For Dempster Street Property Owners, Tenants and Morton Grove Residents Held At Civic Center, Follow-up Workshop To Be Held in July

Morton Grove's Community and Economic Development Director John Said hosted a workshop meeting at the Civic Center on May 19th. The topic for discussion was the possibility of creating a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district for the portion of Dempster Street roughly from Central Avenue to Ferris Street. Invitees included Dempster Street business owners and property owners in addition to Morton Grove residents. Mayor Dan Staackmann and Trustees Dan DiMaria, Larry Gomberg, Bill Grear, Shel Marcus  and John Thill participated in the workshop. Economic Development Commissioners Janine Witko, Craig Stehle, Jennifer Mitchell and myself assisted Mr. Said with his presentation. Mayor Staackmann stressed that the concept of creating a TIF district in this area was just that...a concept. "Nothing has been decided on, we are simply at the beginning stages of exploring this possibility for Dempster," said Mayor Staackmann.

One of the attendees, Nick Marino of Century 21 Marino Real Estate, whose office is located at Dempster and Menard, stated "The Dempster corridor is at the end of its economic life." Mr. Marino along with other Dempster property owners felt that it is necessary to "brand" Dempster Street and create "destination locations" that bring shoppers to Morton Grove to patronize our retail establishments and restaurants. Trustee John Thill added, "We want to be a 'Go To' community, not a 'Go Through' community."

Mr. Said mentioned that one of the obstacles are the shallow lots and narrow widths of the existing Dempster storefront buildings. We would need to be creative in redesigning these lots, similar to what CVS and Walgreens have successfully done.

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I was pleased with the enthusiasm of everyone who attended the workshop but disappointed with the low turnout of property owners. It seems to me that the people who are most directly affected by the possibility of a TIF are the property owners and tenants along Dempster and they should have attended the workshop in much larger numbers. Mr. Said will schedule a second workshop sometime in mid-July for those who could not attend last night. Let's hope that more property owners, tenants and residents will participate at that time. 

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