TIF Sunshine Ordinance Passes City Council 48-0

It's about to get a lot easier to find out where the reams of city taxpayer money spent on Tax Increment Financing districts goes.

On Wednesday the City Council voted 48-0 to approve the TIF Sunshine Ordinance, which requires City Hall to make all public documents related to the city's 160 TIF districts, including redevelopment agreements and annual reports, available online. Chicagoans seeking information about the murky development zones had been required to file a Freedom of Information Act request.

The ordinance, sponsored by Alds. Manny Flores (1st) and Scott Waguespack (32nd), was abruptly put on hold last month, when Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th) refused to call it to a vote. But it met with unanimous approval and little debate at Wednesday's meeting, a sign, the Reader's Mick Dumke notes, that Mayor Daley had no inclination to kill it.