ChicagoTalks received national recognition in the New York Times for its investigation into tax breaks that benefited already-profitable companies in downtown Chicago and largely ignored blighted, outlying neighborhoods. The story was published on Feb. 27, 2011.
Columbia College students Caitlin Bukowski, K. Herron, Becca James, Meghan Keyes, Tony Merevick, Taryn S. Smith and Mika Tatich worked on the investigation with ChicagoTalks co-founder and publisher Suzanne McBride, adjunct professor Dan Weissman and data visualization expert Derek Eder.
Following their analysis of public financial records, the students produced an article and an interactive map, which allows users to view Chicago TIF (tax incremental financing) districts, projects and wards, as well as sort them by amount of spending, year or location.
“The story is particularly timely because a new mayor and many new aldermen could be prompted by civic groups, block clubs and any tax-paying citizen to consider the findings and shortcomings of the city agencies in terms of compliance with Sunshine [law] regulations,” Barbara Iverson, co-founder and publisher of ChicagoTalks, said.
The students also published stories about the findings regarding inequalities in TIF spending throughout the city and about the difficulties faced while reporting the story.
The site has been a previous winner of several investigative journalism honors.
Read the New York Times story, see the original reporting on Chicagotalks.org and explore the interactive map created by Derek Eder.
