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Monday, March 10, 2014
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DeKalb city staff oppose TIF plan City council urged to vote ‘no’ on South Fourth Street proposal By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – DeKalb aldermen will be asked to end plans for the South Fourth Street tax increment financing district during the DeKalb City Council meeting Monday night. City staff have recommended aldermen vote against creating a special taxing district designed
to improve the area that stretches from Taylor Avenue to Fairlane Avenue. The staff suggested the area would be ideal for tax increment financing on individual projects if they arise but not for the broad area under consideration. “This is an area in the city everyone knows needs redevelopment,” City Attorney Dean Frieders said. “And we are certainly going to look
at development there, but we feel there may be a better time to do that.” TIF districts enable municipalities to encourage development by freezing the property tax revenues that local governments – such as schools, park districts and city government – receive for a period as long as 23 years. As the value of the property in the district increases, the increased property tax reve-
nues are diverted to a special account and used for additional improvements. City officials expected to collect $3.6 million in increment revenues, but that would pay for only about a quarter of the $14 million in proposed projects there. Cleaning up the abandoned Protano’s Auto Parts site at 1151 S. Fourth St. that is believed to contain contaminated soil is the key to
redevelopment in the area, said Brian Scholle, who operates a State Farm agency at 850 S. Fourth St. “If you clean up Protano’s, I think everything else would have fallen in place,” Scholle said. “You have to beautify the area, but really the only hope was to get TIF money.” Fourth Ward Alderman Bob Snow said he’s willing to
If you go: n What: DeKalb City Council meeting n When: 6 p.m. Monday n Where: DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St., DeKalb
Inside DeKalb council to consider e-cigarettes, teen nightclubs. PAGE A8
See TIF, page A8
Vietnam: Searchers fail to find jet debris
KEITH MOKRY FINALLY TRIUMPHS IN DeKALB COUNTY SPELLING BEE
‘Spacious’ equals victory
By CHRIS BRUMMITT and EILEEN NG The Associated Press
By STEPHEN HABERKORN news@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – In a harbinger of things to come, Matthew Rogers sat silently with his parents awaiting the continuation of the DeKalb County Spelling Bee, while his opponent, Keith Mokry, milled about the auditorium joking with friends and supporters. The head-to-head spell-off Saturday morning was more a test of nerves than anything else. The contest was the conclu-
sion of the epic 74-round competition that ended in a stalemate two weeks ago, when Keith and Matthew went head-to-head for 66 rounds without either speller missing a word. This time it was over before the spectators in the packed house had settled into their seats at the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education building. After beginning with simple words like “platform” and “oodles,” Matthew misspelled
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Vietnamese searchers on ships worked throughout the night but could not find a rectangular object spotted Sunday afternoon that was thought to be one of the doors of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that went missing more than two days ago. Doan Huu Gia, the chief of Vietnam’s search and rescue coordination center, said today that four planes and seven ships from Vietnam were searching for the object but nothing had been found. The Boeing 777 went missing early Saturday morning on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. The plane lost contact with ground controllers somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam, and searchers in a low-flying plane spotted an object that appeared to be one of the plane’s doors, the staterun Thanh Nien newspaper said, citing the deputy chief of staff of Vietnam’s army, Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan. The jetliner apparently fell from the sky after reaching cruising altitude in fine weather, and the pilots were either unable or had no time to send a distress signal, adding to the mystery over the final minutes of the flight. There are also questions about how two passengers managed to board the ill-fated aircraft using stolen passports. Interpol confirmed it knew about the stolen passports but said no authorities checked its vast databases on stolen
ABOVE: Somonauk students surround Keith Mokry after he won the Dekalb County Spelling Bee on Saturday. LEFT: Keith (left) and Sycamore Middle School student Matthew Rogers share a moment of levity after Keith spelled his final word correctly and won the county spelling bee. Photos by Gary L. Gates for Shaw Media
See VICTORY, page A4
See SEARCH, page A4
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