Oak Park's Kelo Problem, Part 2
Last week I talked about Oak Park's Kelo problem. You may say to yourself, "I understand that Oak Park likes to restrict the ability of owners of real estate to use their property, but so what?" To my mind, there are two negative consequences to Oak Park residents:
1. Businesses have started to leave Oak Park for other localities that are more business-friendly. If you're looking for proof of this fact, look no further than Madison Street. If you drive through Oak Park on this street (going West from Austin to Harlem) you'll see a pretty blighted area. But if you continue West on Madison into Forest Park, things change -- you'll see a vibrant area full of funky shops, nice restaurants, etc. Businesses have lots of choices in where to locate -- why put up with the hassles of Oak Park when you can go to a nearby village that actually wants to help you succeed?
2. Real estate taxes in Oak Park have skyrocketed, making it hard for some residents to continue living here. I spoke last week about the real estate owned by the village (and therefore not on the tax rolls). This fact -- along with rampant government spending -- has created a totally expected result: skyrocketing real estate taxes. My real estate taxes went up "only" 10%, but other residents report increases of 40% or 50%. Or even more -- here are the property tax numbers for an Oak Park property my client sold on Thursday:
2005, 1st installment: $563.91
2005, 2nd installment: $1,976.26
In Cook County, the 1st installment always equals 1/2 of the previous year's taxes, so we know that the 2004 taxes for this property were $1,127.82. That makes for an increase of more than 225%(!) from 2004 to 2005. Yikes!
Oak Park has always prided itself on its (ethnic) diversity, but the net effect of its restrictions on property will quite obviously lead to a reduction in the village's (economic) diversity. And, as this editorial makes it clear, Oak Parkers have no one but themselves to blame for this predicament.
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