[ardecila]

For once, that's actually not an abusive use of TIFs. Michigan/Cermak and Calumet/Cermak are immediately adjacent, and a Green Line station in one would definitely benefit the other. It's also ridiculous just how little the balance is in the Michigan/Cermak district... I'm guessing that's because of past expenditures at Hilliard and the Teachers' Academy.

Of course, the city will probably defer the use of TIF if they can get another monster CMAQ grant (Doesn't Chicago get, like, 75% of the available funds of that program?) IMO, it would be better to use TIF money whenever possible, and CMAQ money for improvements in less lucrative districts where TIF funding isn't feasible.

As for a second station at 18th - the possibility of having 4 stations in a dense South Loop cluster (18th, Cermak, Cermak-Chinatown, 18th/Clark) is appealing, but seems INCREDIBLY wasteful without zoning changes. With this capacity, the area could support a full-fledged second CBD with traffic spread over 3 different lines. Hopefully the Chinese developers will realize this before South Loop NIMBYism spreads to that area. Eastern Tower is cool, but it should be in this zone, not in the no-mans-land where Wong wants to build it.