Group wants to block work on Lincoln Yards project

Lawyers for the city, Grassroots Collaborative and Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education are expected to discuss the motion for a preliminary injunction at a hearing July 3.

SHARE Group wants to block work on Lincoln Yards project
Aneel Chablani, a lawyer for a coalition seeking to block subsidies for the Lincoln Yards project, talks to reporters

Aneel Chablani, a lawyer for a coalition seeking to block subsidies for the Lincoln Yards project, talks to reporters Thursday at the Daley Center.

Stefano Esposito/Sun-Times

A coalition seeking to block subsidies for the Lincoln Yards project has filed a preliminary injunction that would, in essence, halt work on the $6 billion development before it gets started.

“Every economic indicator that has been analyzed has clearly shown economic growth in that area,” said Aneel Chablani, an attorney for the coalition, speaking to reporters at the Daley Center on Thursday.

“The idea that but for these tax subsidies, development would not naturally occur in an area surrounded by Lincoln Park, Bucktown and Wicker Park stretches all reasonable interpretations of the statute.”

Lawyers for the city and the coalition are expected to discuss the motion for the injunction at a hearing July 3 at the Daley Center, Chablani said.

The activists — Grassroots Collaborative and Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education — argue that allowing the release of $900 million in tax increment financing money for the project could do long-lasting damage to poor communities desperate for money.

A spokesman for the city’s law department declined to comment, saying he’d not seen the filing.

Earlier this year, the coalition filed a lawsuit seeking to block the release of those funds. The injunction goes a step further — seeking to stop any work that would later be paid for through a tax increment financing fund reimbursement.

“As this development progresses and as the city incurs obligations on future tax increment financing funds, these organizations will continue to be harmed in terms of the advocacy they do and the constituents they serve,” Chablani said.

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