By: Diane Benjamin
Chris Koos obviously wanted Dave Shields on the Council – Shields was on the ballot for the 2019 elections. Luckily he lost. Keep reading to see why that was a good thing.
Go all the way back to 2005. 701 Broadway was a fraternity house and it “was a habitual
source of nuisances and neighborhood disruptions”. The Town bought the property for $190,100 and then spent $12,523 tearing the building down.
That means taxpayers invested $202,623.
What did the Town do with the property? They issued a Request for Proposal. The RFP process culminated on May 15th, 2006 when the Town Council entered into a redevelopment agreement with the Matter Family Foundation.
Sale price $1.
The Matter Foundation was supposed to build a family home and then sell it with profits going to the Town. Matter started the process but never built a house because Dave Shields entered the picture.
December 13, 2007: The Council approved transferring the Matter redevelopment agreement with the Town to Dave Shields. All Dave Shields had to do was reimburse the Matter Foundation for expenses, according to County records that was $13,442.00.
Dave Shields and his partner Thuan N. Phan went on to build a ranch home on the property. According to the agreement, if they sold the property within 1 year the Town was entitled to the profit. They didn’t sell it until December of 2019, so they kept everything.
The PIN # for the property is 14-28-477-011.
According to County records, the taxable value for 2018 taxes, payable in 2019, was $107,140. Multiply that by 3 and the value of the home was estimated at $321,420 for property tax purposes.
Last December Shields sold it for over $100,000 more than the assessed value:
If the Matter Foundation decided not to build, the property should have been put up for sale. The original $1 deal was to a charitable foundation. Shields benefited from that transaction – taxpayers never recovered their investment.
The taxpayers of Normal lost $202,622. Dave Shields should reveal his profit on the property since it was gifted to him by residents. If you profited wouldn’t you defend your benefactor? (and attack Stan Nord whenever possible)
The Pantagraph did a story on July 6, 2011: https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/one-story-house-ok-d-for-former-fraternity-site/article_0e4fbb02-a850-11e0-b4e1-001cc4c002e0.html
Reporter May Ann Ford never asked who was looking out for taxpayers!
All of this information came from the Council documentation for the December 17,2007 meeting. See the applicable pages here: Normal – Matter – Shields December 17, 2007
This item was on the Omnibus Agenda – meaning unless a Trustee pulled it for discussion it wasn’t discussed.
It wasn’t discussed!
If you want to know first names:
I found this while looking at other information. Stay tuned for more. Hint: This property is in the Uptown TIF.
Crooked as the day is long.
Would be curious if he paid income taxes for profit made once sold….
It’s not the only reason Shields and Koos defend one another.
Do we know how much profit Shields actually made from this “gift”?
He should tell us at the next meeting
Illinois corruption in full display. It pays to be friends with Koos. Maybe I’ll quit my job and hang out with Koos to get free stuff.
Seriously though, Fritzen is probably pissed. All he got was a dinner and a bike.
Giving a $200,000 taxpayer owned property to the mayor’s campaign manager for pennies on the dollar. Is this Graft? If only a reader was an attorney…
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Graft
Graft
A colloquial term referring to the unlawful acquisition of public money through questionable and improper transactions with public officials.
Graft is the personal gain or advantage earned by an individual at the expense of others as a result of the exploitation of the singular status of, or an influential relationship with, another who has a position of public trust or confidence. The advantage or gain is accrued without any exchange of legitimate compensatory services.
Behavior that leads to graft includes Bribery and dishonest dealings in the performance of public or official acts. Graft usually implies the existence of theft, corruption, Fraud, and the lack of integrity that is expected in any transaction involving a public official.
Considering the definition of Graft, I wonder if the $500,000.00 that Koos gave Nick Africano would fall under that definition?🤔 He was supposed to have 2 buildings demolished from the old Soldiers & Sailors Children’s Home. But instead only one building was razed. The other one still has not been demolished. Hmmm.
Add that one the long list of “friends deals”
Heck, for an estimated $150K in real estate, *I’d* be tempted to support Koos!
Shields would be a fool to run for office again with this well-sourced and documented information out there for political opponents to feast on. Meanwhile, Ghost Town…er, I mean Uptown, is falling further into the red since the central planners decided to put the taxpayer chips on bars, restaurants, hotels, and nicknack shops.
Stay tuned, Uptown tomorrow!