Jim Carruthers | Author

The History of TIF 97

June 15, 2024

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, as it relates to downtown parking, infrastructure upgrades along the Boardman River, and the Rotary Square. Locally the TIF has done a good job with redeveloping our core downtown neighborhood as planned, but o… Read More >>

Promises Made, Promises Kept

May 20, 2023

Several decades ago (mid 1990s), Traverse City convened area businesses and citizens to talk about “blight” in downtown. They formed the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) TIF Advisory Committee, whose mission was to come up with a plan to do something about it.

A tax … Read More >>

Looking at the Next Master Plan

Oct. 8, 2022

As the City Commission and Downtown Development Authority review our Master Plan, it’s important they consider decades of planning that got us to this point.

Several themes have prevailed, and it’s important these governmental bodies understand that planning does not mea… Read More >>