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Interviews with Ben Joravsky: The Rest of the Story

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Ben Joravsky writes the regular “The Works” column for the the Chicago Reader, and he authored the bestselling book Hoop Dreams. Each week Dave Glowacz rendezvous with Ben under a neighborhood el track to talk about Ben's latest column and reveal the rest of the story.

For interviews from past years click on one of these: 2009 • 2008 • 2007

7/22/10 “The Head Cheerleaders” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: What Mick Dumke brought to the Reader and Joravsky's articles; the future of government reporting at the Reader post-Dumke; and a look at the Chicago News Cooperative's reporting. Length 7.9 minutes.

7/15/10 “A TIF Under the Microscope” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: Why the inspector general audited tax-increment financing; the fact of Millennium Park's non-budget development; and why aldermen think the IG shouldn't investigate TIF. Length 8.5 minutes.• To read the Inspector General's audit of the Central Loop TIF District click here

7/8/10 “Huberman's Miracle” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: Whether teachers and students should sacrifice for administrative largesse; how Mayor Daley helps private firms compete with public schools for public dollars; and what it takes to get the public's attention. Length 8.1 minutes.

7/1/10 “Chicago Reader Fires Long-Time Editor Alison True” • Click here to listen • Description: Ben Joravsky reflects on the tenure and departure of Alison True, the recently-fired editor of the Chicago Reader. Length 8.7 minutes. • For Michael Miner's report on Alison True's firing click here

6/17/10 “The Armies Are Gathering” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: The father of tax-increment financing activism; the myth of TIF complexity; and the financial penalty for a school system that doesn't divert money to TIF districts. Length 7.1 minutes.

6/10/10 “The Battle Before the War” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: Whether unions should focus on company policy, worker benefits, or both; the Chicago Teachers Union's ignorance of how the city raises and spends public dollars; and a fledgling movement to get the Chicago Public Schools to withdraw from tax-increment financing. Length 8.4 minutes.

6/3/10 “Learning to Say No” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: When schools lower property values; the capitalization of new schools--then vs. now; and why schools have ended up in parks. Length 6.7 minutes. • For a map of wards 3 and 12 click here

5/27/10 “Less Is More at CPS” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: How to get the city to publish public information; the myth of the super-hero teacher; and teachers as whistleblowers. Length 6.9 minutes.

5/20/10 “Who Wins in Daley's TIF Game” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: Tax-increment financing's fundamental flaw, and how to fix it; Block 37--the poster child for the original TIF model; and the Board of Ed's legacy of stealing from schoolchildren. Length 8.5 minutes.

5/6/10 “Check the Thermostat in Hell” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: The typical Chicagoan's phases of TIF understanding; Ben outlines an unlikely TIF debate; and city officials who believe that Chicagoans don't want to know the true cost of government. Length 8.6 minutes.

4/29/10 “He Doesn’t Have to Outrun the Bear” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: Whether candidates who don't run in a primary should have a harder time running in the general election; the limited focus of the liberal wing of Mayor Daley's party; and whether Forrest Claypool and his ilk really intend reform. Length 7.5 minutes.

4/15/10 “A Raise by Any Other Name” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: The tenuous connection between Chicago Public School positions, titles, and business cards; putting words into the CPS spokeperson's mouth; and how the CPS budget resembles the city's reporting on TIF districts. Length 8.3 minutes. • Click here to watch the "Chicago Tonight" interview

4/1/10 “Do as We Say, Not as We Do” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: Whether Chicago Public Schools staff cuts appear in its budget; the importance of honesty in budget-making; and what Chicago leaders respond to. Length 6.7 minutes.

3/18/10 “The Untouchables” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: How state Rep. Debra Mell resembles former Pres. Reagan; how the Incumbent Alderman Protection Act could lock up all the nominators in a district; and why the state eliminated Chicago mayoral primaries. Length 6.9 minutes.

3/11/10 “Taking the New Yorker for a Ride” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: Willfull ignorance of entrenched poverty--worse than misleading; corruption without salvation; and other mayors' Daley-envy. Length 6.4 minutes.

3/4/10 “An Island in the Swamp” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: How the University of Chicago inadvertently created smart political tacticians; Loyola's preposterous development proposals; and the natural relationship between developers and universities. Length 7.8 minutes.

2/25/10 “Off Track” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: The Board of Education's tradition of getting back to reporters; where to bury patronage workers at Chicago Public Schools; and the need for a central-office administration. Length 6.7 minutes.

2/18/10 “It Pays To Have An Alderman In Your Pocket” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: How much tax revenue the city expects the Galewood/Armitage TIF District to take in; the future solvency of the city's entire TIF program; and Ald. Carothers: just one more rubber stamp? Length 7.1 minutes. • To see a map of the Galewood/Armitage TIF District click here

2/4/10 “Harold and the Hyneses” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: The fears whites had about Harold Washington's mayoralty; the recent primary's county-board candidates "unthinkable" in the '80s and '90s; and Quinn the maverick versus Hynes the mob-runner. Length 9.6 minutes. • To see Dan Hynes's ad (featuring Mayor Harold Washington) attacking Pat Quinn click here

1/28/10 “Election Follies” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: When office-holders become reformers; how reading about government operations resembles eating your veggies; and the kind of outsider that can take on Daley and Madigan. Length 7.3 minutes.

1/21/10 “Cook County Needs Cojones” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: The scripting of Joint Board of Review meetings; one the greatest public-policy debacles of the decade; and how Ben swallowed his objections to Toni Preckwinkle. Length 8.8 minutes.

1/14/10 “Who'll Keep Your Rent Down Now? ” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: How County Assessor Houlihan orchestrated the homeowners' exemption to property taxes; the city's "drain argument" to justify tax-increment financing; and why city officials won't debate Ben on the radio. Length 9.4 minutes. (Michael Jasso audio courtesy of WBEZ radio.)

1/7/10 “Independent of What?” • Click here to listen • Read the article • Description: How the Independent Voters of Illinois organization gets its message out; the influence of candidate endorsements; and how the Democratic Party could take over Green Party candidacies. Length 7.1 minutes.