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<br /> <br />east of the University of Minnesota in southeast Minneapolis, is about 79 acres that originally <br />contained a Union Pacific railroad yard and maintenance facility, old grain elevators, scrap <br />operations, a dump, a bolt and metal coating site that was abandoned, and other old and <br />abandoned manufacturing buildings. <br />Through the use of tax increment financing (and grants from the Department of Trade <br />and Economic Development and the Metropolitan Council; municipal state aid; Empowerment <br />Zone grants; and other financing sources), Minneapolis has been able to remove this blight and <br />correct soil conditions. This site has spurred a lot of new development in southeast Minneapolis <br />and now houses a wide array of businesses. There is some light industrial space that contains <br />office, warehouse, and manufacturing facilities. Businesses that have movecl into the area <br />include a printing company, a law firm, a restaurant supply firm, a medical-technology <br />manufacturing firm, an environmental testing firm, a radio studio, and a food warehouse for <br />high-end organic foods. To date, the development has generated approximately 1,220 new <br />jobs. What was once a blighted, unused, and contaminated area is now a viable area for <br />development, producing new living-wage jobs and enhancing the city's tax base. <br />Much more is possible, however, because only a small portion of the land in the SEMI <br />area has been cleared and decontaminated. Continued TIF redevelopment in this area will <br />continue to create jobs and business sites. <br />What TlF Has Accomplished <br />When used properly, tax increment financing provides enormous benl3fits to the local <br />property tax base and the overall quality of life for citizens. The legislature and media often <br />overlook the success of tax increment financing and focus solely on the abuses. Rarely are <br />articles published on a successful TIF project, because such success isn't especially sexy or <br />exciting; however, projects where the use of TIF is controversial or potentially misused often find <br />their way to the front page of newspapers. Although the state legislature has frequently enacted <br />modifications to the 1979 TIF act as a result of perceived abuses or misuses, as Steve Cramer, <br /> <br />12 <br />