HeyJaredTom Tresser's "CivicNotes" Substack
This space is for the writing and reporting of Tom Tresser, civic educator and public defender. 50 years of grassroots democracy. Online at www.tresser.com.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 13
- Latest publication
- Sep 28, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
Building Power for Creative People Pursuing Justice – Two Workshops This Week (opens the original)
Read excerpt
If you make your living from your brain or you are someone who values creativity and you are passionate about justice and freedom of expression, then I’ve got some news you can use…<img alt="Social Justice Theater Festival" class="sizing-normal" height="279.52574525745257" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jfYj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2
It’s Time to Build Public Banks! (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Now there’s two words you probably haven’t seen put together before – “public” and “bank”! 😊Public banking is a fantastic concept I first learned from the campaign for Governor by Illinois Green Party leader Rich Whitney back in 2010. I became fascinated by the idea of a bank that would perform the functions of a commercial bank – loans and credit offerings – but is owned by the public and serving the public, not raping it. What a concept!<div class="
Can We Please Talk About Power? (opens the original)
Read excerpt
I’ve been thinking about power since around 1971 or so – that’s when I did my first voter registration campaign. It was on the campus of Antioch College where I had started in July of 1969. My hair was long and my beard was scruffy.<img alt="Tom Tre
Are You Laboring More and Having Less Fun? (opens the original)
Read excerpt
It’s the first Monday of the month, dear “CivicNotes” subscribers and the topic is More Love! If you are not a paid subscriber, you will see an annoying but, regrettably, necessary paywall divider in a few lines. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to access the full posts PLUS all the archives. As a paid subscriber you get some fun perks – including an advance look of my new book on fighting TIFs!Happy Labor Day 2026!As you look forward to the
It’s TIF Time In Chicago! (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Happy Fifth Monday of the Month, Dear ‘CivicNoters”!So, it’s the end of summer and all Illinois municipalities that have TIF districts must issue their 2025 annual reports. In Chicago they are posted here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/tif-district-annual-reports-2004-present.html.In the old days (we started reviewing these reports back in 2009), it was about gathering a group of volunteers to harvest all the data from
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.