Parking Meter Lawsuit
When the government botches up governing, are courts the answer, rather than distant elections somewhere down the road?
- A local investment firm advising Mayor Daley's administration in the run-up to the parking meter deal provided a "grossly faulty assessment" that will short-change motorists and Chicago residents for years to come.
That's according to a class-action lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Chicago-based firm William Blair & Company, which analyzed the deal and advised city officials before they approved the 75-year, $1.15 billion deal to lease the parking meters, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
According to court papers, Blair was paid millions for the analysis and in a written memorandum to the city in June 2009 issued a report stating the deal "was fair to the City from a financial point of view."'
Fair to the City?
- The company expects to rake in more than $73 million this year — more than triple the city's annual $20 million take before the meters were privatized.
Double the money would have alleviated a lot of problems, including the bond rating and the half-a-billion dollar deficit. It might have smoothed over the rough patch we're going through. Government is supposed to provide for the citizens, not for cronies.
Labels: city politics, corruption
posted by SCC at 12:03 AM
14 Comments:
The fop should be asking the arbitrator why does a police contract take years to pass for a 4-5 year contract but to pass a 75 year contact it only takes a fraction of the time?
Watch our crooked courts to dismiss this case on the basis that the people have no standing to file this suit, only the City of Chicago as a corporate entity does. And of course the City Council won’t file a suit to recover those millions paid to these clowns because they no doubt were paid to write what Daley told them to write.
who does leases that last almost a century!
THIEVING ASS BRIDGEPORT RAISED CRIMINALS.
what a deal, then i retire and get a job with the companies i sold the assets too.
WHO WANTS TO BET DALEY HAS A GIG WITH THE METER PEOPLE AND THE TOLLWAY MAFIA AFTER HE BAILS ON US. GIVE ME ODDS!!!
Gee, why didn't the city just do this? Folks would howl if the city had raised the rates on the meters.
I'd like to see the link between the investment firm and the meter company, this is Chicago of course theres a link and a money trail. Thieving bastards should be hung from a lamppost.
When it first was announced, it took 2 retired po just 5 miniutes over coffee with a $2.00 pocket calculator to figure out the taxpayers was getting screwed.
Maybe we should pay them a few million to straighten things out!
If the city would've kept the meters and jacked up the price like CPM has you'd be raising hell. We deserve what we get for electing hacks in the city council and the mayor. Democratic governance: Spend, spend, spend, look for a quick fix to distract voters from the massive debt. We can all enjoy our wrought iron, european bus shelters, and tree lined boulevards while jobs and industry leave the city and people are laid off.
"who does leases that last almost a century!
WHO WANTS TO BET DALEY HAS A GIG WITH THE METER PEOPLE AND THE TOLLWAY MAFIA AFTER HE BAILS ON US."
Daley will be laughing at us for years to come every time he looks at his finances....
"The company expects to rake in more than $73 million this year — more than triple the city's annual $20 million take before the meters were privatized."
Does this mean that 2/3rds of the money taken in when the City collected from the meters was being stolen?
It's perfectly believable if you think of the reasons for the CTA going "cashless" as much as possible; people walking around on loose coins and dollar bills piled on the floor...
"....The fop should be asking the arbitrator why does a police contract take years to pass for a 4-5 year contract but to pass a 75 year contact it only takes a fraction of the time? "
9/18/2010 12:18:00 AM
I agree, Does anyone remember what we gave up when Dineen & Nolan were making their FOP exit? One can only hope the next Mayor will end this BS within the CPD.
Another point, same topic, the Bd of Elections can count a few hundred thousand ballots in 3 hrs to elect ShortShanks, yet it takes over a year to grade a (shady) promotional exam, or 5hrs to approve a Twit as Supt....even less to sell off the parking meters. So what law firm will be the benefactor of this lawsuit?
Maybe they should ask all the small business people who are not renewing their leases as they come up. The parking meter deal- higher rates and shorter times are killing them.
Worse, there are blocks with vacant storefronts and restaurants. People will not lease because of the meters.
Thank you Mayor Malaprop for destroying businesses.
Q. Who handled the financing?
A. Chase bank of NY
Q. What Mayor's brother
works for Chase Bank?
A. Little Billy Daley! Gee,
isn't THAT a coincidence!
I feel sorry for the next mayor. He/she is going to get in, look at the books and see an abyssmal abyss of trouble.
Huge budget deficit
No new revenue sources
Declining tax base.
Daley left because he screwed the city into the ground, left no way out, and there is nothing left to steal.
Is Blair a big contributor to city officials' campaigns? They should be with a sweetheart contract like that.
That's like paying $500,000 to someone to walk around O'Hare to write a report on the cleanliness of the bathrooms.
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