Originally Posted by
biggestbopper
The big problem here is with selling off public assets (if meters can be assets--guess the real asset is right to park on public street) to a bunch of well-known crooks to provide a large sum now to other well-known crooks and ward-heelers. Why can't the city just wait to get fees as paid.
No good reason--except desire of City Hall to steal money to spend now from future revenues when someone else will be in office.
The City of Chicago Inspector General’s report on the parking meter debacle:
http://www.chicagoinspectorgeneral.o...S-20090602.pdf
Because the deal was presented to the City Council with very limited information and because the Council scheduled its vote a very short time later, there was no meaningful pubic review of the decision to lease the parking-meter system. What is standard in the PPP “best practices” model – informed deliberation, transparency, and full analysis of the public considerations – was not present here.
…
The report also finds that the City was paid, conservatively, $974 million less for this 75-year lease than the City would have received from 75 years of parking-meter revenue had it retained the parking-meter system under the same terms that the City agreed to in the lease.