Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke have a new investigation into the parking-meter deal, which asks the question: who didn’t get screwed?
“Not only did William Blair advise the city on the deal—it came up with the idea in the first place. Then it provided the city with the only estimate it ever received of what the system was worth and coordinated the bidding process.
“Two other financial services firms and three law firms were brought in to assist. All were given no-bid contracts for the work, and all appear to have political or personal ties to the Daley administration (which is not unusual for the way the city of Chicago does business).”
It’s a good story, you should read it. Sigh. See also parts one and two, as well as the simplified Parking Meters for Dummies Aldermen.