The Reader‘s three-part investigative series
FAIL, Part One: Chicago’s Parking Meter Lease Deal
How Daley and his crew hid their process from the public, ignored their own rules, railroaded the City Council, and screwed the taxpayers on the parking meter lease deal
By Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke (April 09, 2009)
FAIL, Part Two: One BILLION Dollars!
New evidence suggests Chicago leased out its parking meters for a fraction of what they’re worth.
By Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke (May 21, 2009)
FAIL, Part Three: The Insiders
Who benefited from the parking meter fiasco
By Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke (June 18, 2009)
More coverage from our blogs and archives:
Parking Meters: The Easy Version
The parking meter deal that my aldermanic caller and his City Council colleagues voted for last December – at Mayor Daley’s insistence – sucks. It sucked then. It sucks now. It will suck even more in the future.
By Ben Joravsky (May 18, 2009)
Aldermen duel over TIFs, parking meters, spending, and the brainwashing powers of the media
As has become customary, aldermen bitched and moaned about Mayor Daley’s $6.1 billion budget before they passed it today. Nobody claimed to like it, though 38 aldermen voted in favor of it. But that number is smaller than it has been for most of Daley’s reign.
By Mick Dumke (December 2, 2009)
It’s All My Fault
For the next seventy-something years, every nickel you pay to those dreaded parking meters will be going into the coffers of some conglomerate headed by Morgan Stanley. And all the money Morgan Stanley gave Chicago will have been squandered so the mayor can say, “I didn’t raise your taxes—in 2010.”
By Ben Joravsky (December 2, 2009)
Wait, We Sold That Off Too?
As if there weren’t enough unanswered questions about the implications of the parking meter deal, a new report raises still more, such as: How can the city manage parking and traffic policy if it’s handed off control of the meter system for the next 75 years?
By Mick Dumke (June 23, 2009)
IG: Taxpayers hosed on the parking meter lease deal
In a damning 45-page report issued this afternoon, city inspector general David Hoffman said the Daley administration’s “hasty” consummation of the parking meter privatization deal–as well as the absence of deliberation in the City Council–cost taxpayers at least $1 billion.
By Mick Dumke (June 2, 2009)
Aldermen Call for Hearings on the Parking Meter Deal
Citing the Reader’s recent cover story on the parking meter lease deal, alderman Joe Moore and four of his City Council colleagues are planning to introduce a resolution this week calling for additional hearings into how the agreement was struck.
By Mick Dumke (April 20, 2009)