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It shows Chicago parking meter revenues nearly back to pre-pandemic levels. After dipping to $91.6 million in 2020, they climbed to $136.2 million last year. With 61 years left on the 75-year lease, Chicago Parking Meters LLC now has recouped its entire $1.16 billion investment and $502.5 million more.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Was this deal ever investigated to see if there were kickbacks?
As an aside, isn’t it funny how Richie Daley has disappeared off the face of the Earth?
The mayor who never was.
Actively whoring takes up a lot of time!
Daley’s chief of staff became the CEO of the parking meter company, Daley became part of the law firm that handled the deal for the same company as a “good will ambassador” with a 6 figure salary. Go figure.
That’s because the parking rates in effect today are 2-3x higher than when the deal was signed, with longer hours in effect, and previously non-metered spots converted. All things Daley and aldermen could have done on their own but didn’t have the balls to do it.