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Mayor Daley is set to take blame for the city's billion-dollar folly that is the parking meter privatization plan.
Daley: "We totally screwed up" the parking meter deal
suntimes.com - 12 weeks ago - 478 views
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Upvoted as much for the masterful headline as the great story.
Craig, how'd people in the news room react to reading this speech?
I'd like to think they responded with as much skepticism as Mr. Westgard here. What a bunch of baloney. I'm glad to see sunlight creeping through the Mayor's skull, but c'mon. The parking deal and the Olympics are both done deals already. The money's gone and committed.
Instead of asking for permission months ago, he's begging for permission months afterward. So my mom was right.
Check out twestgard's piece for a good take: http://www.mountainofevidence.com/2009/08/mayor-daley-to-offer-bullshit-...
Well, I think we're now waiting to see what he actually does say tonight. Of course, anytime you run a story like this before something actually happens, you're going to impact the outcome.
That said, it is a surprising statement of accountability, even if it's fairly meaningless in the grand scheme with the contracts signed and the deal done. Will this be his Jane Byrne/snow removal issue, though? Should be an interesting election next time.
Notice that he is apologizing for the implementation, not for the process of creating it. Between the two, the process was by far the worse problem, and the effect of this apology will be to change the subject away from the things Daley can fix in the future, like dealing fairly with the City Council.
I picked up on that, too. We shouldn 't be so fast to think the Mayor's suddenly turning a new leaf. He's decided that he can score some points by saying they did this wrong. I'll be shocked if he actually addresses any of the causes of said implementation.
Twestgard, what three process changes would stun and shock you in city hall?
Three things I wish would happen but probably won't:
1. Mayor and/or City Council delivering quality information to the public.
2. Mayor delivering quality information to the City Council with enough time for them to review it and formulate questions for the administration.
3. Aldermen voting against mayoral proposals, giving as the reason their obligation to get good information and exercise their judgment on it.
#2 seems like the one most within reach. From what I read in the Chicago Reader, the mayor and his people were working on the parking meter deal as early as last winter. If that's the case, they certainly could have delivered copies of the contracts to the alderman earlier than a week before the vote or whenever it was.
Yes, and I think it's important to point out that it's not just the Mayor creating the #2 gap - the individual Aldermen equally well create the exploitation with their unwillingness to exercise their power to demand the information.
Does anyone know if there is video or transcripts of his speech?
WGN's coverage: "It didn't come out quite the way we expected."
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