Mayor Daley introduces hybrid buses, privatizes Chicago parking meters and mourns the expense of snow removal
DALEY NEWS
10:00am -- Mayor Daley and Chicago Transit Authority officials unveiled the addition of hybrid buses to the fleet. The public announcement took place at the bus garage on 1702 East 103rd Street.
DALEY CHATTER
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Chicago parking meters have been privatized pending a City Council vote tomorrow. Chicago media is covering this heavily, but the story has also received national attention from the Wall Street Journal. Turning over the management of parking meters to a private firm will have some positive effects, but will also increase the cost for parkers significantly. Mayor Daley defended the measure, saying that it was necessary in order to aid the ailing city budget:
"We're creatively working to protect our taxpayers for years to come," [Daley] said at a news conference Tuesday.
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CBS 2 Chicago reports that Mayor Daley is extremely concerned about the welfare of Chicago drivers and taxpayers in this snowy weather we are experiencing:
"Mayor Richard M. Daley plans to limit snow removal on side streets, because he says the city can no longer afford the overtime it takes to clear them. He said the snow removal on Monday cost $490,000, and totals amounted to less than 3 inches.
'That was only 1.5 inches, 2.5 inches of snow. It's almost half a million dollars just like that,' Mayor Daley said Tuesday."
Photo by Agonist
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Anna Tarkov
What I love: my family, Chicago and Chicagoans, reading (mostly non-fiction), politics, media, discussing/debating almost anything, traveling, great TV shows like Mad Men, both films AND movies and fi More
Comments
Please tell me something's wrong with my math.
$1.15 Billiion
36,000 meters
75 years
Did Daley just sell the meters for less than $1.50/day?!
Thanks for the comment Marvin. I'm not going to second-guess your math, it's probably correct. I'm terrible at math so I'll take your word for it :) And if it's correct, then yes, Mayor Daley has sold the meters down the river at a very slight price. All the more reason to move out of the city if you ask me. The suburbanites and the tourists is who the city government caters to anyway.
Mayor Daley's "solution" to the snowy and icy streets is to "slow down" while driving. Even if you are driving on a sheet of ice at 15 mph your car can still fishtail and you can lose control of your automobile and end up damaging your car, damaging another car, injuring someone in another car, injurying passerbys---just by "slowing down". The problem is the ice and having to drive on it and walk on it.
Snow removal is a VITAL, MAJOR city service. Snow removal stands shoulder-to-shoulder with police, fire, ambulances, and garbage removal.
Without adequate snow removal, situations will spiral downward. People will be badly injured, killed, maimed, lives will be ruined, property will be devastated, we are talking about men, women and children, people of all ages.
My neighbor's husband has a tow truck business and in the past 2 days he has towed more demolished autos than he has all year. I found that to be surprising and shocking and I myself saw a demolished car being towed today.
The issue of not plowing side streets during weekends, no snow removal/clearing services at all. We did not get much snow this week but the black ice on the streets was trecherous. Cars parked on residential streets were hit by cars sliding out of control and continuing on, thus leaving the car owner with a badly damaged vehicle. That would have been avoided if only the salt trucks were to run up and down the side streets.
People are saying that they will shovel their own streets. But the point is, is that we are paying taxes for this vital city service: snow removal. If it snows every other day, will those people who brag that they'll shovel their own streets be out there every other day? Or will they throw down their shovels and say "we're paying for this city service, we're doing THEIR job!" Yeah, you'll be hearing them complaining about shoveling snow for hours and their back hurts and why isn't the City doing anything about this?
There is an issue of the haves and have nots. People on the north side think us south siders are all crazy because they have salted streets and wonder why the south siders are complaining so much about the "black ice" which is totally non-existant where they live. Why were the north side streets fully cleaned and salted and the south side was not, especially in the black areas?
When we do have a heavy snow on a weekend and that's happened many times during many winters. A fire breaks out in a home in the middle of the block, the fire and ambulances can't get through. You finish this scenario.
Nobody in power should be so heartless. We hear of the billions of dollars being brought in via the leasing of the Skyway and Midway Airport and now the leasing of the parking meters. I hear all of that will be going into some kind of an "Olympics Fund" and into many others pockets. Yet we are paying taxes, fees, etc. and having to do with less and less.
It only makes sense to our obsessed Mayor. Obsessed like never before, like I've never seen, so hell-bent on getting the Olympics to Chicago when nobody really thinks that's any big deal. It's a very shameful obsession. Our Mayor, our leader should be obsessed with keeping his city in the best, top notch shape with citizens who are proud to live here.
But this is what it is, Chicago is not a pretigious city to live in. The black, squirming underbelly, the stinkng rotting corruption that is in our face every day when we read the newspaper, that is what Chicago is. Not at all proud of itself the way Chicago's leaders treat their own residents. Making us pay and pay and pay while shrinking services to less than the bare minimum. Putting people out of their jobs so their salary can help fund the Olympics cause.
This is what all of this is about, the Olympics. The Olympics are the be-all and the end-all to Mayor Daley's life at this time and it will never, never end. The Olympics is what drives the Mayor, he lives and breathes the Olympics to a fever pitch. It's not just Chicago that is paying for the Olympics, it's all of Cook County.
Linda, I want to thank you for your comment from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for your impassioned plea on behalf of all Chicagoans, but especially on behalf of those that are marginalized and ignored by our city government and elected leaders.
I hope you keep reading and commenting frequently, because this is an open forum and we as concerned citizens can and should discuss these issues.
Again, please know how much your comment means. It means that what I'm doing is resonating with you. It means you took the time out of your day to write all this in the hope that someone, anyone would read it.
Linda, mission accomplished. I can assure you that I am reading and listening and will continue to do so for as long as you choose to participate here.
Today I will make sure this is read by as many people as possible in Chicago. And then a wonderful thing might occur. Maybe on Monday people will wake up to the realization that we should not sit idly by and let things happen to us, but at least get involved in discussing them. If that mini-revolution take place, you will have played a major role. Thank you.
Mayor Daley "sold" each parking meter for $1.17 per day over 75 years.
1.15 billion dollars
36,000 meters X 365 days X 75 years = 985,500,000 Meter days per length of contract.
1.15 billion / 985,500,000 meter days = $1.17 per day
Mayor Daley "sold" or "long term leased" each Chicago parking meter out for 75 years at $1.17 per day per parking meter.
After looking at the math we have reason to be concerned with the low sale price. However, if I don't have a flying car by the time 75 years pass I'm going to be quite upset. So let's chill out on that small sum, and think about the company that will own the useless rights to parking meters when they go out of style in a decade.
Zach, I can't speak for everyone, but I don't think Chicagoans are primarily concerned about the price that each meter was sold for. I think we are concerned about a budgetary situation that requires such steps to be taken. Perhaps you might be interested in reading back to when I first started covering the budget hole: http://dailydaley.windycitizen.com/2008/10/22/mayor-daley-is-paving-a-ro...
wow and the government is broke
Where are the business leaders on this? These f-ing meters. 2 hour max - 2 bucks an hour. You can't even go to a movie - and shopping, forget it.... way to go Dick, drive business to the burbs.
That's a great question. Where they've been is fairly quiet. The majority of the outrage has come from the citizenry. There have been some organized business protests like this: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/06/parking-meter-prote... And there have been the odd rumblings here and there. But you're right, it hasn't exactly been a loud roar of protest. My guess as to why is that businesses in the city depend on the city for their livelihood so much. They have to deal with so many licenses, business fees, zoning boards, etc., etc. that they don't want to chance rocking the boat too much. After all, they must reason that fewer customers is better than zero customers.
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