//
you're reading...
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Chicago Parking Meters

Ahead of the News: Mayor Daley Can Likely Expect More Unwelcome News as Chicago News Cooperative Joins Payment Records Hunt on Chicago Parking Meters LLC

Abused Chicago parking meter at Lawrence and Drake Avenue on the city's northwest side.

(Chicago, IL) – August 16, 2010. The Chicago parking meter privatization issue that has bedeviled Mayor Richard Daley since its controversial inception shows no signs of abating any time soon as Chicago news media organizations and a local lawyer continue in hot pursuit.

We reported nearly 10 days ago that the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times are working on additional parking meter stories likely intended to embarrass the mayor and that a local attorney may be preparing a lawsuit against the city on behalf of consumers “victimized” by the meters.

Both Tribune reporter Joseph Ryan and Sun-Times reporter Fran Spielman are seeking records from City Hall on parking meter revenue generated before the privatization and after. Spielman is looking for revenue data one year prior to the 75-year lease deal with Chicago Parking Meters LLC. Ryan wants the data going back to 2005.

Now the Chicago News Cooperative is working on a fresh story. Ex-ace Chicago Reader Reporter Mike Dumke, the group’s latest addition to its news team, is hunting down information to learn how much the City of Chicago paid Chicago Parking Meters LLC to close the old meters. A fee for everything. He also wants a copy of the company’s annual report for extra clues to the business.

Meanwhile, Daniel Edelman, a class action attorney with Edelman, Combs Latturner & Goodwin, is asking Daley’s Department of Revenue for records from February 2009 through the present regarding complaints lodged with the city over inaccurate meters. Edelman’s legal career has been focused on consumer class action lawsuits.

In addition to a raft of potential damaging meter stories coming from both papers, the city could be facing a meter lawsuit, too. Ugh.

The unpopularity of the parking meter deal is reflected in a recent Chicago Tribune poll which reported last month that “[f]our out of five voters surveyed disapprove of Daley’s handling of the parking meter lease.”

More bad meter news will only complicate a campaign next year for a seventh term should Mayor Daley decide to run again. However, all signs point to another run for the fifth floor.

In the meantime, with fresh meter assaults potentially coming, Daley may have no safe quarter to spare him the grief–much like city residents who too are short of spare quarters.

If the reporters get their hands on the sought after records with too many hitches or delays, look for some of the some stories to pop around Labor Day.

About David Ormsby

David, a public relations consultant and blogger at The Huffington Post, is an ex-Press Secretary of the Illinois Democratic Party.

Discussion

One Response to “Ahead of the News: Mayor Daley Can Likely Expect More Unwelcome News as Chicago News Cooperative Joins Payment Records Hunt on Chicago Parking Meters LLC”

  1. Chicago needs to elect a new mayor. The non-partisan municipal election is Feb. 22, 2011. Don’t be nickeled and ‘quartered’ again.’ Joe Lake, Bucktown

    Posted by Joe Lake | August 16, 2010, 7:54 AM

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Submit your email address and be among the first to receive our posts by e-mail as soon as they are published. It's free.

David Ormsby, Editor

RSS Gov. Pat Quinn

  • McHenry County Blog | Pat Quinn Tells Truth about Pension ... Cal Skinner
  • Illinois General Assembly, Gov. Pat Quinn Must Reconcile ... Marge Berglind
  • Pat Quinn Criticizes Scott Walker On Jobs The Huffington Post News Editors
  • Will Governor Pat Quinn Sign Illinois Budget on Thursday? « Child ... Marge Berglind
  • Quinn: Lawmakers Must 'Show Some Fortitude' On Pension ... Todd Feurer
  • Governor Pat Quinn Puts His Foot Down On Gambling Expansion ... Mark
  • Senate narrowly backs Quinn on facility closures - Capitol Fax.com Rich Miller
  • Democurmudgeon: Gov. Pat Quinn exposes Scott Walker as a fake ... Democurmudgeon
  • Advocates Seek Illinois Child Welfare Vision from Governor Pat Quinn Marge Berglind
  • Chicago News Bench: No, Really, Pat Quinn Still Sucks More Than ... TM-1000

RSS IL General Assembly

  • General Assembly puts health exchange bill on back burner - Crain's Chicago Business May 10, 2012
  • IL educators react to proposed state budget cuts - WREX-TV May 11, 2012
  • Violence Against Women Act Survives Partisan Fight, Quinn Told Not To Close ... - Patch.com May 9, 2012
  • American Progressive Bag Alliance Urges Illinois General Assembly To Pass ... - MarketWatch (press release) May 1, 2012
  • You Paid For It: IL General Assembly Scholarship Program - FOX2now.com May 7, 2012
  • Our Opinion: Anti-bully bill should get OK - The State Journal-Register May 10, 2012
  • American Progressive Bag Alliance Urges Illinois General Assembly To Pass ... - PR Newswire (press release) May 1, 2012
  • Illinois State University considers 4.4 percent tuition increase - Herald & Review May 10, 2012
  • Asian-Americans to have state caucus - WBEZ May 8, 2012
  • Suburban mayors also urge state to pass pension reform - Chicago Sun-Times May 10, 2012

RSS The Capitol Fax Blog

  • Question of the day May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Political cover or political payback? May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Illinois Needs Private Sector Jobs Now! Why Labor Leaders Support Senate Bill 1849 May 10, 2012 Advertising Department
  • Senate narrowly backs Quinn on facility closures - Chamber backs Quinn pension reforms May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • House approves bill to effectively end free employee health insurance premiums May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • *** UPDATED x2 - VIDEO *** Smith hearing resumes today (LIVE Coverage and Video) May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • *** UPDATED x2 *** Not a big deal at all, but it’s probably time to delegate a bit more May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Morning Shorts May 10, 2012 Owen Irwin
  • *** LIVE SESSION COVERAGE *** May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
  • Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - COWL review, supplement to today’s edition and a Statehouse roundup May 10, 2012 Rich Miller
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 135 other followers

Powered by WordPress.com