The AP has an article out on the increasing number of cities looking at leasing off public infrastructure, particularly parking meters and garages (this despite the ongoing Chicago debacle). Front and center is a quote from Mayer Brown attorney John Schmidt:

"Every city in this country is in real financial strain at the moment and every city in this country has parking in some form," said John Schmidt, a partner at the Mayer Brown law firm, which has represented Chicago in its failed airport deal and other leases.

While Schmidt doesn't appear to have been directly involved in the botched parking meter lease, he is at the center of the "public-private partnership" (P3) craze, as the National Law Journal noted last June:

"Cities and states have discovered that they have assets that are enormously valuable in what has become a world infrastructure market," said John Schmidt, a Mayer Brown partner who led the Chicago law firm's work on the Pennsylvania Turnpike project. "You have investors that are very interested in acquiring those assets."

Mayer Brown was at the genesis of the recent surge when it represented the city of Chicago in its lease of the Chicago Skyway for $1.83 billion in 2005 and in its work with Ice Miller on the lease of the Indiana Toll Road for $3.8 billion the following year.

"At the genesis," indeed.  And if Chicago is the Garden of Eden, you know who Schmidt represents.  He has sheparded the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road leases, was behind the unsuccessful Midway Airport project, and has advised Pennsylvania on an attempt to lease its 535-mile turnpike. (See update below.)

P3's represent big business for Mayer Brown and other firms across the country specializing in these types of "transactions."  You can only imagine what kind of plans Schmidt currently has cooked up for Chicago and other cities.  From a May 1 American Lawyer article:

Infrastructure has never looked so sexy. While deal jockeys and finance mavens have seen their billables decimated, infrastructure lawyers are busy working on a growing list of multibillion-dollar projects called public-private partnerships. These PPPs, or P3s, allow private investors to invest in, maintain and develop roads, bridges, ports, and airports. And a recent spate of deals—including an $8.9 billion proposal to privatize the Port of Virginia and a $1.2 billion agreement to privatize Chicago’s parking meters—is giving hope to hungry transaction lawyers. “It’s our fastest growing area in transactional work,” says Mayer Brown partner John Schmidt, a veteran of the P3 world. 

The stalled Midway deal has already brought in millions for Mayer Brown:

Schmidt says the proposed $2.5 billion privatization of Chicago’s Midway Airport has generated approximately $2 million in fees to date and will generate another $1–1.5 million in fees if completed.

But just as Illinois became ground zero for the proliferation of P3's, it could also become the spawning ground for informed opposition.  More from the AP:

Anders Lindall, an Illinois spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, calls the deals fiscally irresponsible.

"It's shortsighted," Lindall said. "It's the equivalent of burning your furniture to heat your house. By the middle of winter, you'll have no heat and nothing to sit on."

Hopefully, the Chicago parking meter fiasco will temper the apparent enthusiasm for P3's among big-city mayors (and their big-time lawyers).  Rushing into these deals out of fiscal desperation -- with little discussion or debate regarding the long-term impact -- clearly isn't the way to go.  (We're talking to you, Los Angeles.) 

On that note, there are efforts within the Chicago City Council to increase the transparency around these projects.  Indeed, the Finance Committee is currently holding a hearing on an ordinance proposed by Alds. Manny Flores, Ed Smith, Brendan Reilly, and Rey Colon to "publish and track documents pertaining to City asset lease agreements worth more than $10 million."  

We'll have more from that hearing later today.

UPDATE: A document released by the city at today's hearing shows that Mayer Brown also advised the city on the leasing of downtown parking garages.  They were paid $1.5 million for their services.