We now have our third City Council ordinance in direct response to Chicago's botched parking meter privatization.  And it's a pretty good one.

The first two were approved by the full City Council today. One requires a full, public accounting of how asset privatization revenue is being managed and the other reserves a 15-day review period before a final vote on any privatization agreement exceeding $10 million in value. Shortly after today's meeting concluded, Alds. Manny Flores (1st Ward), Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward), and Pat Dowell (1st Ward) introduced the "City Council Review Ordinance for City Asset Lease Agreements."  Here's how they described it in a press release:

The ordinance calls for a minimum sixty-day review period to allow for the Chicago City Council to properly assess, independently analyze and fully scrutinize the terms of proposed City asset lease or sale agreements before they are put out to bid.  

The ordinance authorizes the City Council to hire a third-party, independent analyst and auditor for the purpose of considering and analyzing the terms of the proposed City asset lease or sale agreement. In addition, the legislation allows the City Council to request that the Inspector General serve as the Council’s independent analyst and auditor to review the proposed agreement. 

If you read Inspector General David Hoffman's report (PDF) criticizing the valuation of the parking meter lease -- or even the coverage of it -- this will sound familiar. Indeed, he assailed the city for failing to conduct an independent analysis of what the meters would have been worth to taxpayers over the span of the 75-year deal.  If this ordinance ultimately passes, that won't happen again.

We'll be monitoring its progress.  You can read the measure in full below (click the button in the upper right hand corner to expand):