The Chicago City Council passed Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial Infrastructure Trust, 41 to 7, this afternoon. Before the special council meeting, which was called specifically for a vote on the Trust, both opponents and supporters of the public-private partnership held press conferences to explain their stances on the issue.
Aldermen spoke first during the meeting, citing their concerns with or support for the Trust. During Scott Waguespack's speech, the 32nd Ward alderman said, "From what I hear, people think Chicago is going to fall into the lake - but it's not."
Waguespack is part of a group of six aldermen who proposed some amendments to the Trust today, which were tabled by the council for the time being. Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th), who was also part of the amendment group with Waguespack, spoke up against the Trust in its current form during today's meeting, saying she has a problem with the potential for user fees and increased taxes.
In a long speech after the aldermen, Mayor Rahm Emanuel made a sweeping statement, saying that everyone "agreed with the merits" of having an Infrastructure Trust. The mayor also fired back at Waguespack, insisting that the city's infrastructure is crumbling even though it may not be ready to fall into the lake. The mayor also said that "constructive improvements" had been made to the ordinance over the last several weeks; adding that there is a need to address infrastructure problems and no one wants to raise taxes, making the Trust a viable solution.
Meanwhile, opponents are concerned that guaranteed profits to investors and banks may lead to increased taxes and other routes into Chicagoans' pocketbooks, like user fees, anyway. Those leery of the Trust are also worried it could lead to the privatization of what should be public properties.
Check back with Progress Illinois for more on today's special session and the Trust.
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The Waguespack Amendments would have strengthened the ordinance tremendously. It's unfortunate that the Mayor wasn't willing to comply, and the Aldermen went along with the Mayor. Yet, the Mayor says, he's working collaboratively with the Aldermen.
Cate Long covers municipal finance for Reuters online – See http://blogs.reuters.com/muniland. This is how she describes her beat: “I’m Cate Long and I write about the retail fixed income markets including municipal bonds. My primary interest is creating tools and systems to help retail investors understand bond markets. I’ve worked for a number of years with industry standards organizations, regulators and Congress to help craft a more transparent and fair framework for investors to participate in the fixed income markets. I’m a guest contributor to Reuters.com. Any opinions expressed are mine alone.”
She was watching the Chicago City Council’s live video feed of the vote to pass the Infrastructure Trust and Tweeting out comments as the event unfurled. The vote was 41-7 with two aldermen absent. Hey, that’s TWO MORE NAY votes than the parking meter scam got. We’re making progress.
Here are the most relevant messages she sent out:
•“This debate has been colored by parking meter deal” says @ChicagosMayor “We continue to own assets here” But the cash flows? #chicouncil
•Not really. #chicouncil RT @Jane_Roh: @cate_long Any examples of privatization paying off in a meaningful way?
•There is no magic in privatizing public assets & cash flows. Chicago will rue day they passed public ownership to private hands. #chicouncil
•Chicago’s rating is Aa3, or what Moody’s terms “high quality and very low credit risk” Instead city will privatize public assets #chicouncil
•Private investors will earn 10 times what Mayor Daley got when he leased parking system to investors in 08 http://reut.rs/JDwFmR#chicouncil
•Boston funds publicly, while Chicago goes private. Chicago will pay much more over time. #chicouncil http://reut.rs/JDwFmR
Did you catch that brief but ominous message: ”Chicago will rue day they passed public ownership to private hands.” I already rue this day. I know I’m going to pay for it.
The team and the town declared that the site would be at Thirteenth and Grape vine roads, just north of Road within easy reach of the Center City the town center area section.
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