Parking Meter Deal a Violation of City Ethics (Morgan Stanley involved...)

[The Straight Story]

CHICAGO - City Clerk Miguel del Valle has asked state Attorney General Lisa Madigan to investigate the city's ballyhooed parking meter lease deal, believing that because Morgan Stanley employees didn't register with the city as lobbyists, the deal violates Chicago's ethics ordinance.

Del Valle made his announcement during a press conference at his West Town mayoral campaign headquarters yesterday, and Madigan's office said it will look into del Valle's request. Both del Valle and Carol Moseley Braun have said they would look at any and all possibilities to revoke the 75-year, $1.15 billion deal if elected mayor. Rahm Emanuel and Gery Chico have also criticized the deal, but said the city was SOL in trying to extricate itself from the agreement. Chico has also stated that, even if the city were to rescind the agreement, the city could not come up with the money to pay back

http://chicagoist.com/2011/02/09/del_valle_parking_meter_deal_a_viol.php


“Listen, the mayor’s office has a lot of authority. Morgan Stanley is huge, but the parking meter lease is not their only deal with the city. As mayor, I will use my authority to strongly encourage them to come back to table,” he says. “This lease will continue to be verycontroversial. The city completely surrendered authority for 75 years on how many meters we have, how many tickets need to be issued before a boot – I understand they have to be compensated for a decline in their revenue. But, look, we’re paying the highest parking rates in the country right now, and they’re going to go up 75 cents in January 2012, and another 75 cents in January 2013. We can at the very least talk about spreading that out a bit more. My position is that either we’re going to do it through courts or through the political process, but one way or another, we’re going to get them back to the table.”

http://www.wbez.org/blog/achy-obejas/2011-02-16/candidates-deal-parking-meters-deal-82404