Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Clout City It's All My Fault
Posted by Ben Joravsky on 12.02.09 at 05:42 PM
You've got to give Fran Spielman credit—her opening sentence in today's account of the City Hall budget debate pretty much sums everything up.
"A windfall from the sale of Chicago parking meters that was supposed to last for 75 years would be nearly exhausted in just one year to stave off tax increases and provide token property tax relief, thanks to a $6.1 billion 2010 budget approved today," she wrote.
Think about that, folks. For the next seventy-something years, every nickel you pay to those dreaded parking meters will be going into the coffers of some conglomerate headed by Morgan Stanley. And all the money Morgan Stanley gave Chicago will have been squandered so the mayor can say, "I didn't raise your taxes—in 2010."
Even though, of course, your property taxes continue to go up, up, up thanks to our old friend Mr. TIF. Is this a great scam, or what?
All this from the administration that bills itself as masters of the budget. One more time: thank you, IOC, for sparing us from Mayor Daley's Olympic games.
By the way, I take full blame for the mayor squandering all those parking meter millions on a one-shot budget deal. Yes, yes, it's all my fault, because on September 3 I predicted the mayor would raise property taxes to erase the $520 million shortfall. So he blew the whole multimilllion-dollar shebang just to prove me wrong.
It will be interesting to see what he comes up with next year when we're on the eve of an election. By then he'll probably have auctioned off the water works—anything to prove that Reader guy wrong.
Comments (1)
Showing 1-1 of 1
Ms. Spielman has been ignoring the followers of Henry George as I am, Henry George's Ghost Who Walks that Mayor Daley the son, is actually wrecking the city his father schnook-rascallion that he was, tried to create; the son is destroying by budgetary executive feat. I, as Henry George's Ghost Who Walks, would be able to restore Chicago's TRUE lustre and brighness if only myopic, near-sighted reporter's like Ms. Spielman would at least get my side, the GEORGE-IST SIDE, of the story and actually interview ME and gain some reality-based perspective about how the Single Land Value Tax would actually work if given the chance the dopey, dumb ideas of both Kaines and Friedman, and other jerky non-Georgeist economists get every day!
like
dislike
Related Stories
-
Want Property Tax Relief? Pay Up.
Sarah Louise Klose was expecting a check from the city. Instead she got a bill.
- Sep 9, 2010
