Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to have five financing giants bankroll $1.7 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects ran into opposition Monday from aldermen concerned about “hidden fees” and long-term leasing of city assets.
During closed-door briefings with aldermen, sources said Chief Financial Officer Lois Scott stuck to the script and talked only about the $225 million in energy retrofits to government buildings expected to generate $20 million in energy savings used to repay investors.
That wasn’t good enough for Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd). He’s demanding to know what other projects Emanuel wants to finance with the Infrastructure Trust, how those projects will be chosen and what, if any, user fees may be imposed to make certain that investors get their money back with interest.
via Chicago Sun-Times.
Two things about this little power play:
- Ald. Fioretti is exactly right. I’ve written in the past about how no one at City Hall can calculate a ROI or time value of money. Sad that not one elected official seems to every taken a single semester of economics or finance.
- Rahm brought this on himself. Ald. Fioretti would have been pretty happy just being alderman of the 2nd Ward for some time. But Rahm wasn’t happy about Bob wanting to run for Mayor and therefore had to be punished. So if you take a look at the new ward maps, Fioretti’s house is placed all by itself in a ward the bulk of which is miles away. It’s a joke.
The Machine is at it again. Trying to grind it’s way into your pocket with back-room deals between the city and undisclosed entities.
We get exactly what we vote for. We voted for this, we deserve it.