Tag Archives: Ald. Scott Waguespak
Analysis: Bad Skips Worse, Goes Directly To Disaster When It Comes To Parking Meter Lease Deal
City Will Repay Meter Company Entire $1.16 Billion By Lease End
Told ya so.
When the Chicago parking meter lease deal was being jammed through the Chicago City Council in just over 36 hours in December, 2008 The Expired Meter warned how bad the deal was.
Certain provisions within the nearly one inch thick parking meter lease contract leaped out at people who actually read the document–provisions that could and would spell trouble down the road.
Alderman Scott Waguespack (32nd) knew about this stuff too. As one of the few (if not only), city council members who actually read the lease agreement and took the time to understand it, he foresaw what would happen.
“This is right on par with what we knew would happen,” said Waguespack initially in an interview this past Friday. “Any alderman (who voted for the meter lease deal) that still says they didn’t know that this was going to happen is ignoring reality.”
But when pressed, even Ald. Waguespack admits the meter lease deal is worse than even he predicted.
“Yes,” he simply said when asked if the deal has exceeded even his expectations of failure.
City Will Give Back Entire $1.16 Billion By Lease End
Speed Camera Hijinks At City Council Meeting
Surprise, surprise.
The ordinance for Chicago’s potential speed camera bill did not get introduced at Wednesday’s city council meeting.
Considering how fast Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel shepherded the speed camera through the Illinois General Assembly this fall, it is somewhat of a shock the ordinance didn’t pop up the first City Council meeting after Illinois Governor Quinn signed the bill into law.
But the council members already a pretty full plate, signing the debt recovery ordinance that would allow the city to recover past due parking tickets, red light camera tickets and other municipal debt by attaching the state tax refunds of people and businesses who have outstanding debts.
The ordinance passed 41-8 according to the Chicago Tribune.
However, despite not even being on the agenda, the speed camera bill was the center of attention.
Expired Meter 2011 Election Endorsements
The Expired Meter, Chicago’s only website dedicated to driving and parking news and issues, has endorsements for Tuesday’s election
The endorsements pertain to the issues of parking and driving only. We do not believe that any educated voter should make their voting decision based on just one issue. However, we do believe the topics we cover here are important one and a Chicago or Chicago area politician needs to have a good understanding of these issues.
Mayor: Miguel del Valle
Of the four major mayoral candidates left in the race, only Miguel del Valle has the background, experience and vision to address parking and driving issues that challenge Chicago.
Parking Meter Rates Jump January 1st
$5 Per Hour Downtown Rates Highest In Nation
It’s almost that time of the year again.
No, not Christmas or New Year’s, but parking meter rate increase season.
It was three years ago this month when Mayor Daley and his cohorts in the city council pushed through the Chicago parking meter lease deal.
One of the more onerous results of the 75-year deal was an initial five years of steep meter rate price increases.
On January 1st, parking meter rates will rise for the third of the five initial years.
Downtown, meter rates will jump $0.75 from $4.25 per hour to $5.00 an hour–giving Chicago the distinction of having the highest downtown parking meter rates in the nation.
New York, and Los Angeles, while both larger than Chicago, have lower downtown rates than the Windy City. New York’s highest rate is currently $3.75 an hour, while LA tops out at $4 per hour downtown.
In areas adjacent to the Loop (River North, Gold Coast, parts of Lincoln Park, Near North) rates will go up $0.50 per hour from $2.50 to $3.00 per hour.
Meter rates in all other outlying neighborhoods will increase just $0.25 from $1.25 per hour to $1.50 per hour.
Ald. Waguespack, Expired Meter Announce Seminar On Fighting Chicago Parking Tickets
Free Educational Event Is First Of Its Kind In Chicago
The Expired Meter is proud to announce the very first Chicago Driver Survival Seminar presented by Alderman Scott Waguespack (32nd) on Tuesday, November 30th.
This free class will teach Chicago drivers the basics of: avoiding and contesting parking tickets, red light camera tickets, speeding tickets and other moving violations, keeping the Denver boot off your car and updating attendees on new driving laws that effect pedestrian and biking safety, and much more.
The Driver Survival Seminar is the very first event of its kind in Chicago and perhaps the nation with the sole purpose of educating and empowering motorists to protect themselves from these issues that challenge drivers every day on the streets of the city.
Some Aldermen Enjoy Getting Their Hands Dirty
EDITOR’S NOTE: Watch channel 32 tonight at 9 to see this story we teamed up on with Fox Chicago News.
Politics is dirty business.
Especially in the City of Chicago.
But some aldermen have taken this old adage to an entirely new level.
