KATHY POSNER'S PARKING METER SCANDAL

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NO PARKING ON PLANET POSNER
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Chicago Parking Meters

I don’t always understand how government bodies decide to move money around from one pot to another to pay for various programs that sometimes have nothing to do with the program that is supplying the money.The City of Chicago is billions of dollars in the red. The Mayor sold off the parking meter system to help balance the budget. The revenue from the sale should be used for budget items that benefit ALL Chicagoans. After all they were all of OUR parking meters.So I was confused when I read that the city has created a program called Chicago Career Tech which is being paid for with $25 million in parking meter proceeds.Last Monday when the program was announced the Mayor told Chicago Career Tech’s first class, "Waking up this morning -- of all the things I've done as Mayor -- this is one of the most exciting Monday mornings. Career Tech, according to the city’s web site is,“ a new public-private partnership whose goal is to re-train unemployed middle class workers and put them back to work in areas such as health care, information technology, telecommunications, digital media and other fast-growing industries with increasing career opportunities. “There are 175 people in the first class--and you and I are paying for their training with the parking meter money that is supposed to help balance the budget. Career Tech might be a great program, but why is parking meter money being used to pay for it? Also, is the program so incredible that in all the years of Daley being Mayor it was one of his most exciting mornings? I guess if Chicago had gotten the 2016 Olympics, the next day would have been one of his most exciting mornings. Loser! Chicago taxicab and limousine drivers want Gov. Quinn to veto the portion of the McCormick Place overhaul that doubles — to $4 — the tax they pay to pick up passengers at O’Hare and Midway airports. The Sun Times reported that, ” The Illinois General Assembly authorized the 100 percent increase to raise $6 million a year to boost the marketing budget of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. Another $2 million — or 25 percent of all revenue generated by the increase — would go to the village of Rosemont for its convention center.” Chicago cabbies are upset that one quarter of the money is going to Rosemont when they are not permitted to pick up passengers there. I agree with their outrage but for a different reason-- why should I, a Chicagoan, pay to subsidize Rosemont? I have no problem with charging tourists and people who actually use the Rosemont Convention Center a fee to financially support the venue; but I never go there. If limo or cab passengers who are going to the airport had to show their state ID, we could charge the “foreigners” the extra fee. Don’t take the money from a Chicago citizen’s wallet. People in Rosemont are wealthy the estimated median house or condo value in 2008 was $429,221; the state median is $214,900. Rosemont public schools have about 12 students per teacher. We are more than double that in Chicago and we are going to send that city money? The only way the surcharge would benefit Chicagoans is if as independent cabdriver Melissa Callahan said, “The more taxes that are added to taxi fares, the less likely someone will be to take a taxi [at O’Hare or Midway] instead of jumping on the CTA.” I guess if they triple the surcharge and no one takes cabs anymore, we will have solved the CTA budget shortfall with the extra ridership revenues. That would be a smart way to move money around.

Editors Extra: We appriciate Kathy Posners parking meter scandal on Planet Posner, but today we have our own parking problems. Read Below......