Mind explaining that reference for us non-Chicagoans? I’m familiar with the story of how Meigs Field was illegally closed, but I don’t get the parking meter reference.
Back when Richard M. Daley was mayor (1990s and early 2000s), his administration generated some short-term revenue for the city, by privatizing/selling off the rights to several public assets and services, on very long-term contracts.
One example was the city’s parking meters: in 2008, his administration balanced the city’s budget by signing a contract for over $1 billion, which gave the rights to administer (and profit from) the city’s meters to a private firm, on a 75-year lease.
Other examples are the Chicago Skyway (a toll road), the city’s downtown parking garages, and bus shelters. In each case, the city quickly burned through most, if not all, of the revenue generated from the contracts, while the contractors stood to continue to benefit from them for years or decades to come.
The parking meter deal is a particular “gift that keeps on giving” because the City must reimburse the firm pretty much each time it chooses to close a street with metered parking for construction, a festival, or whatever. For instance, street closures for the NASCAR races cost the City $348,306 in 2023 and $273,665 in 2024. Cite.