Chicago Sun-Times

By Fran Spielman

The City Council on Tuesday brushed aside critics and overwhelmingly voted in favor of the mayor’s proposal to make a groundbreaking change in the way Chicago funds public works, paving the way for five financing giants to spend $1.7 billion on “transformative” projects in the city.

Six days after Mayor Rahm Emanuel preemptively put the brakes on a vote on his own Infrastructure Trust plan, Chicago aldermen approved the public-private partnership on a 41-7 vote. No votes were cast by Aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd); Leslie Hairston (5th); Toni Foulkes (15th); Ricardo Munoz (22nd); Scott Waguespack (32nd); Brendan Reilly (42nd) and John Arena (45th).

Minutes before the final vote, Emanuel argued that debate on his Infrastructure Trust has been “colored” — and “correctly” so — by an ordinances that privatized the city’s parking meters.

“It was introduced on one day and, four days later, you voted on it. This has been over six weeks… . You made no changes [on the parking meter deal]. Sixteen were made here. … You leased a city asset for numbers of decades. Here, we own the public asset and will continue to own it,” the mayor said.

“At every level — process and substance — this is different. And I appreciate why it colored the debate. You’re supposed to learn from mistakes. That’s what we tell our children … . And I understand why people want to use the parking meters for political purposes to scare everybody. But, I want you to step back and think about it. Contrast.”

The mayor noted that the concept of an infrastructure bank or trust has been debated in Washington for the last decade.

“It’s like Ground Hog Day. They’re still debating it. I will not tie the city’s future to that dysfunction,” the mayor said.

“We have a tool here that takes some of the pressure off taxpayers. That’s what we’re doing here. Use somebody else’s money for a change rather than theirs.”

Alternative proposals were easily defeated at the meeting Tuesday, including one that lost by a vote of 39-9. That ordinance would have required City Council approval of all Trust-funded projects, set aside one percent of the non-profit’s operating budget for oversight and empower Inspector General Joe Ferguson to investigate the Trust, among other safeguards.

In speaking in favor of the alternative ordinance, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) said, “It’s not free money. It’s gonna come to us in user fees and taxes. Things that will add to the burden the city is already imposing, we’re gonna saddle them with.”

Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) said residents of the impoverished Englewood community she represents — where there have been 210 foreclosures every square mile — don’t trust the Trust.

“We’ve been asked over and over again to trust and we’ve been let down and now, we’re fearful,” Foulkes said.

“What terrifies people is the investment. Nobody invests money who doesn’t get returns — and they expect big returns.”

Ald. Rey Colon (35th) talked about the political elephant in the room: the 75-year, $1.15 billion deal that privatized Chicago parking meters and locked in a steep schedule of rate hikes.

“Weve been suffering from something called ‘parking meter trauma,’ “ Colon said.

Emanuel jokingly replied, “There’s medication for that.”

But others spoke in favor of the mayor’s plan. Ald. Joe Moore (49th) opened the debate by talking about the reason why a public-private partnership is so essential.

“Quite simply, Chicago is drowning in debt” with $7.3 billion in liabilities and $13.5 billion when underfunded pension funds, claims and judgments are factored in, Moore said.

Given that choking level of debt, Moore argued that Chicago has two choices without an infusion of private money: Raise property taxes, which he called an “untenable” alternative, or do nothing, which is even worse.

“Cities that fail to invest in their infrastructure are cities in decline,” Moore said. “… The only thing worse than trying this new approach is doing nothing at all.”

Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) predicted that Chicago would blaze a trail that would be followed by other major cities.

“This is giving Chicago the opportunity to take its destiny into its own hands,” Mell said.

“We’re not gonna depend on Springfield and Washington to solve our problems. They’re not gonna be able to do it. We’re not gonna be spoon-fed by Washington. We’re not gonna be spoon-fed by Springfield. It’s not available.”

Ald. Will Burns (4th) noted that the states of California, Washington and Oregon are considering joining forces on an infrastructure trust.

“Why should Chicago be behind the West Coast?” he said.

Debate on Tuesday’s high-stakes vote was preceded by dueling news conferences in the hallway outside the City Council chambers featuring supporters and opponents of the mayor’s plan.

Labor leaders, the unemployed construction workers they represent and businesses that stand to benefit from the gravy train of construction contracts lined up to support the Infrastructure Trust.

When opponents shouted, “No!” and, “Chicago is not for sale,” a beefy union member screamed, “Knock it off!”

Joe Healy, assistant business manager of Laborers Union Local 1092, noted that Chicago’s February unemployment rate was stuck at nine percent and the jobless rate among construction workers was double that.

“This is a bill that put thousands of our members — thousands of skilled tradespeople — to work,” Healy said.

Ald. Pat O‚Connor (40th), the mayor’s City Council floor leader, sounded like he was reading a script written by the mayor’s office when he told the crowd of the 16 changes proposed by aldermen and adopted by Emanuel to strengthen oversight over the Trust.

Click here for the full report from the Chicago Sun-Times.