Thursday, April 5, 2012

Read this carefully. Does anyone know what this is about?

The mayor wants to set up a trust that will be used to finance whatever (aka his run for President of the United States). People with a vested interest should pay attention to this and ask Matt O'Shea about it. Your pension may be dependent on what happens here. 
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he’s all for aldermen asking questions, but it’s imperative that they approve his plan to have five financing giants bankroll $1.7 billion in projects to help rebuild Chicago’s crumbling infrastructure.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that the proposed Infrastructure Trust ran into opposition this week from aldermen concerned about “hidden fees,” long-term leasing of city assets, minority participation and the selection of city projects by a five-member board that includes no aldermanic representation.
On Tuesday, Emanuel responded to that dissent by highlighting the $225 million in energy efficiency projects for government buildings expected to launch the trust and generate $20 million in energy savings that will be used to repay investors.
He would not discuss what other projects he wants to finance with the Infrastructure Trust or what, if any, user fees would have to be imposed to make certain investors get their money back with interest.
“I expect aldermen to ask questions. I want them to ask questions. ... But, the fact is, the vehicle gives us an opportunity to stop talking and start doing,” said Emanuel, who wants the ordinance approved at the April 18 City Council meeting.
“I want them to ask questions, which they’re gonna do. But it’s a proper vehicle to allow us to get the work done today and spread the payments over time and save taxpayers money, but create jobs today.”
During closed-door aldermanic briefings, sources said Chief Financial Officer Lois Scott has argued that the city has issued too much general obligation debt and needs to find another way to finance infrastructure projects.
The potential for a $1 billion commitment from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, Inc, the Spanish-Australian consortium that paid $1.83 billion to lease the Chicago Skyway for 99 years, has raised concerns that the trust could be a vehicle to continue the frenzied sale of city assets that began under former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
That’s the last thing aldermen want after being skewered for their lightning-fast approval of the 75-year, $1.15 billion deal that privatized Chicago’s 36,000 parking meters and locked in a steep schedule of annual rate hikes.
Last week, Emanuel repackaged previously announced CTA, water, sewer, parks, schools and City Colleges projects into a $7.3 billion plan and gave it a new name: “Building a New Chicago.”
He promised that Chicago’s publicly-owned assets would “remain publicly-owned.”
But, the mayor’s carefully-worded statement did not rule out another long-term lease like the deals that handed off the Skyway, downtown parking garages and the parking meters.
And although Emanuel campaigned on a promise to permanently ground the 99-year, $2.5 billion privatization of Midway Airport that collapsed for lack of financing, he has twice asked the Federal Aviation Administration to extend the deadline to keep the possibility alive. The second extension — until Dec. 31 — was requested last week.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/05/2012

    Nancy Pelosi said, "We've got to pass it to see what's in it."

    I question whether we'll know what's in the Emanuel Plan even after it's passed.

    Our aldermen would be fools to vote for this.

    Don't trust Rahm!

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  2. Anonymous4/05/2012

    Nobody has a clue what this is about but most of the aldermen will vote for it anyway. It wont be the first time an alderman voted for something they failed to read. Parking meters.

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  3. Anonymous4/05/2012

    The alderman need to be held accountable for this one.

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  4. Anonymous4/05/2012

    DIRTY DEAL

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  5. Anonymous4/05/2012

    Flood your alderman with email. Would you buy a car with such general assurances?

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  6. Anonymous4/05/2012

    Be a mayor in Israel Emanuel.

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  7. Working for the water department,we've been flooded with contractors and consultants lately. They were looking at the building and equipment. They don't spend our money very well now I can only imagine if this thing is approved. I will keep my eyes and ears open and will report back. Watching the electrification of the Springfield pumping, the overtime is already running rampent. We already have dozens of personnel reaching well over 110K a year in this department.Can we please stop just this waste of money?????????

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