THIS is why we pay a 12% sales tax, $150 parking tickets, and $75 vehicle fees in "The City That Works."
Meigs midnight massacre still costing taxpayers
- Thread starter mikea
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THIS is why we pay a 12% sales tax, $150 parking tickets, and $75 vehicle fees in "The City That Works."
etsisk
En-Route
$150.00 parking tickets?????
Where do you have to park to get a ticket like THAT???
Man, the city's sure changed . . .
Where do you have to park to get a ticket like THAT???
Man, the city's sure changed . . .
They save the highest fine for tickets that are the easiest to get like street cleaning. What belongs in that category is parking by a fire hydrant.etsisk said:
In the meantime the city council is defying the mayor and asking if maybe cops should be enforcing traffic laws again. That would be fun to watch. Maybe one day I can stop at a stop sign and not fear getting rear ended.
ScottM
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iBazinga!
This is one of the reasons I spend very little time in the Chicago City limits. Let Da Mayor rot in his corrupt system. Those that keep voting for him can keep paying for his mistakes.
AdamZ
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Adam Zucker
Ha I hope Da Mayor chokes on those legal fees and I hope they go higher.
AdamZ said:
The problem with that is the tax payers are paying the fees, not the esteemed Mayor. The citizens of Chi must be cool with that, they elected this guy. (I am assuming he has been reelected, not going to bother to research it.) I am not cool with that. I believe some spending of Federal money (MY tax $$$) is being looked into. The Feds have /are fining the city, should be the Mayor personally.
wesleyj
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wesleyj
I live in Beautiful Downtown Bristol Indiana, 125 miles from Chicago 650 miles from NYC, that is too darn close to either of them for me.
silver-eagle
En-Route
I agree with you on that one! Last year, I had a chance to go to Chicago for work sponsored education. I flatly refused.Anthony said:
Someone in Chicago should find a way to get Daley to pay those legal bills himself. Afterall, it wasn't Chicago that bulldozed Meigs; it was hizoner himself.
AirBaker
Pattern Altitude
Still cheaper to park in a red zone than in a handicapped space.etsisk said:
$45 bucks vs $291 I think...
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
etsisk said:
Went to the Chicago Symphony one cold February night a few years ago (always had hoped to fly into Meigs for the symphony at some point
). I was going with a couple of friends in another car. I didn't have a decent winter coat at the time, and the car was parked close to Symphony Hall, so I left my coat in the car.I came back out to find my car gone, along with all the others on the block. A temporary (cardboard!) no-parking-this-block-tow-away-zone sign had been strapped to a light pole and all of the cars (I had the last spot on the block when I parked a few hours earlier) had been towed. We looked across the street to where my friends had parked (they were also sans coats) and the tow truck was taking the car in front of theirs. We sprinted over there and took it before the tow truck could. We woulda frozen if we hadn't made it.
Ticket plus fees, something like $295 and two hours later I finally had my car back.
I hate that friggin' city.
Just like at O'Hare, nobody dat nobody sent is gonna get da work.kobijo said:What's gonna happen if they get "da lympics"
Chicago Tribune editorial Published July 5, 2006:
Bob Bement
Pattern Altitude
How does the mayor get away with stuff like this. I won't spend a dime more than I have to in his town. My flight has to go through there on the 10th of this month, but I wish it didn't. I don't see how he keeps getting re-elected each time.
ScottM
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iBazinga!
mikea said:
The needs to be repeated. All you Chicagoans vote the bum out!! Ahh but there probably aren't any pilots who actually live in the city limits reading this board. But they do read the Trib. It is good that the media is not letting this drop. Glad there is still some media keeping a watchful eye on the elected ones. Without a free media this would be a really bad place to be.
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
Does a park reelect him? Does a park, plus the concession revenues from Live Nation/Clear Channel provide more revenue to the city than the airport plus the fine? Does a park - and whatever future uses the land has - provide more benefit to the city? Does the mayor get political mileage from stopping the dangerous little planes?
My bet is that the Mayor thinks so.
My bet is that the Mayor thinks so.
The revenue's got nothing to do with it. They would NEVER let anybody see the books when they claimed Meigs was costing $millions to maintain. You can be sure that just like using airport improvement funds to pay the O'Hare concrete contractor to dig up Meigs, they could charge the vehicles for Midway to Meigs. They did lots of that to justify the landing fees and the fees for collecting the fees.wsuffa said:
You know full well, Bill, that any of these contracts with big media corps to bring revenue, like the bus shelter deal, go like "Duh Man says get dese guys. Ask dem what are dey gonna pay?" If they offer $3 million, the competition might have offered $10 million. Somehow, how much REVENUE they get so the city can seek a percentage is never asked. And if the contract says the city has to spend $5 million first to build or supply services that gets lost in the fine print.
Meigs was closed because Mrs. Daley wanted it closed. End of story.
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
mikea said:
The way most of the contracts work is that the concessionaire promises to pay the city a percentage of the revenue obtained, and then has to guarantee a fixed amount. Who supplies the hardware or services is subject to negotiation.
Take the Chicago bus shelter contract. DeCaux promised to pay a certain percentage of the revenue obtained (most likely on a sliding scale), and then guaranteed a fixed amount per year - so the percentage amount only comes into play after it exceeds the guarantee. DeCaux also has to pay all the capital costs of installing the shelters. Normally, the schedule for installation is tied to the guarantee (e.g. full guarantee is not owed until all the shelters are installed) - so the city insists on a schedule, and the contractor gets a reprieve if the city drags it's feet on granting the permits or approvals for each shelter. In the end, the guarantee to the city is usually a LOT higher than the capital cost. And a "prepayment" of a portion of the guarantee is often demanded by politicians (especially during an election year).
The city may insist on a minimum percentage to start with, so the stiffest negotiation revolves around the schedule, the amount of the guarantee, and the amount of the prepayment. After the contract is signed, the games begin as the contractor usually proposes locations for the shelters, and the city drags its feet.
The same process is used for operating a theater or other venue. The contract may require that the contractor pay for all the capital improvements (with reversion to the city at the end), plus a percentage and guarantee. The shorter the contract, the greater chance of the contractor refusing to pay for the improvements (or offsetting the guarantee by the amount of the improvements).
For the contractor, it's a bunch of number crunching to minimize expense while still bidding something that should win the contract.
IIRC, the venue at the former Meigs location is a tent-like structure with portable seating or bleachers. If so, that is relatively inexpensive and bleachers can be purchased or leased. Tent-like structures are really easy, fast to put up, and cheap.
BTW, this type of contract is used for other concession services, too. Airport rental cars, on-site hotels, food/newsstands on city/airport property, etc. all use a similar process.
For a good idea on how it works, see this contract RFB from the Washington DC Airport Authority: http://www.metwashairports.com/busi...ng_opportunities/op-pages/5-06-c001-documents
The revenue can pe pretty substantial.... and I'm betting that the airport FBO services at Meigs were handled the same way.