Politics
Deal Reached to Sell Chicago Parking Meters to Investment Firm, Alderpeople Say
A Chicago parking meter is pictured in a file photo. (400tmax / iStock)
A deal has been reached that will allow Chicago’s parking meters to be sold to a New York-based investment firm that in turn will sell an airline that has been carrying out deportations for the Trump administration, five alderpeople announced Tuesday.
Stonepeak Partners asked the City Council to approve the $2.53 billion sale of the meters from Chicago Parking Meters LLC in July, only to run into a brick wall of opposition.
The deal requires Stonepeak to sell Omni Air International, which has a contract with the Trump administration to carry out deportations, according to the City Council members. More than a dozen progressive members of the City Council said they would not allow the sale of the city’s meters unless the firm sold Omni Air.
Representatives of Stonepeak did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
The agreement must be approved by the Chicago City Council. A final vote on the deal by the City Council’s Finance Committee could come as soon as Sept. 21, with a final vote by the City Council as soon as Sept. 23.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said he was hopeful the City Council will approve the agreement, calling it a better deal for taxpayers.
In 2008, the firm leased the city’s meters for 75 years in return for $1.15 billion — a much-loathed deal crafted by former Mayor Richard M. Daley and rubber-stamped by the City Council that continues to roil Chicago politics nearly two decades later.
“This is a good deal for the city and for all Chicagoans,” said Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), the chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee. “The completion of this agreement will be a departure from the old deal, which did not think about the people of the city of Chicago, and which yielded little benefit for the city. This proposed agreement, on the other hand, offers long term benefits for City government and for the taxpayers.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
