As the city faces a budget deficit that could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Mayor Richard M. Daley‘s administration is looking at all sorts of ways to raise money.
In recent weeks they’ve been talking again about privatizing Midway airport, which they’d agreed to do for $2.5 billion in 2008 before the economic downturn killed the deal. On Monday the City Council’s Transportation Committee approved a plan to let corporations buy the rights to plaster their logos on city bridge houses during the Christmas holiday season. And on Tuesday the council’s License and Aviation committees took up a Daley proposal to let half a dozen vendors sell beer and wine 24 hours a day from pushcarts at O’Hare.
Aviation officials said the plan would bring in desperately needed revenue. “It’s a win-win for us,” said city aviation commissioner Rosemarie Andolino.
But aldermen were skeptical. Tom Tunney, of the 44th Ward, worried that the city wasn’t prepared to regulate the size of the carts. Sixth Ward alderman Freddrenna Lyle wondered if food would be sold in the wee hours of the night “so people can have something to eat to absorb that liquor.” James Balcer, of the 11th Ward, was concerned that easing access to alcohol could lead to pilots getting drunk before stepping on their planes.
They and others also argued that the proposed fee for obtaining a license for a pushcart–$1,000 a year—was far too low.
“The cost of $1,000 is just unbelievable,” said 31st Ward Alderman Ray Suarez. The vendors “are going to make all kinds of money with this.”
City officials assured the aldermen that the size of the carts would be carefully monitored and that existing liquor laws would be strictly enforced. They argued that the $1,000 figure was appropriate because only restaurants already selling liquor at O’Hare would be eligible for the pushcart licenses, meaning that the new fee would come on top of the $2,200 a year these businesses previously paid for a liquor license.
But the administration officials couldn’t answer several other seemingly basic questions, starting with how much the city will actually reap from the cart plan.
“How much revenue do you think will be generated by the six or seven pushcarts you want to add?” asked Robert Fioretti, alderman of the Second Ward.
“We’ll have to get back to you on that,” Andolino said.
Still, when License Committee chairman Eugene Schulter and Aviation Committee chairman Patrick Levar called for a vote on the item, they were met with a chorus of ayes. Only Fioretti, who’s mulling a run for mayor, voted no. The item is expected to be approved by the full council on Wednesday.
Sitting in the galley watching the proceedings was John Doerrer, Mayor Daley’s former intergovernmental affairs director. Since leaving City Hall in 2005 during a federal investigation into illegal patronage hiring, Doerrer has practiced law and worked as a lobbyist for, among others, the Chicago Retail Merchants Association and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
Doerrer said he had nothing to do with getting the pushcart ordinance before the council—he’d been in the neighborhood on other business and decided to stop by and see what was happening. “I didn’t know about this til I read it in the paper,” he said. “Seriously, I’m a casual observer.” He opened his suitcase and produced files for a property transaction that he said was his real purpose downtown.
Still, Doerrer said he and his clients supported the pushcart idea. “Oh yeah, anything that has to do with continuing the sale of a lawful product,” he said.
As luck would have it, the council’s Budget Committee also met Tuesday. But that meeting wasn’t called to confront any of the city’s financial challenges. The committee had one item on its agenda: adjusting the city books to reflect $769,000 in new grants from the state. The committee convened, passed the item, and adjourned in less than a minute total.
What the Cappleman!