As budget speeches go, Mayor Emanuel’s recent address to the City Council was more or less true—with one glaring exception.
The council was packed with people who had a hand or two in those debacles, starting with Alderman Ed Burke, who as finance chair steered every single bad deal, including the dreaded parking meter sale, through committee.
No, he wasn’t in the City Council during the Daley years.
And now that it’s pretty clear the courts won’t let him dictate pension cuts to the unions, we get the new Mayor Rahm, stepping forward to solemnly say it’s time we do the right thing and pay our bills.
One firefighter—what up, Sam Holloway!—stood up to him. The mayor backed off. The firefighters union endorsed him. And, voila, here he is almost teary eyed as he describes their heroic dedication to duty.
At this point I must remind you that the actual property tax will be much higher than $588 million, once you take into consideration the TIF property tax surcharge that the mayor conveniently keeps off the books.
