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Chicago Doesn’t Own Its Own Streets | Climate Town

Climate Town

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This episode features the wonderful talents of @standupmaths and you can check out their companion episode right here: Chicago has a problem until the year 2083.

We also have a podcast! It’s called The Climate Denier’s Playbook and you can listen to it right here: https://linktr.ee/deniersplaybook

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EPISODE SOURCES & CITATIONS: https://www.climatetownproductions.co...

Special thanks to Henry Grabar (https://www.henrygrabar.com/) and Donald Shoup (https://www.shoupdogg.com/) for their parking reform research and advocacy, and for their willingness to help us with this episode.

Maybe you even want to buy Henry Grabar’s book, Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World? Good idea! It was incredibly helpful in making this episode, and it’s a great read overall: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

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Host, Head Writer, Editor: Rollie Williams
Executive Producers: Rollie Williams & Ben Boult & Matt Nelsen & Nicole Conlan
Writers: Nicole Conlan & Matt Nelsen
Directors: Matt Nelsen & Ben Boult
Cinematographers: Matt Nelsen & Ben Boult
Assistant Editor: Laura Conte
Fact Checker: Canute Haroldson
Animator: Ian MK Cessna (https://ianhasawebsite.com/)
Theme music by Gratis (@gratis3241)

Stand Up Maths:
Host, Creator: Matt Parker
Writers: Matt Parker & Alex Genn-Bash & Nicole Jabobus
Executive Producers: Matt Parker & Alex Genn-Bash & Nicole Jabobus
Directors: Alex Genn-Bash & Nicole Jabobus
Cinematographer, Editor: Alex Genn-Bash

Special thanks to the Civil Liberties Defense Center (https://cldc.org/) for their continued support.

20 Comments

@standupmaths 2 years ago

When I was chatting to Rollie about a possible collaboration video my only requirement was the Climate Town team build a brick wall behind a door for that one gag.

@05Matz 2 years ago

I have a hard time believing this was an honest mistake. Some on the council were fooled, others were corrupt. The public deserve to know who was which, and see consequences come to the people who sold their city out.

@Plutoniumcontrolrod 2 years ago

The fact that making a deal like that is even legal is insane. Every person in that city govt will be dead when the deal is STILL in effect

@youweremymuse 2 years ago

As a Chicagoan, this is the most embarrassing thing about my city. Fox News will make you think it's rampant violent crime. But it's actually parking.

@robsengahay5614 2 years ago

Kudos to those 5 counsellors who voted against the deal in 2008. They were probably the only ones who remotely understood what was actually going down.

@mikkicruz6099 2 years ago

I work in property management for the office of rail in ct. I'm effectively capped at a 5 year license for a .007 acre of turn around space for a car wash. There is no way this deal went through without people knowing how bad it would be for Chicago. That city was sold out.

@draunt7 2 years ago

There should be a federal investigation into how this deal occurred, and who were the players moving the pieces around the board to make it happen. This is criminal levels of corruption that needs to be regulated and aggressively enforced.

@dmnddog7417 2 years ago (edited)

I moved to Chicago in early 2009 just after this ridiculous deal. When I first heard about it back then, I was appalled. I don't drive, so the cost of parking doesn't seem to affect me directly, but as this video explains, it does affect my quality of life in other ways like limits on improvements of transit corridors and bike infrastructure. The fact that we can't pedestrianize streets that would be ideal for it is a major hit to quality of life. Seeing this insanely horrible deal dissected and analyzed like this makes it even more depressing than it already was.

@PeterPutz82 2 years ago

Also, the fact a city can sign a billion dollar contract with two days to review is insane. This process usually takes years in pretty much all other forms of government.

@MrOPD 2 years ago

Imagine being a city and entering a 75 year deal with a private company on just about anything, with the private company having the power to do pretty much whatever they want and you not even having a realistic chance to read the contract. The circumstance that this is even allowed is absolutely insane.

@gelinrefira 2 years ago

The short-sightedness of capitalist mentality never fall short of astounding me.

@rickb3650 2 years ago

As a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, I have to tip my hat to Chicago for showing us all how corruption is done in the Big League.

@nick15594 2 years ago

Something that wasn't mentioned by this video, but Daley's nephew worked for Morgan Stanley and brokered the deal. Naked corruption was the impetus for this deal, which is why the contract uses the scuffed discount rate and the long term.

@phililpb 2 years ago

Corruption on a massive scale

@damiansski 2 years ago

Cities shouldn't be able to sell large assets without a referendum to help prevent these types of scenarios. Crazy situation. Great video!

@joeym5243 2 years ago

Imagine paying less for a deal because of risk but the deal has a clause which essentially eliminates risk in the first place... Yeah

@thugstin6429 2 years ago

Behold! The glory of privatization!

How many times does this lesson need to be taught? Public goods have no business being held hostage by corporations.

@SilverDragonJay 2 years ago

wow that was a ridiculously bad deal

pro-tip: if anyone is trying to pressure you to make a decision now without giving you time to think it through it is usually a scam and this does not change if the person doing so is a bank.

@LA-MJ 2 years ago

Lessons learned: don't deal with fkn MStan, avoid bankers in general, don't do deals over 20y, don't decide on billions in 2 days, read the fkn contract, don't hire crooks

@matijakovacic3361 2 years ago

Chicago should probably bite the bullet and build some underground or overground garages, lease them for the remainder of the contract, and get their streets back.