A $75 million transfer fee and future profit-sharing agreement brokered by City Council leaders sweetens a proposed parking meter ownership transfer deal in a way that nobody thought was possible, a top mayoral aide said Thursday.
Senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee stopped short of urging the City Council to approve the $2.53 billion bid by New York investment firm Stonepeak Partners to acquire Chicago’s metered parking system for the 57 years that remain on the widely despised privatization deal reached by then Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2008.
But by claiming some credit for a deal fashioned by some of the same alderpersons who led the budget rebellion against Mayor Brandon Johnson’s corporate head tax, Lee left little doubt that the mayor’s office will back City Council approval of the compromise by the Sept. 30 deadline.
“There were individuals within City Council who were very adamant that nothing could be accomplished here, that nothing could be negotiated. The deal was ironclad and, therefore, City Council’s best pathway was probably to just accept the deal as is,” Lee said Thursday.
“Fortunately, there were other voices in front of the scenes and behind the scenes who thought that there was an opportunity… that the buyer and the seller would, might, come to the table and try to sweeten the deal — knowing how egregious the original deal was. Thank goodness that’s happened.”
With no direction from the mayor, Finance Committee Chair Pat Dowell (3rd) said she and four other veteran alderpersons “took the bull by the horns and did the work.”
They negotiated an agreement that calls for the city to receive a $75 million transfer fee at closing and 5% of net income going forward — or $376.2 million over the course of the agreement. It also would reduce costly compensation the city is required to pay for every parking space taken out of service either for a special event or construction project.
Stonepeak has also agreed to sell Omni Air International, which has provided long haul deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security during President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign and explore creating entire, non-metered city blocks as “potential electric vehicle charging stations,” with charging revenues shared with the city.
Johnson was briefed on the deal, but only after it was done. That, however, didn’t stop Lee from taking a bow.
“A group of City Council members working with the administration — the Department of Law and Department of Finance — has been able to negotiate better terms for the people of Chicago. Obviously getting a better deal than the one they inherited is directionally right,” Lee said.
Johnson’s uphill battle with unions
Four years ago, Johnson rose from single-digit obscurity to the mayor’s office with millions of dollars and hundreds of campaign foot soldiers provided by the Chicago Teachers Union, as well as the Service Employees International Union and its affiliated unions.
This time, Johnson’s road to reelection has hit a union pothole.
CTU’s failed threat to take over SEIU jobs at the Chicago Public Schools has fractured the coalition of progressive unions that put the mayor in office. SEIU and its affiliates, which gave Johnson $4.5 million in the last election cycle, are almost certain to either remain neutral or support Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias in the race for mayor.
Lee dismissed the union fight as a “family disagreement” that he and the mayor were powerless to prevent because, “We don’t control unions.”
And even if SEIU and its affiliates withhold their support from Johnson, Lee said: “The mayor is going to speak directly to union members and other working people, and that ultimately is what… is going to determine how people vote.”
Lee also denied that Johnson’s decision to attack billionaire businessman Michael Sacks and AIPAC when he announced his bid for re-election Sunday amounted to an antisemitic attack on Jewish campaign contributors. And he weighed in on the mayor’s choice for communications director, Rachel Cohen, a social media influencer who attracted hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram after quitting her job at a major law firm and refusing to pay her federal taxes to protest the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
With only $630,000 in his campaign fund, Johnson is relying heavily on social media influencers to carry his message around what he calls the “corporate media.”
Lee was asked whether Johnson has urged Cohen to pay her taxes to avoid encouraging Chicagoans to stop paying their debts.
“She’ll do what she believes is right,” Lee said. “What’s important to Chicagoans is, are we going to have a progressive tax system where those with the most ability to pay are asked to pay their fair share, or are we going to continue to balance our budget on the backs of working people? That’s the conversation they want to have — not the conversation about one person’s tax dispute with the federal government.”