Sometimes I Drive Too Fast

 

Richard M Daley is probably the worst mayor Chicago ever had. He sold off the parking meters for one billion dollars. Actually a seventy five year lease that will return the company that got the lease well over five time that much money. Then Daley sold off the Chicago Skyway, a toll/expressway/bridge that is a shortcut to Indiana. Once again, a bad deal for Chicago because the people who now control it can raise the tolls to whatever the hell they want. Daley also sold off the parking garages under Grant Park downtown. In each of these cases the city would have made many times more money than the purchase price of the leases if they had kept control. What cost a quarter to park on the street now costs two and a half dollars. The toll to Indiana was two dollars. It is now six dollars and sixty cents. I'm not sure how much it costs to park under Grant Park, but I'll bet it isn't cheap. Oh, and Daley spent all that money immediately while he was in office. One more thing, the city is riddled with empty lots. Lots where houses and businesses used to sit, now empty and not returning any real estate tax money. Finding a way to improve those neighborhoods apparently just didn't sit well with the politicians.

I like to drive fast. Not all the time, it is inappropriate sometimes. But on the expressways, especially the Dan Ryan, I like to drive fast. Unfortunately, the City of Chicago realized the they could make a lot of money off of my driving. Before Lori Lightfoot the previous mayor of Chicago left office, she dropped the grace speed on speed trap cameras so she could meet her budget. Ever since, I have been a regular contributor to city funds. This is over and above my property tax, ten and a half percent sales tax, and parking in front of my favorite bars. Hey, this last ticket was because the green light was about to turn red, so I sped up to catch the green. Think about all the fuel I saved and exhaust that wasn't pumped into the air by sitting waiting for the light to turn green again. I'm very eco-friendly.