Meter, cop, tax referenda won't be on ballot

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Updated: December 6, 2010 7:31PM

Chicago voters will not get a chance to weigh in on whether they want to renegotiate the parking meter lease, eliminate 910 police vacancies authorized by the city budget or adopt a transaction tax on LaSalle Street exchanges.

Monday’s special City Council meeting called to consider placing those three non-binding referdenda on the Feb. 22 ballot attracted only eleven aldermen, 15 short of a quorum.

Ald. Joe Moore (49th) blamed Mayor Daley for keeping his allies away from a meeting that would have proven to be a political embarrassment.

“The power of this particular lame-duck mayor is still pretty prevalent. I know there were calls made to our colleagues not to show up today, and they acceded to that request,” Moore said.

“Old habits are hard to break. It’s something to keep in mind when the new Council takes over. Hopefully, there are enough new people on the Council who won’t have the legacy of a rubber-stamp Council and might exert some more independence.”

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) added, “Parking meters and the police issue are not going away anytime soon. If we would have had a quorum here — if we would have had the discussion — it would have been a direct attack on the way this administration has run things into the ground.”

Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee, argued that placing the three questions on the ballot would only have given Chicago voters false hope.

The fact is, state law prohibits a tax on LaSalle Street exchanges, Burke said. And the 75-year, $1.15 billion lease that privatized Chicago’s 36,000 parking meters cannot be re-negotiated because, as Burke put it, “A contract’s a contract.”

As for the police vacancies, he said, “I know the mayor would love to hire another thousand policemen, but there’s no money.”