Insiders may cash in on meter deal
SUBCONTRACTORS | Ex-Daley aide, firm once owned by Ald. Solis' brother also got piece of Skyway
Two of Mayor Daley's former top aides -- and a security company once co-owned by the brother of Ald. Danny Solis (25th) -- are poised to make some serious coin from the $1.15 billion deal that privatized Chicago's 36,000 parking meters.
Under pressure from aldermen to comply with the city's minority set-aside requirements, LAZ Parking Chicago LLC has hastily assembled a team of subcontractors that includes former mayoral press secretary Avis LaVelle and Cortez Trotter, who was Chicago's first African-American fire commissioner before being promoted to chief emergency officer.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
Monterrey Security -- owned by former Chicago Police Officer Juan Gaytan and once co-owned by former Chicago firefighter Santiago Solis -- is in line for $1.2 million in 2009 and has already been paid $413,152, according to a document distributed to aldermen.
LaVelle, Daley's 1989 campaign spokeswoman and first City Hall press secretary, said she watched aldermen lambast the meter deal Monday, even though she had not yet signed a formal contract.
LaVelle's invitation to attend the hearing came from Trotter, who had an "existing relationship" with LAZ CEO Alan Lazowski.
It was only after the City Council hearing that LaVelle and Trotter were asked to join the team under terms yet to be negotiated, she said.
LaVelle said she has been asked to help reverse an avalanche of negative publicity stemming from broken, overstuffed and mismarked meters that have infuriated motorists and triggered a spike in vandalism and a drop-off in on-street parking.
Trotter refused to discuss his role in the parking meter contract. Although Trotter's expertise is in emergency management, LaVelle said he has agreed to play an "external relations" role because of his "familiarity with political leadership."
It's not the first time that LaVelle and Monterrey have cashed in on Daley's privatization frenzy. They also serve as subcontractors to the Spanish-Australian consortium that paid $1.83 billion to lease the Chicago Skyway for 99 years.
That transition went relatively smoothly. The parking meter takeover has been a fiasco.
"They've done a lot of things right. But I don't think they've communicated what they've done well. They underestimated the extent to which small operational problems could blow up to become large public relations issues," LaVelle said.
During this week's hearing, LAZ insisted that minority contractors share 29 percent of the deal and that minorities comprise 70 percent of its work force.
Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) still has her doubts and has demanded contracts and certified payrolls to back up the company's claims.
As for the hiring of Monterrey and two former Daley aides, she said, "It's a double-edged sword. You want people who know the lay of the land. But that also means new people don't get an opportunity. There are new companies that have expressed interest. They were not reached out to."
Monterrey has been at the center of controversy for nearly a decade because of its parade of government contracts, including Soldier Field security.
In 2001, the company was slapped with a $22,000 fine by state regulators -- and placed on two years' probation -- for operating for 21 months without a state license. Current and former employees also accused the company of underpaying its workers on city jobs.
One year later, the Daley administration abruptly canceled Monterrey's $2.9 million contract to secure city salt piles and equipment after admitting the deal violated the ethics ordinance that prohibits city employees from doing business with the city. Gaytan and Santiago Solis subsequently quit their city jobs.