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Mayor Daley's Department of Revenue keeps very busy

Chicago Department of Revenue.jpg Yesterday I had fun with my sons in downtown Chicago. Whenever I have time, I make sure I spend it with my children. My kids were quick to learn the tow trucks in Chicago run day and night. We watched tows in private lots also. The picture includes a Chicago Revenue employee, Michael, Patrick, and David McDonough. Mayor Daley has these city workers going almost non-stop. I am going to do a story on how Mayor Daley is having private towing companies (pony up for Barack Obama please) assist Revenue agents tow trucks. Many of these tow truck companies are located in the suburbs. Most of Mayor Daley's Chicago Department of Revenue employees work very hard at a difficult and dangerous job, but if you think Chicago millionaires want extra cars in their neighborhood, you are sadly mistaken! Watch out Chicago, the orders are out to crank out the tickets and tow the cars. Do you think Mayor Daley will privatize the parking meters? I do not think the 11th Ward would allow a cash business to slip out of their hands. Photo by Patrick McDonough

Comments

Mayor Daley supports thew law suit against the school system claiming unequal funding for minorities. He is the one who can change it but he don't. he don't need to support the lawsuit, all he needs to is pick up the phone and change it. he is such a phony.


By Jeff Coen | Chicago Tribune reporter
August 22, 2008
A former Chicago electrical inspector was sentenced Thursday to 3 years in prison by a federal judge who said taking bribes destroys the faith that people have in their government.

Darryl Williams, 43, an ex-inspector for the city's Department of Construction and Permits, also was ordered to do 200 hours of community service when he is released from prison.

Williams was convicted by a jury in January of accepting more than $20,000 to speed development plans through the city's approval process.

"It does abuse all of the citizens of the community," said U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall.

Kendall said she had no doubt from undercover tapes that Williams knew what he was doing, despite arguments from his lawyer that the payments were a gratuity and that his conduct was in some way an extension of his job.

Williams was snared by the cooperation of another inspector, David W. Johnson, who was videotaped passing money to Williams in a sport-utility vehicle in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. The jury heard the two discussing a plan to have Williams put a permit on the fast track in exchange for $8,000.

Williams could be heard asking Johnson if his son was 8 years old, which allegedly was code for the amount of money Williams believed was in a bag he was handed.

"Eventually he's going to celebrate his 10th birthday," Williams said, hinting that his price would be going up.

Kendall told Williams that he had a good job with the city and should have felt privileged to work honestly on behalf of its citizens.

"To have resorted to this act instead is a tremendous disappointment," Kendall said.

Defense lawyer Nathan Diamond-Falk had asked for a sentence of 24 months, below the guideline minimum of 33 months.

Williams was a good man who supported his family and had no criminal history, Diamond-Falk said. There was little chance he would repeat his crime, he said.

"I would say it's zero," Diamond-Falk said. "Mr. Williams has learned a very, very serious and important lesson."

Assistant U.S. Atty. Juliet Sorensen argued that Williams should face more than the minimum. Inspectors have "tremendous unchecked discretion," Sorensen said. She said the only way to discourage others from taking bribes is for harsh penalties to be handed down.

Williams apologized to the court, the city and his family.

"There hasn't been a day that's gone by where I haven't regretted the decisions that I made," Williams said.

jcoen@tribune.com

If this guy get 3 years, they'll have to put daley into suspended animation for him to serve all the time he deserves.

Out of curiosity, did you ask the Revenue employee, a "Parking Meter Mechanic" when Mayor Mumbles is privatizing his section of the department.

In reality, Daley is little different from the contractors that he employs, whether it is a landscaping contractor or a firm that puts fences around all of the parks and schools. GFS Structures

Privatization is coming, and neither you nor (@) Fran Spielman can do a lick to stop that from happening.

City rebids towing contract
February 26, 2009

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Chicago is rebidding a lucrative towing contract held for the last 20 years by a company with political ties to Mayor Daley, opening the door to add consumer protections promised in 2004 but never delivered.

Shortly after taking office in 1989, Daley turned towing over to Environmental Auto Removal, a company whose owners have close ties to Jeremiah Joyce, one of the mayor’s closest friends in politics.

Five years ago, the Chicago Sun-Times exposed how the city sells about 70,000 cars each year to EAR for no more than the going scrap-metal price, regardless of the vehicle’s age or condition. Owners get nothing for the car, even though they still must pay fines and towing fees to the city.

The towing company resold the cars through private auctions held at city auto pounds and kept the proceeds. The city ended up paying more than $100,000 to a dozen people whose cars were towed and wrongly sold for scrap before owners could rescue them from the pound.

At the time, aldermen complained that terms of the city’s contract with United Road Services Inc., EAR’s parent company, were too favorable to the company. City Hall initially defended the terms, then promised to renegotiate to add consumer protections.

The impoundment time on booted and impounded vehicles was subsequently extended from 15 to 21 days, with the possibility to request a 15-day extension before vehicles are sold or destroyed. Drivers also were allowed to pay their fines and fees at city pounds.

But no other substantive changes to the contract were made.

Now, the $10 million contract is being rebid, creating another opportunity to tilt the scales in favor of motorists.

The request for proposals due back April 6 requires the contractor to notify the city whenever a vehicle targeted for disposal “has a value in excess of $10,000 or receives a bid in excess of that amount.” In those cases, “The city reserves the right to remove those vehicles” — either for public auction or to add them to the Chicago Police Department’s fleet.

The contract calls for the company to manage and secure four Streets and Sanitation auto pounds, release Denver boots, tow abandoned vehicles within 24-hours of written notification and tow illegally-parked vehicles within 90 minutes of city requests.

The RFP already has drawn interest from five bidders. But that does not necessarily mean an end to EAR’s stranglehold on the business.

The towing contract was rebid in 2003 after EAR’s records were seized in an FBI raid tied to an interstate auto theft ring involving vehicles improperly towed and sold. But when the competition was over, EAR’s parent company was awarded the contract.

EAR has gradually inherited towing responsibilities since Daley took office and has been embroiled in controversy ever since.

Martin McNally, an attorney and former president of EAR, was an investor with Joyce in a company that holds a no-bid concession contract at O’Hare Airport.

McNally also did legal work for Nello Sabatini, the former $95,424-a-year Streets and Sanitation deputy who oversaw city towing operations until his 1998 transfer from that job.