Ald. Suarez Outraged Over Vanecko Lease Deal

By Kevin Robinson in News on Jun 25, 2009 4:40PM

The ongoing city scandal over real estate and leases involving the mayor's nephew has drawn the ire of 31st Ward Alderman Ray Suarez. Reacting to the questionable month-to-month lease the Department of General Services established back in November of 2007, Suarez told the Sun-Times that he should have signed off on it. Suarez is chair of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate.

Last week he demanded answers as to why the city has paid nearly half a million dollars in rent to Vanecko's company, when the arrangement was supposed to be temporary. Yesterday he announced that he'll introduce an ordinance to require greater city council oversight of such deals. “You could have one or two or three or four months. Then, you would have to come to the City Council and have a letter of justification why it should be done,” Suarez told the paper. “Long month-to-month leases give the impression … that something [kinky] is going on. I want to make sure that we avoid any kind of perception out there by the public. ... We’re gonna correct this. ... It’s gonna be something that’ll bring credibility to the system.”

There are scant details on what Suarez's proposed ordinance might look like, but we're always in favor of greater oversight of city funds and assets. Given Chicago's terrible track record with handling anything of value that isn't directly connected to the body of mayor or an alderman, we'd suggest that Suarez take a look at the federal regulations governing the leasing of private real estate. A process of greater transparency, governed by a rational process might make it harder for patronage hacks to hand over tax payer dollars to connected players.