Meter Hearings Set to Start Thursday

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 29, 2009 6:40PM

According to the Reader's Mick Dumke, Ald. Joe Moore (49th) sent out an email to constituents this morning informing them that the hearings on the Great Meter Debacle will commence this Thursday, July 2nd. This considering the City has already announced plans to spend some of the money made from the deal.

That’s eight months after the deal was cut and approved--and some of the money received in it already spent--but Moore gives his best Thomas Paine impression in arguing that democracy itself is at stake in the push to find out more. The lease agreement “should serve as a wake-up call for the City Council to begin to assert its role as a true independent legislative body rather than a branch of the Mayor's office,” he writes.

Of course, as Dumke points out, Ald. Moore was one of 45 City Council members to vote for the meter deal in the first place. In case you need reminding, the five who voted against the meter deal were Alds. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Billy Ocasio (26th), Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Rey Colon (35th)