Mayor Daley will acknowledge tonight that his administration "totally screwed up" the transition to private control of the city's 36,000 parking meters and that some Chicagoans believe he has "put too much time into" the quest for Olympic gold.
With a $520 million shortfall that can only be filled by tax increases and spending cuts, three nights of public hearings on Daley's preliminary 2010 budget are expected to turn into giant gripe sessions before City Hall lowers the boom.
Congressional hearings on President Obama's health care plan are likely to look tame by comparison.
Nothing like an apology on parking meters to take the edge off the anger.
"I'll be the first to admit that we totally screwed up the way it was implemented. I want us to do better -- and we will," Daley plans to tell the crowd at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. Shore Dr., according to a copy of his speech obtained by the Sun-Times.
No issue in recent memory -- not even the Hired Truck scandal or Daley's notorious midnight destruction of Meigs Field -- has resonated more with voters than the 75-year, $1.15 billion parking meter lease tied to a steep schedule of rate hikes.
It was bad enough that drivers had to stuff their pockets with quarters to pay the higher meter rates.
When the transition to private control got bogged down by broken pay-and-display boxes and overstuffed and improperly calibrated meters that overcharged motorists, Daley and aldermen who approved the deal had a crisis on their hands.
After falling on his sword in the bluntest of terms, the mayor will defend the deal as "financially responsible" and argue that, without it, "we'd be forced to consider raising new revenues and cutting services this year."
The other hot-button issue is Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and Daley's promise to sign a host-city contract that amounts to an open-ended guarantee from Chicago taxpayers.
"I am confident they will make a profit and not cost Chicago's taxpayers," Daley plans to say, apparently referring to private insurance policies that could shield taxpayers from any losses beyond the $500 million the City Council has already promised.
"Still, I can understand why some believe that we've put too much time into pursuing the Olympics. To those who feel that way, I want you to know that nothing matters more to me than making Chicago a better city -- for every neighborhood and every person," Daley plans to say, according to the text of his speech. "Nothing troubles me more than the violence against our children that continues to needlessly take their lives."
Even after wringing concessions from organized labor and drying up a "rainy day" fund created by the parking meter deal, Chicago has a $520 million budget shortfall in 2010.
With no obvious untapped sources of revenue, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall has warned that city government will be "forced to re-invent itself in the way it delivers services and eliminates services not critical."
Tonight, Daley will make no effort to sugarcoat the difficult choices ahead.
"We need to understand what services you want us to continue. We also need to hear what services you believe you can go without," he plans to say.
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