Historian and reporter for The Nation Rick Perlstein is doing a series of articles on the perils of privatization. In this 13 minute interview on WBEZ he lays out the reasons to be very skeptical about the sorts of deals Chicago is “forcing down the throats” of the taxpayers. He gives a shout out to the work of Tom Tresser and the CivicLab.
How can Chicago be broke? The city has paid out $737.1 MILLION in legal settlement and judgement expenses in the nine years of 2003 to 2012. 65% of that is police-related litigation.
$96 MILLION has been spent by the City and Cook County defending Jon Burge and settling with his victims.
In addition, the City has spent $176 million over the past eight years in outside legal fees!
The City has spent a whopping $913,1 MILLION on legal messes.
I should’ve gone to law school!
The Chicago Tribune reported the obvious today.
