Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), felon in training

February 19, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters


Federal investigators have requested city records on four West Side zoning changes pushed by Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), amid questions about Carothers' relationship with a Chicago developer who made secret recordings as an FBI mole.

Last year, Carothers' New 29th Ward Campaign Committee got $11,000 in contributions from Morgan Properties Inc., which lists FBI mole John Thomas as "manager."

The contributions came in payments of $9,000, $500 and $1,500, with the last one made on Feb. 23, 2007 -- four days before the aldermanic election, records show.

Last April 9, the committee returned all $11,000, offering no explanation in campaign records except "refund of excess contribution."

Carothers, the powerful chairman of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee, did not return calls seeking comment. He also declined to answer written questions.

Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), felon in training

February 19, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters


Federal investigators have requested city records on four West Side zoning changes pushed by Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), amid questions about Carothers' relationship with a Chicago developer who made secret recordings as an FBI mole.

Last year, Carothers' New 29th Ward Campaign Committee got $11,000 in contributions from Morgan Properties Inc., which lists FBI mole John Thomas as "manager."

The contributions came in payments of $9,000, $500 and $1,500, with the last one made on Feb. 23, 2007 -- four days before the aldermanic election, records show.

Last April 9, the committee returned all $11,000, offering no explanation in campaign records except "refund of excess contribution."

Carothers, the powerful chairman of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee, did not return calls seeking comment. He also declined to answer written questions.

More corruption

A curious tale of two properties

One parcel was owned by friends of Mayor Daley. One wasn't. Guess which rezoning request was OKd?

Friends of Mayor Richard Daley made out handsomely when land they owned was rezoned in the 11th Ward, helping them sell the property for about $2.4 million more than they paid for it.

A critic of the Daley administration didn't do so well, however. He couldn't get a zoning change, and the value of his property diminished by about $4 million, according to court papers.

Both decisions were made by a Daley ally -- James Balcer, the 11th Ward alderman who calls the shots on zoning in his South Side ward.

Zoning is one of the last bastions of power left for Chicago aldermen, who have been marginalized under Daley's control. The Tribune has shown that many of Chicago's 50 aldermen rely on campaign contributions from developers whose projects, in turn, depend on zoning changes.

In the 11th Ward, the ancestral home and power base of the Daley clan, Balcer enjoys so much support from the Daleys that he is the only alderman who doesn't have to raise campaign funds.

To get a view of how he has wielded his zoning power, you need look no further than two parcels that have been swept up in a wave of development that has turned this gritty industrial district into a hot neighborhood for homes.

On Archer Avenue, a familiar cast of Daley insiders benefited. Over on Iron Street, a City Hall antagonist lost out.

The Archer Avenue deal began in March 2002, when Richard Ferro, a political supporter of Daley, bought the property for $325,000. He and his business partner, Thomas DiPiazza, also a Daley contributor, later applied to City Hall to rezone the land for town homes.

DiPiazza and Ferro hired Jack George of Daley & George, the law firm of the mayor's brother Michael. In the last five years, Daley & George has handled 60 rezoning applications -- half of all the applications in the ward that weren't filed by Balcer himself, city records show.

"Mr. DiPiazza has developed a number of projects in the 11th Ward and they have all been a credit to the community," George told the City Council's Zoning Committee at a December 2003 hearing.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-zoning_daley_bdfeb10,0,7037743.story

The city is for sale

Lets sell the whole city!

• Motorists would pay more to park at Chicago’s 36,161 metered spaces — and even higher prices during peak periods in congested areas — in exchange for more cashless payment and pay-by-phone options, under a privatization plan advanced Friday.

  Buoyed by the $2.4 billion gravy train of revenue generated by privatizing the Chicago Skyway and downtown parking garages and the prospect of an even bigger windfall at Midway Airport, Mayor Daley on Friday moved to unload yet another city asset: Chicago parking meters.

  City Hall and the Chicago Park District issued a “request for qualifications” from firms interested in operating what would be the nation’s “first major publicly-owned parking meter operation.”