Chicago's latest gripe with the parking meter deal
Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶
At 8 tonight, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will face off in their first televised debate, which could shape the outcome of the race to the White House.
The stakes are high, and my colleagues are covering the debate and local response tonight via our live blog at suntimes.com.
There, you'll find real-time fact-checking, dispatches from GOP- and Democratic-hosted watch parties and postdebate analysis — all through the lens of what matters most to Chicago-area voters.
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We've also got a one-minute explainer on our Instagram to quickly catch you up on all the debate drama.
Before tonight's showdown, we've got community news you need to know this afternoon. That includes Chicago's latest gripe with the parking meter deal, a record-setting $75 million gift to the Art Institute and more below. ????
⏱️: A 7-minute read
— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)
TODAY’S TOP STORY
Chicago Parking Meters LLC accused of violating city’s minority participation requirements
Reporting by Fran Spielman
Detesting for decades: The 75-year, $1.15 billion deal that privatized Chicago parking meters is the deal taxpayers love to hate for how lopsided it's been — and how quickly private investors recouped their money. Now, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg is giving beleaguered taxpayers yet another reason to despise the deal.
Showing contempt: In an advisory released today, Witzburg accused Chicago Parking Meters LLC of thumbing its nose at the city's "monetary participation" requirements for minority businesses.
Terms of the lease: The 75-year lease requires CPM to utilize certified minority- and women-owned businesses for "at least 25% of annual expenses tied to operating the parking meter system, excluding construction contracts."
The reality: From 2011 to 2018, CPM "claimed MBE credit for a vendor that was not MBE-certified," Witzburg said. In other words, that didn't happen.
Key quote: "The city’s contract with CPM is hugely significant on its scale and impact on city operations and finances. This serves only to magnify the importance of its requirements being met," Witzburg wrote.
CPM's defense: CPM "contended that it still satisfied" the set-aside requirements, "notwithstanding the fact that it appeared to improperly count" the uncertified vendor. The inspector general didn’t buy it.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
- $50M for decadelong imprisonment: A federal jury awarded $50 million in damages Monday to Marcel Brown, 34, who was wrongfully convicted in a 2008 murder case — a record for the highest amount awarded to a single person in a wrongful conviction case.
- Art Institute gifted $75M: The donation will go toward a new building to showcase modern art from the 19th and 20th centuries. The funds, the single largest naming gift the museum has ever received, come from art collectors Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed.
- CPS fires sports director: Chicago Public Schools said Monday that it has parted ways with sports director David Rosengard but declined to comment further on the personnel matter.
- Silicon Valley downtown: Cybersecurity company Fortinet is opening a new facility Tuesday in the West Loop, a growing tech hub in the city.
- Childish Gambino postpones shows: Actor Donald Glover said Monday that he is postponing an Oct. 3 show at the United Center and other stadium dates by his hip-hop alter ego.
- ‘Stir of Echoes’ turns 25: Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper looks back on the supernatural thriller that brought Kevin Bacon out to Chicago.
EXPLORING THE CITY ????
Lorraine Hansberry monument, new at Navy Pier, invites Chicagoans to slow down, sit awhile
Reporting by Mike Davis | WBEZ
A new sculpture of Lorraine Hansberry outside Navy Pier depicts the late playwright, journalist and civil rights activist sitting on a tree stump.
The stump represents the Chicago native’s short life, says Alison Saar, the artist who created the sculpture. Hansberry died of pancreatic cancer at 34.
Titled "To Sit a While," this work arrives in Chicago, where Navy Pier will be its permanent home, after a two-year U.S. tour that took it to Los Angeles and New York.
Five life-size bronze chairs surround Hansberry in a tight circle, encouraging visitors to sit. Saar says each of the monument’s seats — an ottoman, a bar stool, an office chair, and two chairs that look like they belong in a kitchen — has a special meaning.
"I think most of us know Lorraine Hansberry as the playwright who wrote 'A Raisin in the Sun,'" Saar says. "But she was also an activist for African American and civil rights, and also for LGBTQ+ rights and a feminist, and also a journalist. So I tried to have each of those chairs represent those different, equally powerful aspects."
Saar says she hopes the sculpture will encourage people to slow down, sit and reflect.
BRIGHT ONE ✨
Kori Coleman and D-Composed showcasing Black classical music — and musicians — in Chicago and beyond
Reporting by Kyle MacMillan | For the Sun-Times
It would be understandable to expect the artistic director of D-Composed, a Black chamber music collective, to be a musician, but Kori Coleman isn’t. She is a music lover who abandoned the violin and oboe as a teenager because she felt culturally isolated and excluded.
Inspired in part by her disappointment in not seeing herself represented in the music world she encountered as a young wannabe player, she founded D-Composed in 2017.
The Waukegan native is a new brand of leader who is more an artistic instigator and connector, making sure the core members of Chicago’s only all-Black classical ensemble are essentially co-artistic directors and play a role in all creative decisions.
Coleman, 33, who also serves as D-Composed’s executive director, still works full time in marketing and advertising, and carries lessons from that consumer-driven realm into everything she does with the collective.
"I realized I probably wasn’t the only one that felt that way," she said. "I decided to just go on the internet, and I started researching Black musicians in Chicago, and I came across yelley taylor, who was our former artistic director and violist."
The ensemble will join forces Oct. 1 with innovative bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the Truth for the Chicago premiere of "Robeson," a hybrid work focused on 20th century singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson. It will be D-Composed’s debut at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance and one of its highest-profile outings so far.
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What's your favorite sculpture, monument or work of public art in Chicago? Tell us why.
For me, it's the Light of Truth Ida B. Wells National Monument in Bronzeville.
Unveiled about three years ago, this bronze sculpture honors the life and work of the trailblazing journalist, highlighting some of her most compelling quotes. Beyond it just being visually stunning, I get inspired every time I see it.
Reply to this email (please include your first and last name, age and neighborhood). To see the answers to this question, check Wednesday's Morning Edition. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won't miss a thing!
ONE MORE THING ????
Let’s be real, going to a watch party takes effort. What about the casual viewer watching from their couch or catching viral clips on TikTok or YouTube?
We’d love to hear from you no matter how you take in the debate. Your reaction could be shared on our live blog, social media or airwaves.
Here’s how you can reach us:
- Text ELECTION to 260-233-9818: By texting this number, you’ll get relevant news and information about the election, along with questions from us about your reaction to the debate and your thoughts leading up to Election Day.
- Email us: You can also reply to me. Remember to share your first and last name, age and relevant information about yourself and what you thought about the debate. If you share in real time, we may be able to use your response in our live blog.
- Call 866-915-9239: Wednesday morning, 8:30–9 a.m., WBEZ 91.5 is holding a live call-in show with Mary Dixon and Alden Loury. Think of it as a big breakfast table conversation.
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Afternoon Edition.
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Written by: Matt Moore
Editor: Esther Bergdahl
Copy editor: Angie Myers