Another Point Of View On Missing Meter Minutes

That solitary voice is Leonard Gilroy, Director of Government Reform for the Reason Foundation, a pro-free market think tank, and a prolific defender of any government privatization efforts. In fact, despite all the problems Chicago's had with the meter deal, he has been a strong proponent of the privatization of our city's parking meters.

In his most recent piece, "Time is Relative, Except to Chicago Parking Meter Lease Critics," Gilroy thinks the media frenzy on the missing minutes was, to paraphrase, a bunch of crap. In fact, he spends nearly the entire piece trying to present the controversies surrounding the clock timing inaccuracies as a complete non-issue.

In a bizarre display of investigative journalism, the Chicago Sun-Times published a "gotcha" piece yesterday in which the reporters attempt to make headlines with a new smear against the $1.15 billion lease of the city's parking meter system. Their crack reporting exposed the fact that...(gasp!)...the new pay-and-display parking meters show different times than people's cell phones.

Read the piece for yourself, make up your own mind and feel free to share your thoughts and comments here.

I have my own opinion on what Mr. Gilroy has to say and will share those thoughts with you in the next day or so.