The City That Sold Itself To Wall Street

09/01/23 • 38 min

11 Listeners

Cautionary Book Club: When Morgan Stanley offered to lease Chicago's parking meters for the princely sum of $1 billion, the City Council were convinced that they had struck gold. They hastily signed the deal. But they soon learnt that they hadn't just traded away parking revenue - they had traded away the streets themselves...

In this hybrid episode of Cautionary Tales, Tim Harford first tells the story of the Chicago parking metres fiasco of 2008. In the second half, Tim is joined by Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise, to discuss the lessons we can glean from Chicago's deal with Wall Street, and why parking is such an emotive issue for so many.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

General Ludd's Rage Against the Machines

1812. A band of "Luddites" is laying siege to a textile mill in the North of England, under cover of night. They plan to destroy the machines that are replacing their jobs. But mill owner William Cartwright is prepared: he's fortified his factory with skilled marksmen, fearsome eighteen-inch metal spikes and barrels of sulphuric acid.

Today "Luddite" is a term of mockery — a description for someone who's scared of technology. But in 1812, Luddism was no laughing matter for the likes of Cartwright. And he plans to teach the intruders a lesson.

For a full list of sources for this episode, please visit timharford.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Episode

A Chorus of Contempt at The Sydney Opera House

1 Recommendations

1957. Jørn Utzon receives a phone call: he's just won an international competition to design a brand new opera house for the Australian city of Sydney. Utzon is unknown in the field, so this is a triumph. The young architect couldn’t have imagined what a bitter victory it would turn out to be...

The Guggenheim in Bilbao; the Burj Khalifa in Dubai; the Shard in London. These days, everyone seems to want an iconic building. But Sydney Opera House was the first, the greatest – and the most painful. It's now fifty years since the Opera House was opened. This is its origin story.

For a full list of sources, please see the show notes at timharford.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford - The City That Sold Itself To Wall Street

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:15.369

Pushkin. A winter's day in Chicago, early two thousand and nine,

Speaker 100:00:27.649

it's cold. Scott waggers Pack, a newly elected alderman for the north side of town, is keen to impress despite the freezing temperatures. He's pounding the streets personally investigating a complaint about some garbage blocking an alley. As he surveys the scene piles of paperwork everywhere, he realizes that this is no ordinary