Chicago: City of the Pinched Shoulders

Don't know how many politicos there are here, but there is a raging thread over at DailyKos (the most visited progressive blog on the "Blog-o-sphere") that concerns our fair city. I still don't know what I think of it, but I thought it would be of interest to my fellow Chicagoans... http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/12/29/12749/847 In a nutshell, it concerns cheap diesel fuel for CTA buses... and the source... Venezuela. Quote:> In secret negotiations, Chicago, the "tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities," is turning down an offer from Citgo, the Venezuelan oil giant, of a 40-50 percent discount on diesel fuel for buses this winter. (Only 12,000 homes in all of Illinois use heating oil.) In an October meeting with representatives from the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the city's Department of Energy and other city officials, Citgo unveiled a plan to provide the Chicago with low-cost diesel fuel. The company's stipulation, at the bidding of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was that the CTA, in turn, pass those savings on to poor residents in the form free or discounted fare cards. [...] According to Venezuela's consul general in Chicago, Martin Sanchez, the CTA has yet to inform his office of its decision to decline the discount offer. In place of the proposed discount, which the CTA apparently does not want Chicagoans to even know about, budget shortfalls will be addressed by fair hikes. Chicagoans who are unaware of the Venezuela offer will be hit with an increase of 25 cents per ride next month, and discounted route-to-route transfers will be eliminated for passengers paying cash. >Has any one heard anything about this? Or is this tin-foil hat stuff?>