Parking Privateers Expand Pitch While Claiming Surprise (And, No Doubt, Erecting A Gangplank)

Today's developments with respect to the Suddenly-Not-So-Great InsolvenCity Parking Garage Sale:

With hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars at stake, the privateers have reacted to council's lopsided rejection by launching a never-say-die, full-court press. They have apparently switched strategic gears, approaching council members directly (after ignoring most council members for months) to request (1) an opportunity for communication and (2) an open mind. Privateers are claiming that the Ravenstahl administration misled them with respect to council members' votes, sentiments and desire for direct participation in the process.

Lobbying has become frenzied, with some formerly behind-the-scenes players emerging for direct pitches.

Privateers also are attempting to expand outreach among neighborhood groups, in some cases involving events and meetings scheduled to occur after Tuesday (the day on which a council supermajority seems destined to bury the proposed lease).

Local fallout includes anxiety among professional firms that invested substantial effort in devising, documenting and promoting the proposed transaction, ostensibly for a contingent fee; one firm's partners have been told that millions of dollars are at risk.