Mayor Emanuel's 'children's fund' from speed fines doesn't exist in budget

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pitching the $70 million he expects to collect from speed camera tickets next year as a way to help children — spending the windfall on a mix of after-school programs, early childhood education, summer jobs, violence reduction, crossing guards, police outside schools and other efforts.

"I promised that the revenue from new speed camera enforcement in children's safety zones would go to keeping our children safe, and this budget does exactly that," Emanuel said as he presented his spending plan last month. "We will be creating a Children's Fund to ensure that this ... new money is dedicated to keeping our kids learning and safe."

There is no children's fund in the proposed city budget. Instead, the money from speed camera fines will go straight into the city's $3.3 billion general fund to spend as the mayor and City Council see fit. Talking about helping children is more politically palatable than discussing the revenue from speed cameras that drivers are starting to pay.

Just a reminder, "bait and switch" expert Rahm Emanuel pushed through ObamaCare as White House Chief of Staff!