LINCOLN SQUARE — Chicago is roughly a gazillion dollars in debt and is running out of ways to nickel and dime its citizens.
But at least one underperforming revenue stream is staring officials right in the face: the city's public fountains.
It's time to start pitching more pennies.
Every October, Chicago's fountains are turned off and drained in advance of winter. All of the coins people have tossed into the water are collected by Fountain Technologies, which has a five-year service contract with the city.
"I'll end up with 40 pounds of pennies," said Matt Saulka of Fountain Technologies.
He turns the booty over to the city and while 40 pounds may sound like a lot, "it doesn't really accumulate to much," Saulka said.
(In 2015 a Texas man cashed in 500 pounds of pennies — a lifetime's worth — for a grand total of $816 dollars.)
Buckingham Fountain, one of the world's largest, nets roughly $200 a year, according to a 2002 report in the Tribune.
By contrast, Rome's Trevi Fountain is swept daily to the tune of 3,000 euros. In 2011, Trevi's total haul topped $1 million.
Are Chicagoans too pragmatic? Do we not believe in wishes?
Saulka theorized that because of Chicago fountains' urban locations, most of the pennies flung into their waters wind up pilfered by passers-by.
Other experts suspect that Buckingham's fenced off perimeter makes it too intimidating of a target.
So how do we turn our fountains into a cash cow?
Trevi has benefited mightily from cameos in movies like "La Dolce Vita" and "Roman Holiday," but none more so than "Three Coins in a Fountain," which conned tourists into believing that a trio of sacrifices to Trevi's magical waters would ensure romance and marriage to a Roman.
Clearly a good PR campaign is in order. Let's hear your pitches for ways to dupe visitors into parting with their common cents.
