Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, desperate for cash to prop up his bankrupt and broken city, will lease anything. Parking meters. Airports. Now, water.

A constituent asks: “Why are we having a fire sale on everything in the city?”

Because everything’s for sale in the city…

If the parking meter deal put a bad taste in your mouth, try swallowing this: Chicago is considering leasing its water system to help fix the budget.

The new boss could charge whatever they want for water, CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez reports…

…A trade publication says the city’s Department of Water Management is “considering a lease of its water and wastewater system.”

Alderman Scott Waguespack has heard similar rumblings.

“We’ve already heard inklings that they’re thinking about it,” he said. “They’ve had discussions. Why is the public not at the table?”

Waguespack was one of the few holdouts on the City Council when the parking meter deal went through. Under that controversial plan, the cash-strapped city agreed to lease its parking spaces for 75 years to a private firm that would collect higher parking rates. It netted the city more than $1 billion in cash.

“Why are we having a fire sale on everything in the city?” Waguespack said.

…CBS 2 made repeated calls to Illinois-American Water, with no luck. Mayor Daley didn’t want to talk, either…