He acts as if private investors are itching to shower Chicago with money and jobs when they’re only looking to make money off the city.

Washington or Springfield to provide the funding for its infrastructure needs — such as the billions of dollars needed to rebuild the CTA lines, which he called the “lifeblood” of his ward.

I asked Moore after the vote how he expected the Trust might pay back such an investment if private funding were used to fund CTA improvements.

At first, he demurred, saying he “just threw that out” as an example his constituents could understand, but when I pressed, he offered: “Potentially, you could pay for it through the fare box.” Meaning a fare increase? “Possibly,” Moore said. I’d say “probably” is the better response in that case, keeping in mind we’re all just speaking hypothetically here.

I’m not saying that’s a bad idea, only that it should be out there on the table.

My main objection remains that the mayor is acting as if there are benevolent private investor groups just itching to shower Chicago with money and jobs when the truth is that they’re only looking for a new angle to make money off the city.

There’s nothing wrong with them trying to make money. It’s even possible the city could benefit in the process. But there just hasn’t been a full and frank discussion of how the Trust will work in practice.

The mayor keeps saying he doesn’t really know how the Trust will be used beyond an initial project to finance $220 million in energy-saving improvements, mostly to public buildings.

City officials say they are confident this “Retrofit Chicago” program will be successful because similar financings have already been accomplished elsewhere. Of course, that was presumably in places without an Infrastructure Trust, as we are supposed to be the first.

It makes you wonder why we can’t just do the retrofit project and be done with it instead of committing the city to a new offthe-books branch of government.

Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th) wrapped up the cheerleading for Emanuel’s plan with his own take on trusting the Trust.

“I think what we’re really being asked today is to trust Chicago’s people,” he said.

I trust that Chicago’s people want us to keep a very close eye on this.