Indianapolis seems to be learning from Chicago’s meter mistakes.

Wednesday, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works, voted unanimously to move ahead with privatizing the city’s parking meter system according to WRTV.

But in Indianapolis, they do things a little differently than Chicago.

When the city first unveiled the original meter deal, there was heavy criticism of many of the terms.

So, unlike the Daley Administration, which despite criticism just jammed the deal down the throats of the city council and citizens of Chicago, Indianapolis went back to the drawing board, got input from business and neighborhood groups, and changed many of the unpalatable parts of their deal.

“We had many, many meetings with the council, with neighborhood groups, with business groups. We’ve listened,” said Deputy Mayor Mike Huber. “They basically asked us if we could make changes to the deal and we have announced 14 key changes.”

One of the major changes is the city gets less money up front–only $20 million as opposed to the original $35. But the deal is structured in such a way, the city will make an estimated $620 million over the 50 year length of the lease. In addition, the city has the opportunity to opt out of the half century contract every 10 years.

It sounds like Indy has got it right. It actually talked to its citizens and businesses, got input and then acted upon it. In the long run, at least on the surface, it looks like they’ll do a lot better on the financial side as well by sharing the income with the vendor.

Here’s the full story from WRTV’s website, “Parking Meter Privatization Moves Forward.”