Indianapolis Approves Meter Lease Deal, Barely
The vote was a close one.
But Indianapolis’ parking meter lease deal did squeak through the City Council, 15-14 Tuesday morning according to the city’s website.
Indy’s deal leases out 3700 metered spaces for 50 years for only $20 million up front. But the city will get to share in the revenues which, according to city estimates, will bring in $620 over the life of the lease. Indy’s contract, unlike Chicago’s relatively inflexible deal, does have the ability to opt out of the deal every ten years.
The main player in the lease deal is ACS, a company owned by Xerox, which makes up the majority stakeholder in a new entity to oversee the meter system called ParkIndy along with two smaller, local companies.
“Our Council had a huge part in enhancing this parking proposal for the benefit of the citizens of Indianapolis, and our city should be proud of that,” said Mayor Greg Ballard via press release. “The ParkIndy team is committed to improving our parking system in a way that will spur economic development and will result in more convenient parking options for residents and visitors. ACS also will contribute to our local economy by bringing 200 additional jobs to Indianapolis over the next two years.”
Although the lease passed, many people attending the council meeting were unhappy enough to boo loudly after the votes were tallied according to a report from the Indianapolis Star.
ParkIndy will soon begin installing new electronic pay boxes to replace the standard single head meters in Indy, much like LAZ/CPM did in Chicago.
Once the new meters are installed, meter rates will increase.
Will that Greg Ballard pull the ejection seat lever on his career like Daley did? At least the owning company is Xerox, not some bank/black hole in Dubai.
Well, at least their Mayor didn’t bulldoze the deal through in the middle of the night.
I wonder if Indy will blow all the revenue in under two years?
That Meigs stunt was pretty funny. It turns out that Texas has a separatist movement. If the deep south gives a go again, let them. However if I were to be the president, I’d pull a Meigs on the vcosmodrome at Cape Kennedy to keep the south from having a free cosmodrome. Fuck them “good ol boys” you find down south. (and yrs “damnyankee” is one word)