Tag Archives: Chicago parking meter lease deal
Parking Meter Rates Change Starting January 2nd
Chicago Retains Title For America’s Highest Meter Rates
While officially, Chicago’s increased parking meter rates kicked in at midnight New Year’s Day, meter rates will begin changing on Tuesday, January 2nd, according to the website for Chicago Parking Meters, LLC.
“The transition to the new rates will begin on January 2nd, starting with the Loop and moving outward into the neighborhoods,” explains the press release posted to the CPM website. “Weather conditions permitting, the goal is to complete the transition in January.”
Boycott, Stop Parking At Meters Says Writer
Edward McClelland knows how Mayor Rahm Emanuel can break the city’s infamous parking meter lease contract.
According to the NBC website columnist, it’s as simple as just not driving and not parking on streets controlled by the city’s parking meters.
In other words, boycott the meters.
McClelland encourages his readers to bike, walk, or do anything else but use a car instead.
Parking meter revenue will decline, profits for the meter system will falter and then Chicago Parking Meters, LLC will be be forced to renegotiate the 75 year lease.
As much as we encourage drivers to avoid parking at the meters as much as possible, and with all due respect to Mr. McClelland, the chances of this ever happening are similar to one’s odds at winning a million dollars in the lottery.
CBS2 News Covers Parking Meter Story At 6 PM
CBS 2 News picks up and runs with The Expired Meter’s exclusive story on the $2.1 million bill the city received from Chicago Parking Meters, LLC for lost revenue in 2009 and 2010.
Here’s CBS 2′s full story: “Parking Meter Firm Bills City $2.1M For Lost Revenue From Street Closures.”
Parking Meter Firm Bills City Another $2.1 Million
Documents Show Hidden Cost Of Lease Deal To Taxpayers
An LAZ employee documents a closure along Irving Park Road at California Ave. for Chicago Parking Meters, LLC
While Chicago’s infamous parking meter lease deal quietly celebrated its third anniversary the first week of December, the city was releasing documents chronicling more evidence the privatization of the city’s more than 36,000 parking meters turned out to be more costly for taxpayers than originally imagined.
Financial statements, released by the Chicago Inspector General’s office via their Open Chicago government transparency initiative, reveals what many critics of the lease deal had feared–the city would end up owing or paying Chicago Parking Meters, LLC millions of dollars in compensation when any sort of change or activity by the city impacts parking meter revenue for the company.
Financial statements for the company show that CPM has billed the city an additional $2,191,326 in “True-up Revenue” through the end of 2010.
As the notes from the independent auditor’s report by accounting firm KPMG LLP to the financial statements explains:
Chicago Tonight Weighs In On Chicago Parking Meters’ $13.5 Million Bill For Free Disabled Parking
WTTW’s Paris Schutz puts together a nice nuts and bolts synopsis of Chicago Parking Meter, LLC’s recent $13.5 million bill for an overabundance of motorists utilizing handicap license plates and disabled placards to park for free in metered spots.
The PMZ: Chicago’s Parking Meter Zoo
Last week this site in a piece entitled “The World’s Loneliest Parking Meters,” reported on an area of the city with plenty of metered parking spaces, but no one there to park.
The area is essentially adjacent to the University of Illinois Medical District and just on the cusp of Pilsen between Ashland and Damen.
But a pair of amateur videographers have come up with their own name for the area: The PMZ or Parking Meter Zoo.
The World’s Loneliest Parking Meters
Over $400,000 Invested In Meters Where No Cars Park
One of 72 newly installed multi-space parking meter stands lonely and unused in a desolate area of the South Side
Nostalgic types might consider it a sad day when the last of Chicago’s old fashioned single head parking meters got replaced in late spring in a desolate section of the near South Side.
Chicago Parking Meters, LLC recently installed over 70 pay and display machines in June, after removing the city’s last remaining single head meters a few weeks previous. But the area, roughly bounded by Ashland & Damen, between 15th and 13th has plenty of spaces to park, but with no one actually parking there.
But perhaps what is most interesting is that CPM was forced to spend over $400,000 to install expensive, cutting edge parking meter pay boxes for several thousand metered spaces, in an area that will never generate enough revenue for CPM to ever see a return on their investment there.
Parking Meter Pay Box Failure In Chicago Resurfaces In Oklahoma City
Remember the “Massive Meter Meltdown” back in spring of 2009?
The late May weather in Chicago was beautiful when LAZ Parking, on behalf of Chicago Parking Meters, LLC was finishing installing hundreds of electronic, multi-space pay and display units downtown Chicago.
But just days after installing the units about 250 of the pay boxes just stopped working. Panicked drivers didn’t know what to do. Parking Enforcement Aides and other ticket writers were instructed to cease ticketing. The city lost thousands of dollars in ticket revenue that day and the Daley Administration, CPM and LAZ were all deservedly red-faced.
Incredibly, this story has come back to haunt Cale Parking USA, the manufacturer of Chicago’s pay and display parking meter machines in a bid for a contract in Oklahoma City, OK according to a story by The Oklahoman newspaper.
Daley Takes Job With Parking Meter Deal Law Firm
Ex-Mayor Daley gave Chicagoans one last slap in the face after exiting office just a few weeks ago.
This past week, according to Crain’s Chicago Business, Daley took a position at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP–the high powered local law firm which helped negotiate the former mayor’s much criticized parking meter privatization deal.
Moreno Pushes Bike Racks, Drops F-Bomb On LAZ
You know the parking meter lease deal is unpopular when even bicycle riders hate it.
This revelation came back in March, when Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) was meeting with bike riders to discuss different pro-cycling initiatives after Moreno uttered a naughty word toward LAZ Parking the on the street face of Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, according to Chicago’s bicycle news correspondent John Greenfield in TimeOut Chicago.
Asked how meter lessee LAZ Parking would react to the loss of revenue if car spaces were removed, Moreno responded, “Fuck ’em.” The crowd of cyclists went wild.
