City Revises Parking Meter Deal With Free Sunday Neighborhood Parking
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 29, 2013 4:40PM
Photo credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Saying he was “trying to make a little lemonade out of a big lemon,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced changes to that lemon — the city’s parking meter deal. Emanuel claims the deal will save taxpayers $1 billion, settle up to $61 million in outstanding bills from Chicago Parking Meters LLC and provide a measure of relief to Chicago motorists, even as Emanuel acknowledged there was no way to get out of the remaining 71 years of the deal negotiated by his predecessor, Richard M. Daley, in 2008.
The most notable change to the deal allows drivers to park for free on Sundays everywhere except for the Central Business District. You'd think a lemon that big would produce more lemonade.
The free parking, which will go into effect later this summer, will run from 12:01 a.m. Sundays to 8 a.m. Mondays, In exchange for free parking on Sundays, parking charges on weeknights and Saturday will be extended to 10 p.m.
“Sunday is a day when folks are free from the grasp of the parking company,” Emanuel said at a news conference announcing the revisions to the contract a few moments ago. “As one resident told me, you shouldn’t have to pay to go to church.”
Chicago Parking Meters agreed to accept the city’s numbers on what should be owed them in unused parking spots due to road work, handicapped parking or street closures for festivals and other events. Emanuel cited the audits of the bills sent to the city by Chicago Parking Meters and the new software system in place to monitor billing as reasons for the change, which he said will save the city $1 billion over the remaining seven decades of the contract.
The mayor also announced a “pay by cell” feature to be rolled out next summer allowing motorists the option of not having to visit a parking meter pay box. Simply enter a pay box number visibly posted on street signage into a cellular phone application without the need for a receipt. Parkers choosing to pay-by-cell will see a convenience charge of .35 cents applied to purchases of less than two hours at one time. Their phones will operate as their payment method and individuals can create an account with an initial balance of $20. The pay-by-cell option will be available by the summer of 2014.
Emanuel called the parking meter deal a "constant and consistent complaint" during his time in office. "The city should never have done this deal. Period. The deal was badly negotiated. At 75 years it's too long, with no cap on company's profits." (Chicago Parking Meters' profits have increased 368 percent since the contract went into effect in 2008.)
Emanuel added that most of the upfront money the city received in the deal has been spent "filling past budget holes" and there was not enough oversight and review before the contract was passed.
Emanuel will present the changes to the deal as an ordinance at next week’s City Council meeting. “I am absolutely confident there will be as many opinions on these changes as there are Chicagoans,” Emanuel said. "Or we can live with the contract as it is today for another 71 years."