We wanted to place a reminder to those of you who weren't around to read the site over the weekend to bring quarters and feed those parking fare boxes if you're downtown today. As Soyoung pointed out Saturday, the city will resume parking ticket enforcement for the downtown Central Business District at 9 a.m. The city will enforce parking tickets across the rest of the city at 9 a.m. tomorrow. There is no more blaming the snow. more ›

We trust that a good number of cars are still buried under piles of snow in and around the city. Although the weather today calls for 'some sun,' it won't be warm enough for the snow to magically disappear. The good news in all this? The city of Chicago has temporarily halted parking ticket enforcement. more ›

Remember Scott Larsen, who was filmed by NBC Chicago getting a parking ticket as he was trying to stuff five dollars worth of quarters into a fare box? Looks like he had the ticket dismissed after someone in the city's Office of Emergency Management & Communications viewed the video. more ›

Gery Chico and Carol Moseley Braun attacked Mayor Daley's controversial deal to lease the city's parking meters to Morgan Stanley bank on Monday, while drawing contrasts to each other. more ›

Any discussion of Richard M. Daley's legacy in the years after he leaves office had better include the parking meter lease deal. Like a cold sore, it's the gift that keeps on giving. While the city is left with a pittance of the $1.15 billion lump payment it received in exchange for a 75-year lease handed to Chicago Parking Meters LLC, parking rates are going to see another increase on Jan. 1. more ›

The city's parking meter situation is certain to be a major issue in the upcoming mayoral election. With only $76 million left of a $1.2 billion lump sum payment for turning over control of the city's parking meters to a private consortium, Voters and media pundits will ask the prospective candidates in the next few months their positions on privatizing city services and whether it's wise to have done some privatizing of services the way Mayor Daley did: rammed through witha City Council rubber stamp and in secrecy. more ›

Alright, people. We know full well that the city got hosed on the parking meter deal. But does that justify out and out stealing the pay and display boxes put up throughout the city by LAZ Parking? more ›

Chicago Parking Meter, LLC, the company that runs the city's privatized meters, will resume ticketing duties tomorrow after a year-plus hiatus. The company voluntarily halted enforcement last spring after the transition was plagued by problems including malfunctioning meter pay boxes. According to The Expired Meter, CPM has hired Serco, Inc., a firm that has helped with the city's parking ticket enforcement in the past, to aid them this time around. The Parking Ticket Geek breaks down the hierarchy in the comments of his story: more ›

Another group of Chicagoans are voicing complaints about the city’s privatized parking meters: Churchgoers. The Tribune looked into how some church members feel about the parking meters that now surround houses of worship. Many church services last longer than two hours which means worshippers have to leave during the service to feed the meter. There are some pastors who feel the city should give parking exemptions to worshippers because of what the church is contributing to the community. Rev. Philip Blackwell, pastor of First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple explains, “We're not asking for special privileges. We just happen to be religious institutions. The strange hours that we keep are complementary to the way the rest of the Loop gets used. If we're going to co-exist in the city we have to have some nuanced understanding about how space is being used. That goes for government vehicles, bikes.” more ›

We've been living with this impending reality for almost a year, but the Chicago Park District has announced that more parking meters are finally being installed along the lakefront beaches just in time for beach season. Eight locations have actually had paid parking since last fall (around 1,500 of 4,400 available parking spaces are pay), but the Park District is expanding the coverage of lots covered by meters. Here's the instructional video they produced last fall ahead of those first round of meters. more ›

Codifying what City Hall officials say has been an unwritten policy, the city council approved an ordinance proposed by Mayor Daley to let drivers off the hook once a year if they've overstayed their parking meter for five minutes. The ordinance will dismiss tickets issued to motorists within the first five minutes of parking meter expiration, once a year, provided they've kept their receipt. "The change will assist motorists who are occasionally ticketed for accidentally overstaying the time on their pay box receipt by a few minutes, despite trying to comply with parking requirements by purchasing adequate parking time," Daley told the Tribune. more ›

If you're on Scott Waguespack's mailing list (hint: we are) this landed in your inbox yesterday afternoon. Wags has been a reliable independent on the city council, and he won his seat in the 32nd Ward after a hard runoff election. Funny, though. We didn't think the meters were going up to $5 a minute until next year. But, hey, nothing surprises us anymore... more ›

The parking meter lease saga continues, as CBS 2 reports that under the city’s lease agreement with Chicago Parking Meter LLC, it could be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to the company for revenues lost when the city closes metered spaces for street construction, fairs, block parties or other projects. Critics opposed to the lease pointed this fact out as well as 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack, who voted against the lease. However, this makes of us think of 33rd Alderman Dick Mell‘s remarks during the original vote on the lease about how could he be expected to read the small print. Did those voting for the lease not bother to do just that? more ›

Just a day after John Schmidt, the city's outside attorney that handles privatization matters indicated that Mayor Daley was anxious to get on with the 99 year lease of Midway Airport, the mayor is indicating that he's not actually in that big of a hurry after all. "It's a long way off. … You have to make sure the market is there," Daley told CBS2 Chicago. The mayor seems to be gun shy of the deal now, after a similar deal in England netted less than was expected. "Gatwick Airport, a small airport in London — instead of going for $1.5 billion, it went for $1.1 billion or $1.2 [billion]. It was down in value. So, that was not a good sign at all. That was just in the last six months." more ›

Following up on Mayor Daley's successful privatization of Chicago's parking meter system, and the cost-savings realized by drivers on the Spanish-leased Chicago Skyway, the mayor is gearing up to lease Midway Airport to a consortium of private investors. Crain's is reporting that the city will meet a February 1 deadline to tell the Federal Aviation Administration what its next steps will be in the process. The FAA has five spots open for a pilot privatization program, one of which is for a major hub airport. Midway currently holds that spot. “The mayor has said he clearly wants to do it,” John Schmidt, the city's outside attorney that handles privatization matters told Crain's. more ›

One of our biggest stories of 2009 has continued right on in to 2010. As our pal the Parking Ticket Geek points out, those new hikes in the city's parking meters go up starting today. The biggest rate increases will happen downtown where parking will go up by 75-cents to $4.25/hour. Other areas of the city will see 50-cent and 25-cent an hour increases. The company in charge of the meters, Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, hopes to have all meters and payboxes updated by January 15th. more ›

The day before another hike in the city's parking rates goes into effect and a day after we looked back on the year that was in the Parking Meter Lease Saga, both the City and the company in charge of the meters have gone on the defensive. The new rates technically begin tomorrow, but technicians won't start phasing the new rates into the meters until Monday and it'll take most of the month of January to get the new rates locked in at all meters around the city. And as the new rates roll out and a new round of complaints get set to roll in, the defense begins. more ›

Just because it was a holiday doesn't mean there hasn't been news going on. Here's a few samples of what you might have missed while eating, opening presents, and soaking in some holiday cheer. more ›

• Investigators now believe a kitchen appliance may have sparked this week's deadly fire in a Streeterville high rise.
• The jury in the Andre Crawford case ruled that he is eligible for the death penalty; they will reconvene on Monday to begin deliberating his sentence.
• Fallout over the frozen meter payboxes continues.

We pondered the new Chicago section of the NY Times and even reminded you yesterday and...now it's here. I actually picked up a copy this morning but haven't had time to read it yet. However, lucky for me (and all of you, right?) you can also access the content online here. Besides the CNC's NY Times content, the site also features Chicago-centric headlines from other sources as well as links to other helpful Chicago sites (including us!). Of course, if you're reading this then you probably already know that stuff. more ›

As property taxes in the city are set to skyrocket, Mayor Daley, still reeling from the parking meter debacle, the loss of the 2016 Summer Olympics and an all-time low popularity rating is playing the blame game. After claiming that he'll hold the line on taxes with next year's budget, he's pointing fingers now that property tax bills are set to soar, even while property values have plummeted. Going after Cook County Assessor James Houlihan, Daley proclaimed his ignorance of how property taxes are assessed. "The thing I can't understand (is) this whole assessment deal," the mayor said. "Now, no one's value is going up in the city. ... I'm asking him how he does it." (Our own Chuck Sudo explained how they work in the comments of this post.) more ›

Now that Mayor Daley is firmly back on Chicago soil, he's staring down not only a dangerously low popularity rating, but also a city that's on the verge of economic disaster. Impending budget holes, (yet another) CTA Doomsday scenario, unemployment and of course the on going parking meter fiasco. Before any of these crisis, individually or in total, do him in, Mayor Daley is trying his darnedest to to some serious spin. He's already insisted he won't raise property taxes to close the budget gap, likely taking reserve funds to help him do that. more ›

Just when you thought it was safe to park, they're back. After being pulled off-duty back in the spring, it seems as if the parking enforcement crew of LAZ Parking are ready to take over patrolling duties of the city's parking meters. According to the Parking Ticket Geek, sources say all that's left is the official thumbs up from City Hall, a.k.a Mayor Daley who's a bit busy this week, but that the new enforcement push could begin as early as the beginning of October. more ›

The accolades keep rolling in. Not only are we Forbes' most stressful American city, but now the National Motorists Association have named Chicago as the worst city to drive through on Labor Day weekend. We...don't have much to argue with there. Seems like there are other cities that probably give us a run for the money (L.A., Atlanta) but the NMA has two specific reasons they outline: shady red light cameras and the parking meter fiasco. more ›

The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization will file suit against the City of Chicago today, alleging that the deal inked with Morgan Stanley to lease the city's parking meters for the next 75 years is illegal. According to a press release the organization will make copies of the suit public at a 10:30 a.m. press conference. The organization is working with Clint Krislov, of Krislov & Associates, Ltd. more ›

It's been a while since we've read a good, old fashioned anti-government manifesto. Luckily for us, reader Katie Scully was kind enough to share these pics, displaying a lengthy anti-Daley/Parking Meter/Taxes/2016 Olympics manifesto posted earlier this month in the front window of String A Strand in Lincoln Square. At first, we were going to have a little fun, but then we realized the rant could easily double for anything either we or our pals over at the Reader have written in the last six months. more ›

One last, self-indulgent note before we bow out for the day. Chicagoist went live on May 10, 2004 featuring a design you can see above (via the Wayback Machine). Since then, we've had ups and downs but it's been one hell of a ride. Five years is an eternity in internet time, so thanks to Jen, Jake and all our benefactors in NYC, thanks to Rachelle and Margaret for getting the ball rolling here, thanks to every single writer who has posted - past and present - for your hard work, and last but most importantly, thanks to all of you readers who keep coming back every day. We hope to see you tomorrow night at our celebration, and we'll see you back here next week as we start the next five years. - M.G. more ›

The recent privatization of the city's parking meters has proven to be one big mess and LAZ Parking, the firm now in charge of the meters, admits that it wasn't prepared. In a report filed by the Tribune, a temporary employee who worked for LAZ said, "The city has three types of meters. We had plenty of devices to reprogram two kinds of meters, but not nearly enough for the last type. As a result, the new stickers being put on the meters did not match what many of the meters were charging." The company used security guards and temporary employees to make the transition. Another hang-up, according to the Trib's source? Batteries. more ›

This week in the Chicagoist Podcast Series, we continue to welcome the slow rollout of spring. It's taking its sweet-assed time, and it'll be summer in just a couple weeks, but for right now, let's close our eyes and pretend that it's a constant 67 degrees with sun, shall we? more ›

We’ve seen plenty of arrest-worthy parking meter shenanigans over the past couple of weeks: graffiti, vandalism, filling meters with pennies, gluing quarters into meter slots and more. The rage of Chicago residents over the increased parking fees seems to be growing steadily, and we expected to see stories about an upsurge in arrests and tickets as the city and the police retaliate. What we didn’t expect: threats of arrest for… paying parking meters. more ›