City Hires Tech Consulting Firm To Assist In Parking Meter Fight

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 2, 2012 2:45PM

You know the saying, "spend money to make money." The city is spending money to save money. Specifically, they've given a $300,000 contract to a computer consulting company to develop software so they can better track the parking meters and a more accurate number for what they owe Chicago Parking Meters LLC.

You may be thinking, "why not sue to break the parking meter lease?" That may be a hard row to hoe. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has stopped short of actually doing that, but he has refused to pay the $50 million Chicago Parking Meters has billed the city for everything from street closures to handicap parking placard usage over the past two years. CPM also billed the NATO summit host committee $65,000 for street closures during the summit.

Rather than look for a way to break the deal, Emanuel wants to focus on reducing the bills the city already has in hand from Chicago Parking Meters.

“I do know the parking-meter management team now knows there’s a new sheriff in town,” Emanuel says. “Don’t send a bill just thinking we’re going to sign it. And don’t act like you’re in possession of information when the contract calls for something else. Those days are over.”

The $300,000 the city is spending with Electronic Knowledge Interchange to develop software that will comb through the millions of parking meter transactions to better determine how much the city owes Chicago parking Meters under the contract. Emanuel said he's working with city departments to reduce the time streets are closed for special events and street repairs to keep future bills from CPM lower.