Earlier this week, the City of Chicago’s finance and legal teams and Chicago Parking Meters (CPM) has settled the outstanding legal disputes associated with the parking meter contract, and have negotiated improvements that benefit Chicagoans. The proposed changes will provide for free parking in Chicago neighborhoods on Sundays and will introduce a pay-by-cell option that will provide convenience for parkers choosing to use it. The settlement of outstanding legal disputes will eliminate more than $1 billion of estimated additional charges over the life of the contract.
The proposed settlement agreement reached between the City and CPM and the proposed amendment to the parking meter contract will be introduced to City Council on May 8, 2013 for its thorough review. In contrast to the original deal, which allowed for just three days of review, the City Council will have 30 days to review the proposed agreement and amendment. The resulting dispute resolution and agreements include three important changes to the current parking-meter construct:
Taxpayers Will See $1 Billion Less in Charges
CPM would release more than $1 billion in estimated future charges to the City. The City received invoices totaling $49 million for the two-year period ending March 31, 2013. As part of the settlement, the City would pay $8.9 million for those two years, in line with its accounting of the amounts due to CPM under the original contract. These amounts were contemplated by the original transaction to compensate either the City or CPM for the City closing or adding parking spaces or changing periods of stay, hours of operation or parking rates.
Free Sundays
Metered parking spaces in Chicago neighborhoods will now be free on Sundays. This will provide a much-needed benefit to people attending religious services and to those enjoying all that our neighborhoods have to offer on Sundays. Neighborhoods affected are those south of Roosevelt, west of Halsted and north of North Avenue. Free Sundays are expected to go into effect by the end of summer 2013.
Convenient Pay-By-Cell Option
CPM will introduce a new pay-by-cell convenience option. This new feature will eliminate the need for parkers to visit the pay box, print a parking receipt and then place the receipt in their windshields. Instead, parkers will be able to 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.
Parking Hour Extensions
In connection with the agreement, the City has agreed to extend metered parking by one hour for all blocks where metered parking currently ends at 9:00pm (from 9:00pm to 10:00pm). The area bordered by the Chicago River to the South, the lake to the East, Division Street to the North and the Chicago River to the West will extend meter times by three hours (from 9:00pm to Midnight.) Residential streets where meters currently run until 6:00pm will not see their hours of operation extended.
