Prepare for Parking Meter Privatization: Tell Us How You Feel

Simply put, it was a freight train rolling down the track.

If you regularly park your car at any of Chicago's 36,000 parking meters, you'd better start stocking up on quarters. The City Council today voted in favor of privatizing the meters, a move which will generate $1.15 billion in revenue. Forty aldermen voted “yes” on the proposal, while only five—Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Leslie Hairston (5th), Billy Ocasio (26th), Scott Waguespack (32nd) and our transfer champion Rey Colon (35th)—voted “no.”

As the Chicago Sun-Times reported today, Alderman Ocasio made his point by emptying $26 worth of quarters from a piggy bank:

“'We’re no longer nickel-and-diming people. We’re quartering them—as in 25 cents....No one carries that amount of quarters,’ said Ocasio, who emptied a piggy-bank filled with $26 worth of quarters to dramatize the children’s piggybanks he warned parents will have to raid to feed the meters.”

You may not need quite as much as $26 in quarters to spend a few hours shopping in Pilsen orLakeview, but in allcity neighborhoods, meter rates will climb from their current range of 25 to 75 cents an hour to $1 an hour on January 1, 2009, and by 2013, they will climb to $2 an hour. Downtown meters will jump from $3 an hour to $3.50 an hour on January 1, 2009, eventually soaring to $6.50 an hour in 2013. Additionally, downtown meters will need to be fed 24/7, even on holidays.

This may sound steep, but as Alderman Brian Doherty (42nd) explained that without the deal, aldermen would’ve been charged with finding $150 million elsewhere to fill the budget hole.

Additional efforts will be made to step up the revenue, the Sun-Times reported:

“Parking enforcement will also get tougher. Not only will the partnership that includes Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and LAZ Parking issue parking tickets to ‘supplement’ the city’s efforts. The ‘broken meter’ defense can now be used only by motorists who report the meters ‘inoperable or malfunctioning within 24 hours’ of the incident.”

Now that Chicago’s parking meters join Midway Airport, the Chicago Skyway and downtown parking garages in privatization, the question is, “What’s next?”

“We’re not going to tell you now,” Mayor Daley replied.

How will the meter rate increase affect you? Please tell us in the comments section below. Contact C.A.R. Government Affairs Director Brian Bernardoni at bbernardoni@chicagorealtor.com with any questions or concerns.

When 2009 rolls around, have some extra quarters handy!