Politics
Pay $15.5M to Parking Meter Firm to Resolve Claim City Violated Deal During COVID-19 Pandemic, Lawyers Urge
Chicago taxpayers should pay $15.5 million to the private firm that leases the city’s parking meters to compensate the firm for taking parking spaces out of service during the stay-at-home orders issued by city and state officials to stop the spread of COVID-19, lawyers recommended.
The much-loathed 2008 deal requires the city make “true-up” payments to Chicago Parking Meters to compensate the firm for lost revenue when meters are removed, temporarily taken out of commission with the city’s permission or used by motorists with disabled parking permits.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced during a March 18, 2020, news conference that tickets would “only” be issued for safety reasons and specifically said that parking at an expired parking meter did not represent a public safety threat. Lightfoot told drivers they should still pay to park at meters.
That order was in effect for two and a half months and cost the firm $2 million in direct payments from motorists, according to the claim filed against the city by the parking meter firm.
In addition, the city violated the terms of the agreement that allows the city to add or remove parking spaces under the control of the parking meter firm between 2021 and 2022, according to the claim filed against the city by the parking meter firm.
A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson called the settlement a victory for the city secured by “tough and effective negotiations.”
The city earned more than $25 million from citations issued at disputed parking meters, according to the mayor’s office. The deal also calls for “one year of enhanced parking enforcement” and an agreement to share data between the city and the parking meter firm, officials said.
Initially, the parking meter firm demanded $322 million from the city, according to the mayor’s office.
The firm paid the city $1.16 billion to lease thousands of parking meters from the city for 75 years, starting in 2008.
The city used much of the money from that deal — inked by former Mayor Richard M. Daley — to close short-term budget gaps, making it impossible for city officials to back out of the contract.
It took just a decade for the firm to recoup that investment, and since then it has earned hundreds of millions of dollars, including $150.9 million in 2023 alone, according to an audit.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
