City of Chicago Announces Parking Meter Changes as of 2-13-09

Changes to Begin February 13th and Be Completed by Mid-March; Concession Proceeds Will Take Pressure Off Property Taxpayers and Help People Most in Need

The City of Chicago today announced that on February 13th, the City’s parking meter concessionaire will begin changing meter rates, days, and times of required operation starting with the Loop area. The changes to Chicago’s meters were approved as part of the City’s $1.15 billion agreement with winning bidder Chicago Parking Meters, LLC.

"This is another part of the Mayor's ongoing commitment to protect property taxpayers from a tax increase," said Chief of Staff Paul A. Volpe.

"Under this creative agreement, we will use funds from the parking meter lease to help balance our budget this year. We'll invest to support people in need. And, we've also created a rainy day fund which will help Chicago work through these difficult times until our economy turns around," said Volpe.

"It's important to understand that 25% of the parking meters are in 2 downtown wards, and that meter increases for more than 25,000 of the 36,000 meters in outlying areas will be the first in more than 20 years," said Revenue Director Bea Reyna-Hickey. She added that 19 wards each hold less than 1% of the parking meters, and two wards contain no parking meters at all.

Motorists are encouraged to take note of posted meter rates, and required hours of operation. Motorists are only required to pay meters based on posted signage.

"One significant change is that most meters will now require payment everyday including Sundays. Meter holidays have also been discontinued. We know this isn't the popular thing to do, but it's the responsible step to take if we're to protect property taxpayers," said Reyna-Hickey.

"These changes will increase turnover of spaces, thereby assisting businesses and motorists alike, and encourage use of public transit. There will be less cruising for spaces, resulting in reduced emissions," she added.

This agreement also mandates the private operator to make system upgrades in the near future that will provide cashless payment options far sooner than the city would be able to complete. And by the middle of 2011, all meters must have both cash and cashless payment options.

The changes can be largely summarized as follows:

• In the Loop area, bordered with Congress on the south, Wacker Drive on the north and west and Lake Michigan on the east, meter rates will change in 2009 from $3.00 to $3.50 per hour. The rate changes are scheduled for February 13, 2009, with expanded hours (generally 24 hours) and reduced evening rates (between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.) scheduled for implementation in the days that follow.
• In the non-Loop Central Business District, bordered with Roosevelt on the south, Halsted on the west, North Avenue on the north, and Lake Michigan on the east, meter rates will change from $1.00 or 1.50 per hour to $2.00 per hour. These changes are scheduled for completion by February 17, 2009.
• Meters in other areas of the City will change from .25, .50 or.75 cents to $1.00 in 2009. This rate also includes metered parking lots owned by the City. They will be implemented as follows:
  • Changes in Lincoln Park are scheduled for completion by February 19, 2009, and the rest of the north side is scheduled to be completed by February 28, 2009;
  • Changes on the west side are scheduled for completion by March 2, 2009; and
  • Changes on the south side are scheduled to be completed by March 9, 2009.

"It's also important to note that these parking rates are very competitive, and in fact, on-street parking rates in other cities are higher than this," added Reyna-Hickey.

The highest hourly rates for downtown or commercial areas in other cities like Denver, Houston, San Franciso, Seatle, Dallas, Las Vegas, and West Palm Beach, FL range from $4.00 to $8.00 an hour.

And at $3.50 an hour, downtown meters still compare extremely favorably to off-street options.

In a struggling national economy, Chicago continues to be creative in developing new ways to generate revenue without overburdening property taxpayers, which is enabling the city to balance budgets from 2008 through 2012 and invest in people most in need.

Revenue from the concession will be allocated in the following ways:

• $400 million in a long-term reserve/revenue replacement fund, similar to the $500 million long-term Chicago Skyway reserve;
• $325 million in a mid-term budget relief fund to help balance city budgets through 2012, consistent with the 2009 budget plan;
• $100 million human infrastructure fund to support for programs helping those most in need; and
• The balance - approximately $324 million . in a budget stabilization or "rainy day" fund that may be used to help bridge the period until the nation�fs economy begins to grow again.

Even though every other city and state in the nation is facing the same deepening revenue and economic problems, no other government - local, state, or federal - has reached groundbreaking agreements in the last several months like the City of Chicago has for Midway Airport and the City�fs parking meters.

This is due to the Mayor's unique vision to pursue these innovative transactions in which Chicago has clearly become a national leader.