This is About the Money

Get ready for the screaming:

• Meter rates are going up in the Loop Friday and in other parts of the city later this month, as part of the city’s $1.15 billion agreement to privatize its meter system.

  [...] On Friday, meter costs in the Loop will increase to $3.50 an hour from $3 an hour.

Here's the thing that amazes us:

• The city is getting $1.15 billion to outsource meter management over the next 75 years to Chicago Parking Meters LLC.

What are the odds that there was a company named "Chicago Parking Meters LLC" out there just waiting for the opportunity to bid on the outsourcing of Chicago's parking meters? This wouldn't be another one of those companies that suddenly springs into being with assorted City Hall flunkies, politicos, relatives and former lobbyists in "sensitive" spots backed by an overseas banking consortium with $1.15 billion lying around, would it?

And what about the statements that feeding the meters is now a 24/7/365 requirement? Has anyone looked at just how much overnight parking has been wiped off the map in a number of high population density wards? We're talking miles worth of parking gone. What if the "Chicago Parking Meter LLC" people push through (or already have) a stipulation that they can field manpower to ticket on "their" meters in order to "maximize" their investment? As we pointed out in the previous post, CTA supervisors are ticketing Rush Hour parking on a holiday. Has anyone even addressed this issue?

We sense a disturbance brewing. And it's going to involve a blizzard of "Damage to Property" case reports involving "Chicago Parking Meter LLC" listed as "Victim."