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Description of City’s Reserved Powers Under the Parking Meter Concession

October 5, 2012

Summary

The City of Chicago Office of the Inspector General has conducted a review of the powers retained by the City of Chicago under its 2008 concession agreement with Chicago Parking Meters, LLC.

Executive Summary

The City of Chicago Office of the Inspector General (lGO) has conducted a review of the powers retained by the City of Chicago under its 2008 concession agreement with Chicago Parking Meters, LLC (“CPM”). This agreement allows CPM to operate and collect and retain revenue from the City’s metered parking system and its nearly 36,000 concession metered parking spaces for 75 years in exchange for CPM’s 2009 payment of approximately $1.15 billion.

The resulting report describes the powers retained by the City and the limitations and conditions the agreement places on these powers. Broadly, some of the powers retained by the City include the ability to designate the number and location of metered parking spaces and add and remove metered parking spaces. This power includes the ability to create parking spaces for which the City retains the revenue. Additional powers include the ability to establish and revise the schedule of metered parking fees and establish and revise the periods of operation and periods of stay of metered parking spaces.

The purpose of this review is to provide members of the City Council and City residents with plain-language information on the rights and powers retained by the City under this agreement so that they may be better informed of what aspects of parking meter policy the City controls.

Description of City’s Reserved Powers Under the Parking Meter Concession - publication cover