It’s almost that time of the year again.
No, not Christmas or New Year’s, but parking meter rate increase season.
It was three years ago this month when Mayor Daley and his cohorts in the city council pushed through the Chicago parking meter lease deal. One of the more onerous results of the 75-year deal was an initial five years of steep meter rate price
increases.
On January 1st, parking meter rates will rise for the third of the five initial years.
Downtown, meter rates will jump $0.75 from $4.25 per hour to $5.00 an hour–giving Chicago the distinction of having the highest downtown parking meter rates in the nation.
We think that most of the South Loop's meters aren't in the 'downtown' section, so instead of a $0.75 increase it will be a $0.50 (from $2.50 to $3.00). If this isn't the case please speak up because we did some digging but couldn't find much consistent information.
(Hat Tip: TR!)