Vandalism at parking meters up after rate hike
Chicago motorists are venting their anger about higher parking meter rates tied to a 75-year, $1.15 billion lease — with a spike in vandalism and a drop-off in on-street parking, the private contractor acknowledged Wednesday.
“We’ve certainly seen an uptick in the amount of vandalism at the meters. That suggests to me that some people are unhappy with the increase in the meter rates," said Mike Kuziak, chief operating officer of LAZ Parking, the operator hired by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.
"We've increased our resources to respond to meter maintenance issues to make sure the integrity of the system remains intact."
Kuziak said he was "not authorized to talk about revenue" and, therefore, could not put hard figures behind the anecdotal evidence supplied by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin that a boycott is brewing to protest rates that require motorists to pump 28 quarters into Loop meters for two hours of parking.
But he said, "Clearly, as the rates have increased, there are people who are unhappy about it, and there are people who will seek alternative parking. That will free up more spaces on the street for the benefit of the merchant community."
Marin reported Sunday that she had observed open meters on Clark Street in Lincoln Park, on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park and on Columbus Drive around the Sheraton Hotel during midweek, mid-day hours, when it would normally be difficult to find a space.
A barrage of angry e-mails only bolstered her contention that the empty spaces signal a backlash to the rate hikes, elimination of free Sunday parking and to the contractor's decision to issue parking tickets to "supplement" the city's enforcement efforts.
On Wednesday, Kuziak disclosed that LAZ already has issued 120 tickets and 2,500 warning citations.
“We thought it was a good way to start the enforcement process as we trained and ramped up to encourage people to pay at the meters,” he said of the warnings.
As for the broken, overstuffed and mismarked meters that have infuriated motorists, Kuziak disclosed that his company has fielded 3,400 complaints.
LAZ now has 30 people assigned to meter maintenance and is paying the salaries of city mechanics to supplement the repair effort for the next two weeks. A 23-employee collection team is being beefed up to 30. And inspection teams are checking every one of the 36,000 meters to make certain they post the proper rates and hours of operation.
The “broken meter” defense can be used only by motorists who report meters “inoperable or malfunctioning within 24 hours” of the incident, under terms of the 75-year lease.
“We have adjusted the [maintenance] program from a five-day work week to a seven-day work week and have extended the hours of coverage [to] 11 to 13 hours-per-day. We have shortened the time-frame between collections. In the busiest areas, we have also increased collection frequency,” he said.
“No one is more motivated than we are to ensure that all parking meters are working properly.”
The collection problem could be short-lived. Kuziak disclosed that his company’s plan to replace 36,000 single-space meters with 3,700 cashless “pay-and-display” boxes is “on track,” with the first boxes expected to be installed “within the next few weeks.”
Downtown motorists who were paying $3 an hour when meters belonged to the city, now cough up $3.50 an hour, and will pay a whopping $6.50 an hour by 2013 while being forced to feed the meters 24/7, including holidays. Neighborhood parking rates that once ranged from 25 cents and hour to 75 cents an hour now stand at $1 and will rise steadily to $2 by 2013.
After 2013, the City Council is obliged to increase meter revenues by the “rate of inflation,” either by raising rates, adding meters or increasing operating hours. If aldermen “negatively impact” meter revenue, the private operator will have to be “made whole.”