Latest news with #ChicagoParkingMeters
CBS News
19-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Chicago City Council finance committee to vote on settlements totaling over $60M in parking meter, Little Village fire cases
The Chicago City Council finance committee will vote on several settlements costing the city more than $60 million Monday. Among the settlements is a $15.5 million payment to Chicago Parking Meters, LLC to settle three yearslong disputes. The company bought the city's parking meters for $1.16 billion under former Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2008, among his most infamous deals. The mayor's office said the settlement is related to three disputes with the company dating back to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's decision to take some metered spaces out of service while state and city stay-at-home orders were in place during at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lightfoot also announced in the early months of the pandemic that the city would stop ticketing cars for parking violations unless there was some kind of public safety threat to provide a measure of financial relief for drivers. The company has sought to be reimbursed for the revenue for the thousands of spaces taken out of service, and the $15.5 million settlement is a tiny fraction of what the company had sought in arbitration, or even the amount the city's own appraiser estimated the maneuvers cost the company. Another settlement up for a vote today is $48 million to be split by three men wrongfully convicted of setting a fatal fire in 1986. John Galvan, Arthur Almendarez and Francisco Nanez spent 35 years in prison before they were exonerated. The fire killed two brothers in the Little Village neighborhood; the three men claim police beat them into false confessions. Their convictions were vacated by the Illinois Appellate Court in 2022. If approved, Galvan and Almendarez would each get $20 million from the settlement, and Nanez would receive $8 million.
CBS News
15-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Chicago parking meter firm could get $15.5 million from city to settle pandemic-era dispute
Chicago's infamous deal to privatize the city's parking meters could soon cost taxpayers another $15.5 million to settle three yearslong disputes with the company that now owns the meters. City attorneys have recommended the City Council approve the settlement with Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, which bought the city's parking meters for $1.16 billion under former Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2008. The Finance Committee is set to vote on the proposed settlement on Monday. Mayor Brandon Johnson's office said the settlement stems from three disputes with the company dating back to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's decision to take some metered spaces out of service while state and city stay-at-home orders were in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. "It resolves three claims: the City's alleged failure to enforce meter violations as required under the concession agreement; the suspension of parking tickets during the height of the pandemic; and a later dispute over the distribution of meter revenue between the City and CPM," Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry said in a statement on the proposed settlement. The company had sought to force the city to reimburse them for thousands of parking spaces that were taken out of service during the pandemic. Lightfoot also announced in the early months of the pandemic that the city would stop ticketing cars for parking violations unless there was some kind of public safety threat to provide a measure of financial relief for drivers. The $15.5 million settlement would be a tiny fraction of the $322 million Chicago Parking Meters had sought in arbitration, and even the $120.7 million the city's own appraiser estimated the city's maneuvers cost the company. "This agreement brings an end to years of costly litigation at a fraction of the potential financial exposure," Richardson-Lowry said. In addition to the $15.5 million payment to Chicago Parking Meters, the settlement also calls for the city to step up parking meter enforcement for one year. The company gets a portion of all parking tickets issued for failure to pay meters.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Parking meter company could get $15.5 million more from Chicago in settlement
Former Mayor Richard M. Daley's infamous parking meters deal could soon cost Chicagoans another pile of cash. City attorneys are recommending aldermen approve a deal to settle for $15.5 million three long-standing disputes with the company that owns the meters, Chicago Parking Meters LLC. The proposal is part of the agenda released Thursday for the City Council's upcoming Finance Committee meeting, where aldermen will consider a package of settlements. The amount is far below the $322 million the company initially demanded and the $120.7 million figure city appraisers more recently shared. Leaders in Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration touted the sum as a good deal amid the broader bad one. 'We look forward to closing this chapter and focusing on a more constructive relationship with CPM moving ahead,' Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski wrote in a statement Thursday. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry said the arbitration deal resolves three previously reported disputes between the city and company. Chicago Parking Meters first took legal action against the city in April 2024 to enforce the arbitrator's ruling that it was twice shorted by Chicago under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The company alleged Lightfoot's administration violated the parking meter deal with an alleged scheme to take advantage of parking space value fluctuations and by temporarily suspending parking meter enforcement at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company's claim that Lightfoot's pandemic decree cost them millions comes despite the fact a Tribune investigation found the city issued more than 35,000 parking tickets during the time the mayor told motorists they wouldn't get dinged for parking at expired meters. Richardson-Lowry said the claims involved meter violation enforcement failures, the suspension of parking tickets and a 'later dispute over the distribution of meter revenue.' 'This agreement brings an end to years of costly litigation at a fraction of the potential financial exposure,' she wrote. Johnson's administration also committed to 'one year of enhanced parking enforcement' as a part of the deal, spokesperson Cassio Mendoza wrote in the statement. After the staggering initial nine-figure cost estimates for the settlement, Jaworski said the deal could potentially be settled in part by giving Chicago Parking Meters revenue control over more parking spaces. The administration did not immediately respond Thursday when asked if such a trade was part of the deal. In 2008, CPM bought 75 years of control over the city's then publicly owned parking meter system for a one-time payment of $1.15 billion in a deal Daley proposed and the City Council approved. Daley quickly used much of the money to plug budget gaps. Critics have long blasted the deal as a short-sighted fix that stripped Chicago of a valuable public asset — the meters once provided the city around $20 million annually in net income — and will make it difficult for Chicago to alter roadways for decades to come. CPM already has recouped its original $1.15 billion investment, plus hundreds of millions more and counting. The private firm made $150.9 million in parking revenues in 2023, according to an annual audit by accounting firm KPMG. If approved by the Finance Committee, the deal could face a final vote from the full City Council next Wednesday. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Chicago Tribune
15-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Parking meter company could get $15.5 million more from Chicago in settlement
Former Mayor Richard M. Daley's infamous parking meters deal could soon cost Chicagoans another pile of cash. City attorneys are recommending aldermen approve a deal to settle for $15.5 million three long-standing disputes with the company that owns the meters, Chicago Parking Meters LLC. The proposal is part of the agenda released Thursday for the City Council's upcoming Finance Committee meeting, where aldermen will consider a package of settlements. The amount is far below the $322 million the company initially demanded and the $120.7 million figure city appraisers more recently shared. Leaders in Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration touted the sum as a good deal amid the broader bad one. 'We look forward to closing this chapter and focusing on a more constructive relationship with CPM moving ahead,' Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski wrote in a statement Thursday. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry said the arbitration deal resolves three previously reported disputes between the city and company. Chicago Parking Meters first took legal action against the city in April 2024 to enforce the arbitrator's ruling that it was twice shorted by Chicago under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The company alleged Lightfoot's administration violated the parking meter deal with an alleged scheme to take advantage of parking space value fluctuations and by temporarily suspending parking meter enforcement at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company's claim that Lightfoot's pandemic decree cost them millions comes despite the fact a Tribune investigation found the city issued more than 35,000 parking tickets during the time the mayor told motorists they wouldn't get dinged for parking at expired meters. Richardson-Lowry said the claims involved meter violation enforcement failures, the suspension of parking tickets and a 'later dispute over the distribution of meter revenue.' 'This agreement brings an end to years of costly litigation at a fraction of the potential financial exposure,' she wrote. Johnson's administration also committed to 'one year of enhanced parking enforcement' as a part of the deal, spokesperson Cassio Mendoza wrote in the statement. After the staggering initial nine-figure cost estimates for the settlement, Jaworski said the deal could potentially be settled in part by giving Chicago Parking Meters revenue control over more parking spaces. The administration did not immediately respond Thursday when asked if such a trade was part of the deal. In 2008, CPM bought 75 years of control over the city's then publicly owned parking meter system for a one-time payment of $1.15 billion in a deal Daley proposed and the City Council approved. Daley quickly used much of the money to plug budget gaps. Critics have long blasted the deal as a short-sighted fix that stripped Chicago of a valuable public asset — the meters once provided the city around $20 million annually in net income — and will make it difficult for Chicago to alter roadways for decades to come. CPM already has recouped its original $1.15 billion investment, plus hundreds of millions more and counting. The private firm made $150.9 million in parking revenues in 2023, according to an annual audit by accounting firm KPMG. If approved by the Finance Committee, the deal could face a final vote from the full City Council next Wednesday.
