Clearly, it was a boon for CPM. In 2008 the city collected $23.8 million from the meters. Four years later CPM raked in $139.5 million, according to audited reports filed with the city. The company’s analysts expect revenues to increase yearly to almost $162 million by 2020.
It adds up to a double whammy for Chicagoans. Not only are drivers paying more to park, they’re forking it over to CPM instead of providing the money for basic city services—like filling potholes. (The city spent most of the proceeds of the meter sell-off to plug budget holes during Daley’s last couple years in office.)
Shortly after being elected, Emanuel said he was looking into retooling the parking meter deal or scrapping it. Once in office, he continued to rail against the deal and blame it on Daley. But at the same time he instructed city lawyers to defend it in court against a lawsuit challenging its legality. His move effectively killed the effort by attorney Clint Krislov and the IVI-IPO, a public-interest group, to have the deal nullified on constitutional grounds.
Instead, the mayor negotiated a slightly revised deal with CPM that ensured the meters would stay in private hands for seven more decades. Under the new terms the company agreed to drop some of its preexisting demands for so-called “true-ups”—payments the city is required to make every time a meter is taken out of commission for street work, a fair or festival, or a change in traffic regulations. But the city will still be on the hook for such payments in the future, potentially to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.