In his March 5 press release heralding the good news in Navigant’s latest report, Emanuel said that Navigant had analyzed metered parking from July 1 to December 31 and found “a net savings to motorists of at least $2.1 million.”
The promising development was reported by a number of news outlets, though it wasn’t exactly true. Navigant didn’t actually compare what Chicago motorists paid into the meters in the second half of 2012 with what they paid under the new deal in 2013—at least not citywide. Instead, the new report measured “the actual results” against Navigant’s original estimates last year.
“The savings to parkers and the net benefit to the City . . . have been greater than those we estimated,” David Moes, Navigant’s managing director, wrote Patton in the introduction to the report.
Basically, the chief finding of Navigant’s latest report is that its original report was off target.
It’s not clear how Navigant reached its conclusions. The new report didn’t explain its methodology. It didn’t provide or cite any data. It didn’t reveal the totals of how much drivers across the city fed into the meters—either in the affected areas or in areas where no hours were changed.
And it didn’t explain where its “actual results” came from. In past years, CPM didn’t release revenue or usage data until the end of April, after the figures had been audited.
We called and e-mailed Moes to ask, among other things, how he came up with his results. He didn’t respond. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office wasn’t able to supply specific data either. She said she couldn’t immediately provide the total amounts paid into the meter systems before and after the revised deal.
Aldermen weren’t given a chance to see or ask questions about the report before Emanuel began touting it. Waguespack contends the report is “bogus” and was drummed up to counter complaints from businesses about free Sunday parking.
Other aldermen agree. “It’s really just a memo that says, ‘I told you so,’ and there’s no data to back it up,” says Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd). “Their homework is missing.”
Meanwhile, local businesses are pressuring their aldermen about the free Sunday parking. Waguespack and Reilly say Emanuel and his aides have so far ignored them.
But the renegotiated deal has put the mayor in a proverbial parking pay box. He can’t go back on his agreement to extend meter hours, so if he’s eventually pressured to give up free Sunday parking, CPM will get even more money from motorists.
Then the mayor will have to come up with another consultants’ report that explains why that’s a good thing for anyone but the people who own the meter system.
Article Appeared @http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mayors-parking-meter-savings-dont-add-up-free-sunday/Content?oid=12830999