Chicago Parking Meters: Daley Proposes Free Ticket Deal

If you, like most Chicagoans, have found yourself sprinting to the parking box or meter just in time to see a ticket slapped on your car, you may be in luck. After months of criticism for the way he handled selling the city's meters for a mere 75 years, Mayor Richard M. Daley wants to give motorists a break: One voided ticket per year.

At Wednesday's city council meeting, Daley introduced an ordinance that allows the Revenue Department to void one parking ticket per year, per vehicle, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Of course, there is a catch. The only tickets eligible for this lucky break are those issued within five minutes of an expired pay box receipt.

Daley admitted Wednesday that the get-out-of-ticket-free deal was a way to appease a general public that has been consistently angry about the handling of the $1.5 billion parking meter privatization deal.

"I understand that people were angry over the way the parking meter plan was implemented last year," Daley told the Sun-Times. "This grace period is another step by Chicago Parking Meters to improve the parking meter system and add convenience for motorists."

While the ticket break may make some people temporarily happy, the political backlash from the parking meter deal is not likely to go anywhere for awhile. The Sun-Times reports:

Another rate hike took effect last week and annual increases will continue through 2013. After that, meter revenues must rise by "the rate of inflation," either by raising rates, adding meters or increasing operating hours.

Read the Sun-Times story here.