The Parking Meter Deal

01.03.2025

​

In 2009 (get the date) the city sold the parking meter deal. Recently in the news, there has been a lot of new discussion surrounding this deal, not only in Chicago, but country wide. You can listen to my NPR Planet Money with a little background and you can read our weekend analysis as we rushed to counter the sell off and inform people about the financial wreck it would create. Also below are some recent article that have been written about the long term effects on the City and the ongoing desire to get them back.

​

• Chicago Won’t Buy Back Parking Meters, Johnson Says

• Mayor Brandon Johnson Won’t Try to Buy Back Chicago’s Parking Meters

• The Cautionary Tale of How Chicago Privatized Its Parking Meters

• Worst Deal of All Time? Chicago’s Infamous Parking Meter Deal Is Back in the News After It Just Sold to Another Private Company, and Not the City of Chicago, for a Cool 3 Billion Dollars​​