CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- The city of Chicago is an important step closer to re-writing the parking meter deal that's been a target of criticism for more than 15 years.
Members of a City Council committee on Thursday advanced a proposed purchase agreement that could bring immediate financial benefits to the city's public worker pension funds, and for the first time allow the city to share in the profits generated by Chicago's parking meters.
It's an attempt to undo the reputational and financial damage caused by the original 2008 agreement reached during the administration of former Mayor Richard M. Daley to lease the city's parking meter proceeds for 75 years. The buyer, Chicago Parking Meters LLC, paid the city $900 million, which it made back shortly thereafter.
"Today, I think, is a historic day for Chicagoans," said Finance Committee chair and South side Ald. Pat Dowell as she praised the group of aldermen who worked with the city's Law Department to negotiate the purchase agreement with Stonepeak Partners, which wants to buy the parking meter contract from Chicago Parking Meters LLC for $2.53 billion. "We were given a lemon and we made lemonade."
Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry, in one of her final appearances before City Council in advance of her scheduled retirement September 30, told aldermen that Stonepeak agreed to pay the city a transaction fee of $75 million by the end of the year, which would go right into Chicago's underfunded public worker pension funds. In addition, Richardson-Lowry said Stonepeak has agreed to give the city a 5% cut of net profits from the meters.
"These are dollars the city never had before," Richardson-Lowry told aldermen.
The deal also confirms Stonepeak's intent to sell Omni Air, a charter service that has received scrutiny for its work operating deportation flights for the Trump Administration.
It represents an enhancement of Stonepeak's original plan to buy the meter contract, which included no money for the city. A group of aldermen including North side Ald. Scott Waguespack, one of the five original "no" votes on the 2008 meter sale, worked over the summer to craft a new purchase agreement.
But under the terms of the agreement, the full City Council has to approve it by the end of the month. West side Ald. Jason Ervin, who has publicly suggested the city should find a way to buy the meter contract back, told colleagues it reminded him of the rushed timetable to approve the original sale.
"In 2008, you guys had 48 hours to deal with this deal," said Ald. Ervin (28th Ward). "In 2026, we have 48 hours to deal with this deal. I don't think it sets the right tone or precedent for this body."
But Ald. Waguespack (32nd Ward), for whom improving the deal has been a crusade since its initial passage, said the agreement will provide ongoing benefits to the city and its taxpayers: "We can have a better deal than we ever had in the past."
The purchase agreement now goes to the full Council, which is set to meet in special session Friday. But opponents of the deal are expected to delay a vote until a meeting set for Tuesday.
Agreement includes $75M "transaction fee," cut of future profits
Agreement includes $75M "transaction fee," cut of future profits
