Parking meter rates in the City of Chicago are going up next week.
When Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced his controversial plan to lease the city’s parking meters for the next 75 years, he also released a parking meter rate calendar. It began the first of 2009. Hourly rates jumped 50 cents in the Loop and up from a quarter to a full dollar in most other neighborhoods.Now, as of next week, hourly rates in the Loop are going up again: to $4.25 this time and to $1.25 in the neighborhoods. The rates are scheduled to continue increasing each year, at least until 2013.
Meantime, the organization running the city’s parking meters has been touting changes made to the system, such as extended hours outside theaters and hospitals and adding a 24-hour customer service line. That’s all despite reports of pay boxes being frozen by the cold weather and others that list inaccurate times.