An article examines "Exhibit A for bad public contracting"—a 75-year lease between Chicago a Morgan Stanley-led private consortium for 36,000 parking meters—as a cautionary tale about the lingering impacts of bad deals.
In 2008, Chicago signed a $1 billion contract with a private company to manage the city's parking meters. According to an article by Stephanie Farmer and Donald Cohen, "[after] the ink was dry, the city’s inspector general concluded that the city sold the meters $1 billion dollars under their value. Parking rates skyrocketed, and the terms of the lease protecting Morgan Stanley’s investment created new annual costs for the city."
The post then goes on to apply lessons from the bungled portions of that contract is continuing to hinder planning efforts in Chicago, including the removal of parking meters in connection with the city's planned BRT lines, pedestrian safety improvements, and adjustments to rush hour realignments.
Read the full story: Why Chicago’s Botched Parking Meter Privatization Is Also Bad for the Environment
Parking Privatization Efforts Not Spreading Smoothly
In the wake of the problem-plagued privatization of Chicago's parking meters in 2008, two WSJ reporters assess conversions (or attempts) in Indianapolis (2010), Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and New York, as well as what went wrong in Chicago.
Motorists Sue Chicago Parking Meter Operator
A lawsuit claims a company's 75-year contract to manage the city of Chicago's parking meters amounts to an "unreasonable" monopoly.
Chicago to Install New Parking Meters to Lessen Impact of Bad Contract
The city of Chicago will install 752 new parking meters in 2017—but still fall far from the Shoupian ideal.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
Boston has spent millions making the Green Line more accessible — and there’s no end in sight
While the city has invested millions into expanding and adding platforms to the Green Line to make it more accessible, new train cars set to arrive next year will be too tall for disabled passengers to board without raising the current platforms.
Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US
Transit systems in rural communities are much more reliant on federal funding to provide their services.
How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities
After hurricanes, fires or other calamities, the original residents of a community are often replaced by younger, wealthier residents.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
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