Some Thoughts On Chicago's Frozen Parking Meters

UPDATE: LAZ source claims 80% of the meters were frozen

Just communicated with a source at LAZ. They revealed that 80% of the pay boxes were frozen at some point during the two cold days last week, which is even higher than our estimates. In fact, LAZ maintenance crews were working round the clock to deal with the problem.

2%? Hah!

Frozen credit cards

I was talking to a friend at a holiday party on Saturday who also ran across a bunch of frozen meters last week.

In fact, when she went to use her credit card on one machine, the card froze in the meter slot.

"I had to run into a local store and borrow a pliers to get my card out," she said. "Then, later on, when I went to park on Clark St. in Lincoln Park to have lunch with friends, none of my friends and I could find a working (non-frozen) parking meter. It was crazy."

PEAs not alerted

One of our trustworthy PEA contributors tells this website that Dept. of Revenue management NEVER alerted PEAs in the field of the problems being reported with the frozen pay boxes. According to my source, "We did not get any alerts or messages (either thru our supervisors or Nextels) concerning issues with the pay boxes."

Most PEAs only found out about the issue when they came back to HQ after their shift had ended.

One would think that this issue, effecting at least some percentage of parking meters, would have been an important piece of information to share with the people writing tickets for expired meters that day.

LAZ, city, blow it again

You know, I'm more amused by the frozen meter issue than angry.

But I am pissed off at the city's and LAZ's response to the issue.

Both entities tried to brush the issue under the rug by saying only 2% of the meters were affected. Of course this was total BS.

But, if LAZ knew about the issue late Wednesday, why didn't they just get in front of the story and contact the media with the news? Don't you think most people would have been somewhat understanding if they were told in advance of the problem and how to handle it? Instead, LAZ gets caught with their pants down, running from the media spotlight and looking like they're trying to hide something.

And another thing (or two)

This didn't hit me until a few days after the temperatures went up and the problem went way, at least temporarily.

But think about this.

The city and LAZ, trying to downplay the whole incident, totally ignored this point.

If a single-head meter went down due to winter weather, only once parking space would be affected.

However, if one pay box goes down, it affects 8-10 spaces on average. The scope of this problem was much larger than the city wanted to admit.

In addition, none of the so-called "real" journalists even questioned the 2% figure that was quoted in all  their news reports. It was just reported as fact. All these "reporters" had to do was walk down a street with pay boxes and check to see if they were frozen. Believe me, they would have found more than 2%.

And why didn't anyone ask the DOR or the mayor what the failure rate of traditional parking meters were when the temperatures got so cold?

Thanks!

Big thanks to Steve Rhodes of the NBC Chicago website and proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, who was the only other writer in town questioning the city's 2% allegation.

Dennis Byrne weighs in

Local columnist Dennis Byrne had some thoughts on the frozen meters saying, "My life in Chicago dates back to the early 1940s, and I don't believe I've ever encountered a frozen parking meter. More often I'd encounter one that just didn't work. Something tells me a lot of other people have had the same experience."

Here's Byrne's full column, "Mayor Daley, meet ex-mayor Bilandic."

Anti-freeze crews on the street

I've seen more than a few LAZ crews these past few days, armed with de-icer sprays, checking pay b0xes to make sure they're all working correctly. Good job.

City of Toronto sued for $26 million over frozen meters

In Toronto, another city with harsh winters, a local woman has filed a class action lawsuit over a ticket she was given after her frozen pay and display meter wouldn't print her receipt. Her attorneys estimated 112,500 people have been ticketed because of frozen meters in Toronto since 1998.

Of course, we wouldn't want to give anyone in Chicago any ideas.