Chicago Parking Meters

The company has gained notoriety for its roots in the sale of the City of Chicago's parking meters to private investors, considered a huge financial disaster for the city.

During the 2008 financial crisis, the City of Chicago faced a major budget deficit, which prompted then-Mayor Richard M. Daley to propose the sale of city-owned parking meters. Brokers affiliated with Morgan Stanley then formed an LLC called "Chicago Parking Meters LLC" to facilitate a potential deal with the city over the sale of the meters. By December 3, 2008, a deal was made to sell all 36,000 of the parking meter spots in the city for 75 years for 1.15 billion dollars. The deal was approved and finalized on December 4, 2008. When the deal went through, prices increased and many meters were vandalized in the initial rollout. As of 2023, the investors in CPM LLC have recouped their investment and $500m more, and still have 60 years left on the deal.

The contract has been widely criticized as a negative example of privatization. Part of the deal is that if any of the metered parking spots are not available as such, for any reason – i.e., parades, street maintenance, electrification for electric vehicles, bike lanes, or outdoor seating – then the city has to compensate the LLC for their projected losses. Because compensation costs are so expensive, it had been criticized for limiting development of city infrastructure.

Investors

The investors in the LLC according to the City of Chicago are listed below. Matt Taibbi in Griftopia claims that Deeside investments owns 49.9 percent (and possibly a controlling share) and Redoma S.a.r.l. owns 50.1 percent.