With the original deadline already passed, work crews seem to be struggling to complete rate changes on parking meters in a timely manner.
Originally, Chicago Parking Meter LLC had set a deadline of March 9th to have all 36,000 plus meters adjusted for the higher rates and the decals outlining the changes to days and hours operation affixed to each meter head.
But a spot check of parking meters at locations around the city shows that the new lessee seems to have woefully underestimated how long the process would take. While many meters have been changed over, there appears to be an equal amount of meters still sporting the old meter rates and operation days and hours.
No one from the company would go on the record with even an approximate deadline, despite a multitude of calls and e-mails sent to both Morgan Stanley and LAZ Parking management.
"There's no firm date at this time," is all this writer could get out of Morgan Stanley PR spokesperson Carissa Ramirez.
Crews of 10-12 meter technicians have been spotted along Irving Park Road and Milwaukee Ave. over the past few days, slowly working their way down the street.
When one meter technician, who refused to be identified, was asked about an estimated deadline, he just laughed and said, "hopefully by April."
Considering there are more than 36,000 parking meters citywide, the original three week timetable for completing the meter conversion seems outrageously unrealistic when one considers that 1,500 meters a day would have to be changed to meet that goal.
Based on simple observation of how many meters are changed, our uneducated guess is that the conversion process will be finished by mid to late April and, in a worst case scenario, could take until early May. This makes it a full five months from when the lease deal was approved to begin by the Chicago City Council to the final completion of meter rate changes.
In the meantime, driver confusion seems to be high, judging by the volume of e-mails The Expired Meter receives.
And the confusion is not limited to drivers, as one reader reported being ticketed for an expired meter at a meter which still had the Monday-Saturday decals on its head.
It is important that drivers just take the time to read each meter very carefully and act accordingly.
Check out The Expired Meter for even more information and advice about parking, fighting parking tickets and red light tickets in Chicago.