[scheme271]

The deal is objectively awful. If Chicago needs to move parking meters or removes them in order to do construction work or change the road infrastructure (e.g. add sidewalk seating, bus stops, bike lanes), the city needs to pay the company for the lost revenue from those spots. Hell, if too many people get handicap placards and use them to get free parking, the city needs to pay for the lost revenue. Also, Chicago needs to make up any shortfalls if revenues don't match inflation.

It's really hard to come up with a deal that does a better job at effectively preventing any changes to road and street infrastructure.

[pc86]

The deal being awful doesn't mean this article isn't.

[sacrosancty]

Normal cities forego the revenue for themselves when they close parking spaces, so it's never free. If they payed those fees out of the billion dollars in advance revenue they got at the start of the contract, it wouldn't seem so bad. Perhaps the real problem is how they spent that money too quickly.