MEDIA ADVISORY

The City of Chicago marks the first anniversary of its new parking enforcement system this month with significant results — collection rates are up 34 percent from one year ago (an increase from 10 percent to 44 percent), and annual ticket revenues are projected to nearly double by the end of this year (from an annual average of $32 million to $59 million).

Under its previous court administered process, Chicago:

• required 6 months to process tickets,
• collected on only 10 percent of all tickets issued,
• stockpiled 2 million tickets awaiting processing,
• had 20 million outstanding tickets representing $400 million in potential revenue for the city.

Last year, the city pursued a new approach to parking enforcement, moving it out of the court system to create an administrative adjudication process, simultaneously contracting with systems integration specialist, EDS, to develop a sophisticated parking enforcement management system. This approach is restoring credibility to the program, improving compliance and increasing collections of parking violation revenues. Today:

• parking tickets are processed in 3 days or less,
• the ticket "backlog" has been completely eliminated,
• the city has already collected more than $26 million from outstanding tickets alone.

The Parking Enforcement System, PEMS, integrates state-of-the-art features including:

• automated hand-held ticket-writing units,
• portable data terminals in tow trucks to identify cars eligible for booting and towing,
• networked imaging work stations which allow administrative adjudication hearing officers to see tickets and correspondence on line while reviewing cases,
• a state-of-the-art geographic information system that captures and displays data to produce custom reports and helps city officials better analyze parking and traffic trends.

The program's wide-area network supports the added convenience of multiple hearing locations. Today, drivers can contest their tickets in person, at one of five locations, or by mail. PEMS facilitates speedy hearings by providing officers with on-line, current information including:

• an image of the actual ticket,
• repair status of parking meters,
• the locations of parking signs,
• a record of outstanding violations.

PEMS also generates program management information useful to city officials and planners. For example, its geographic information component grids parking violation locations — helping the city plan future parking facilities. PEMS also pinpoints the favorite parking areas of chronic offenders, or scofflaws, to improve the efficiency of boot crews and overall enforcement of the city's parking laws. This year 8,200 vehicles have been booted.

Chicago issues approximately 4 million parking tickets annually. Nationally, the top 12 parking ticket issuing cities issue nearly 30 million tickets annually, representing more than $1 billion in potential collections.

For more information contact, Cathie Hargett, EDS, (512) 343-4964. •

October 1991 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 15