Red- light- camera manager gets new city contract for parking- ticket upgrade
Five years ago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel turned the page from a $ 2 million bribery scandal plaguing Chicago’s red- light camera program in a way he claimed would save taxpayers millions.
The city signed a five- year contract that called for Xerox State & Local Solutions Inc. to be paid $ 1,819 per month to manage and maintain each of the city’s 384 red- light cameras.
That was a dramatic drop from the $ 4,300 monthly fee paid to Redflex Traffic Solutions, the Arizona company forced out by the bribery scandal. The more favorable terms were made possible by a switch from Redflex “loop detectors mounted in the street” to the less costly radar technology used by Xerox.
Now, the company spun off by Xerox and now known as Conduent State & Local Solutions has been awarded yet another five- year contract — this time for $ 6.1 million — to upgrade data analytics and provide “mobile device software solutions” used to issue parking tickets and other violations.
John Borovicka, who managed Emanuel’s congressional campaign and served as his congressional chief of staff, is listed as a paid lobbyist for the company, as he was for its red- light camera contract.
The number of parking tickets issued in Chicago has been dropping for years — to 2.25 million in 2016 and then 2.14 million last year — while booting has gone in the opposite direction.
The software upgrades are tailor- made to reverse those trends, in part by measuring “in near real- time” the accuracy and productivity of ticket- writing parking enforcement aides.
“Contractor will provide the city with continual development, improvement and analytic support with the objective of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the city’s parking enforcement program,” the contract states.
“Should the city desire, the parties can discuss adapting the citation software to other types of plate- based violation issuance [ and] expanding use of the citation software to non- plate- based violation types. For exam- ple, CPD administrative notice of violation would require additional development by the contractor and would be quoted separately.”
Databases to be used include license plates, scofflaw registrations, Amber Alerts, stolen vehicles, city sticker and residential permit parking holders.
Within 90 days, citation software must facilitate the “provision of email alerts to the city’s designated parties concerning stolen plates and scofflaws.”