On Saturday, Chicago's parking meter rates will jump once again. Folks leaving their car downtown will now pay $5-per-hour for the privilege, up from $4.25 in 2010. Neighborhood spaces will cost $1.50-per-hour, up from $1.25 currently. It's the third of five scheduled annual rate increases written into the city's lease of its meter system to Chicago Parking Meters LLC. After 2013, rate hikes will be tied to inflation.

The bump is an annual reminder of how crappy the parking meter deal really was. Instead of treating the meters like a transit tool and raising the cost of downtown parking sensibly over time, the City Council outsourced the task to a politically-connected firm at a cheap price, forgoing a massive revenue stream. It's no surprise why so many aldermanic and mayoral candidates are going out of their way to criticize the Daley administration's lease in particular and promise more asset sale scrutiny more generally. Now, citizens have to make sure those pols uphold their pledges.