Are Chicagoans Rebelling Against The New Parking Meter Regime?

[coredumped]

From the consumerist ( http://consumerist.com/5180665/are-chicagoans-rebelling-against-the-new-parking-meter-regime )

The evidence is purely anecdotal, but it seems that some unrest might be brewing in the City of Chicago. Now that the Mayor has leased the city's parking meters to a company that jacked up the rates, people might be staying home rather than feed the meters â€" which now take as many as 28 quarters for 2 hours.

All over the city, formerly busy parking meters are empty, while residential streets are clogged with people looking for free parking.

From the Sun-Times:

    Only five Chicago aldermen bucked the mayor on the privatization of parking meters, and one was Scott Waguespack of the 32nd Ward, which includes Wicker Park and Bucktown. It wasn't that Waguespack opposed raising rates, something that hadn't been done in years, but he believed an increase should be "incremental, not drastic" and that the city could have done it on its own.

    Now, he says, people in his ward are suddenly seeing not only empty meters but more cars clogging residential neighborhoods in search of free spaces, a problem for people who live there.

    The whole purpose of parking meters was as an urban planning tool, used to generate turnover so businesses could see a steady stream of customers who park for a short time, shop and leave, opening spaces for more shoppers.

    Now, Waguespack argues, spaces have become solely "a revenue anchor" and the rates have shot "too high, too quickly."

    Are we seeing a boycott?

    "I'm not so sure yet," said the alderman, "but it's definitely a refusal."

[Jason]

Nice find.

FYI, I'm moved this topic to the "Transportation" section.  It seems to fit better there.

[coredumped]

Oh sorry - I saw some parking meter stuff in the downtown section. Thanks for moving it to the correct spot.

[Deuce]

I wonder if those residential areas are zoned. In D.C., the residential areas are zoned and parking in the zones is restricted unless a sticker is displayed. It both limits the problem above and also limits cars per household as there is a limit to the number of stickers a household can get. I would love to see the residential areas around downtown zoned before it becomes a problem in the future. Better to be proactive now reactive later.

[Jason]

Not a bad idea. Luckily Jax isn't in the same situation as Chicago or the likes, but we can certainly learn from what they are discovering. 

Sounds like Chicago's quick fix is to return the meter fees to what they were previously.

[coredumped]

The drama continues, residents are vandalizing the meters:
http://consumerist.com/5183968/parking-meter-revolt-chicagoans-are-vandalizing-parking-meters-in-protest
sounds like a big pissing contest. Though, the city has more money & more time...

[BridgeTroll]

Sounds like another version of a tea party...

[Jason]

Some of the comments from the article are hilarious!  Yeah, I'd say the general consensus is that the new rates are hated.  Not that I condone vandalism, but I don't blame the people.

[thelakelander]

Wow, this is crazy.  Maybe its time to do the same here.

[Joe]

^ I'm going to assume you mean do a boycott, as opposed to vandalism ...

I'm still a bit ambivalent about all this. People need to read the book "The High Cost of Free Parking" because I'm not really sure that this idea of free (or cheap) meters is really conducive to the concept of good urbansim.

On-street parking is a particularly weird issue because there's this very awkward balance between public and private. Even in this Chicago case, where a private company manages the revenue, the parking is still treated as this cumbersome combination of public/private use.

[thelakelander]

I'm only joking.  The meter situation here is the least of my concerns.