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CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State :: $300 parking permit OKd for realty agents, others

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State :: $300 parking permit OKd for realty agents, others

Chicago aldermen held their noses Wednesday and expanded a residential permit parking program that has spread like wildfire -- creating a $300-a-year parking permit for real estate agents, social workers and home health care providers.
[...]

But the changes were not enough to satisfy a parade of aldermen who say Chicago "created a monster" when it established residential permit parking 27 years ago -- and that the new permit will make it worse.

The 44-4 vote came only after Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) informed aldermen they had no choice. If they failed to approve the new permit, it would blow a $2.4 million hole in Daley's 2007 budget.

"I don't want to institute an elitist system that gives real estate brokers or any other business people [who] make lots of money [the right] to park anywhere. I don't want anybody having their windows broken -- because that's what's going to happen with their fancy cars being parked in my ward," said Ald. George Cardenas (12th).

Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) said it's time a parking-starved city that has become addicted to residential permit parking go cold turkey.

Daley tried to reduce the number of residential permit parking zones in 1998, only to back off after a City Council rebellion. That's why he had little sympathy for the aldermanic complaints.

"Residential permit parking came in through the aldermen -- not through the executive branch. We had nothing to do with this," the mayor said.

Over the years, residential permit parking has become the catchall solution to Chicago's parking crunch.

From June 2005 until May 2006, the city issued 101,713 permits. The annual fee is $25.

The zones got their start in 1979 on the streets surrounding Northeastern Illinois University. There are now 1,302 residential permit parking zones in the city.


I find permit parking to be absolutely infuriating. Stupid. Why should I have to pay to park in front of my own house? I grew up in a city where parking was free- what happened? Has the city made new parking spots, or improved existing ones? No, the city hasn't done a single thing but print stickers. If you park in a permit parking area without a sticker, that's a $50 dollar ticket. So, the city makes money off of permit parking tickets- so shouldn't the stickers be free to residents? They have to make money on both ends too?

But here's the part that bothers me the most. Ok, follow the logic here. I have permit parking on my street, let's say you do to. Let's say every street in Chicago has permit parking. Everyone has a place to park when they go home after work, great! Now I want to get in my car and drive somewhere- not so fast! You need a permit to park here, and there, and everywhere. So what, you just turn your car around and drive home? I guess you can park at the grocery store, or home depot- they have parking lots. But what about anywhere else? And if you can't take your car to new places and park it, why even have a stupid car? Just to park in front of your own house?

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