Tag Archives: Chicago parking
The Return Of Street Junk!
City Agnostic On ‘Dibs’ For Shoveled Out Parking Spots
Is anyone really surprised?
When drivers are flirting with heart attacks digging their cars out of nearly two feet of snow, it’s not a shocker many drivers feel the need to drag out their lawn furniture and other junk onto the street to mark their parking territory.
Safety cones, baby strollers, chairs, tables, mops, milk crates, 2 x 4′s, garbage cans, toilets–it’s all coming out of storage and onto the still snow packed streets.
But even less surprising is the blase’ attitude toward littering Streets & Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne takes toward the practice.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Byrne said, “At this moment, that’s a thing they’re doing and they’re trying to save what they dug out and we’re not going to take a position on that,” at a blizzard update earlier in the day.
With an official attitude like this, it’s easy to understand why this eyesore of a tradition continues.
Parking Problems For Fourth Of July Fireworks
Anytime you have fireworks, you’re going to have parking problems.
While Chicago’s decentralization of fireworks for the 4th of July holiday seemed like a refreshing and cost effective change of pace from many years of hosting the annual 3rd of July mega-event in Grant/Millennium Park, new problems emerged.
The Geek’s Weekend Traffic/Parking Hotspot Report
A pair of big events will bring some nasty congestion to two areas of the city this weekend.
The major one is the start of Taste of Chicago in Grant Park Friday. Street closures began early in the week closing three major thoroughfares:
Parking Meter Company To Resume Ticketing Monday
After a 15 month hiatus, Chicago Parking Meter, LLC, the private company which controls the city’s parking meter system, will resume parking meter enforcement starting Monday according to the Department of Revenue.
However, instead of hiring and overseeing its own staff, CPM has contracted SERCO, a company that has been providing supplemental parking enforcement for the city for the past 10 years, to handle their enforcement.
As part of the city’s $1.16 billion parking meter lease deal signed in December of 2008, CPM was given the ability to hire its own parking enforcement personnel to issue tickets for expired meters. The parking meter company is looking to stepped up enforcement as a way to improve payment compliance and therefore improve their bottom line. Drivers fearing expired meter tickets when parking in metered spaces, are going to be more apt to feed the meter than risk a $50 ticket.
iSpotSwap Finds Drivers Open Parking Spots
By Diana Novak
Chicagoans know it.
Finding an open parking spot can be a real pain in the butt.
Especially in congested parts of the city.
But now, a new phone application called iSpotSwap, may let you locate street parking spots from the comfort of your iPhone.
This free app, billed as a “parking social network,” uses your location, contacts list or an entered address to search for available parking spots close by. Once found, you can “watch” the spot from your phone, and your phone will let you know if its “free” status changes. The app can also let you know when other spots will free up with color-coded pins on a map of the area you are looking at.
iPhone App Helps Drivers Find Best Parking Prices
By Diana Novak
Don’t get us wrong.
Parking in Chicago is still going to gouge you, but maybe now you can get a little less gouged.
iPhone users searching for parking in Chicago, will definitely appreciate a new app that allows you to find parking from wherever you’re located.
Loading Zones Don’t Mean Free Parking
Just because your business pays the annual $100 fee for a loading zone, doesn’t mean you can park all day there for free.
But, some drivers on the west side are avoiding paying the meters by taking advanage of loading zone privileges according to CBS 2 News.
The always intrepid Jay Levine and his producer Ed Marshall are on the story taking 27th Ward Alderman Walter Burnett with them to investigate drivers trying to game the system.
