Traffic ,Transporation and the Parking Nazis (Chicago, Springfield: city hall, lease, insurance)

[Wicked_Whispers]

Hey ya'll,
So I am thoroughly frustrated by traffic congestion in the city of chicago..I concede it is considered to be a part of daily urban living today..

What frustrates me the most is the city of chicago is unable to do anything to provide a better public transport system. Unless you happenn to live / work along the El or Metra lines, commuting is horrendous. Further, the way the system is designed, travel times are very long. Consequently people prefer to drive and the roads cannot handle the ever increasing no. of vehicles.

However, what the city is excellently efficient at doing is towing cars, handing out all kinds of traffic tickets and generating revenue .

I live in wicker park and all the streets around me are zoned, which means I can only park on the street where I live, and its impossible to find parking. Everytime i park anywhere else overnight (bigger sts with meters like Milwaukee , North etc.) my car gets towed. If anyone has been to the auto pounds ...i am sure you will agree that its a slow and dirty experience.

This city does not deserve the olympics with an attitude like this.

Thoughts, opinions ?

[Chicago60614]

I had a car for a year and half in Logan Square. I got tired of finding parking though, and getting those damn $50 tickets for street cleaning.

I finally just sold the car about 4.5 years ago and havne't looked back. I figure I save thousands per year between insurance/gas/payments/oil changes/city stickers. I love not having a car, I just jump on the bus everywhere.

[Wicked_Whispers]

I would too..except i work out in the burbs and driving is the only way i can get to Elmhurst..

[ahava]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

I love not having a car, I just jump on the bus everywhere.

What are you going to do if the CTA "doomsday" becomes reality?

[via chicago]

This is no different than life in any other big city. Parking is a hot commodity. What would you have the city do? Theres a finite number of spaces, and a virtually infinite amount of cars. Which is why good public transit is essential in dense urban cores, and it needs to be funded properly.

[j33]

Originally Posted by ahava

What are you going to do if the CTA "doomsday" becomes reality?

Unfortunately, I may have to buy a car if that happens. I'm hoping it does not.

... but my only suggestion to the person who lives in wicker park who can't figure out where to park is that if you can't park on your street for some reason and don't like getting tickets, then find someone who is renting their garage and park there. Somehow I managed to live in the Wicker Park area for two years with a car and only received one ticket, and was never towed (but yes, sometimes it took me awhile to find parking, but I knew better than to try and find a parking spot on a weekend night).

Parking is a scarce commodity in any large city. If Chicago doesn't deserve the Olympics, lack of parking is the last reason for that.

I got rid of my car awhile ago, best decision I ever made.

.... and while I have sympathy for the 'I need my car to get to work because there is no other way argument', I have little sympathy for the 'people prefer to drive argument' ... well, I'd prefer to take a helicopter to all my destinations, but that doesn't mean that the city is responsible for providing me a heliport a the Jewel.

[ahava]

Originally Posted by j33

Unfortunately, I may have to buy a car if that happens. I'm hoping it does not.

I'm wondering what people are going to do because I've been looking into sending my kids to a private school in the city, but the bus that would take them from Union Station to the school is one of the routes slated to be cut. I guess most people who are going to lose buses they depend on will have to buy a car, but if the parking situation already sucks in most parts of the city... Maybe Chicago will become the thinnest city in America because we'll all have to walk everywhere.

[Avengerfire]

Buy the parking sticker for your area?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Buy the parking sticker for your area?

I think he's saying that he has a sticker for his area but can't always find parking in his own area and therefore he sometimes parks in a different zone and pays the price.

Here's another suggestion: when your lease is up, move. Find some place where parking isn't as dense.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by ahava

What are you going to do if the CTA "doomsday" becomes reality?

Yeah, scary thought, but honestly after talking to a lot of people about this who work for the city, and looking online - I don't think the mayor/city/businesses will allow this. The huge business community that runs downtown Chicago won't let it happen. They'll have workers who aren't able to show up for work, scream at city hall, who will then march down to Springfield and tell them to fix it - now.