Results tagged “taxpayer”

On Tuesday, the City Council called on Tim Mitchell, Daley's Superintendent of Parks, to answer questions about the District's plans to install parking meters at city beaches this fall. The Park District will contract with Standard Parking to manage the meters, which will charge users a dollar an hour for parking at city beaches. In July 38th Ward Alderman Tom Allen expressed outrage at the deal, saying "The slogan is, 'Come out and play' —not 'come out and pay.' We want to revisit this. People own the lakefront. People own the beach. In this economy, that's the only vacation people can afford."

In a symbolic move, 33rd Ward Alderman and Rules Committee Chairman Dick Mell and 38th Ward Alderman and Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Allen are demanding that the Chicago Park District cancel its plans to install meters in over 4,000 parking spots in lakefront spaces. "The slogan is, 'Come out and play', not 'come out and pay.' We want to revisit this. People own the lakefront. People own the beach. In this economy, that's the only vacation people can afford," Allen told the Sun-Times. The Park District announced in May that they would begin charging for parking this fall. Mayor Daley, already bruised and battered from voter outrage over the parking meter privatization debacle, dodged comment on the matter, telling the Tribune, "That's the park district."

To keep overnight parking free at two lots in his ward, Alderman Joe Moore (D-49) said he will pay the Park District $89,000 a year for three years according to Chi-Town Daily News. Moore says the money will come out of his city stipend (taxpayer money) which aldermen get each year for improvements in their wards. The Park District’s Loyola and Leone parking lots used to be free but the Park District recently approved a 25 cents an hour overnight parking fee to generate revenue needed to balance the budget. The daytime fees at Loyola will increase to $1 an hour. Moore told NBC Chicago, “I don’t have any real serious problems with them increasing the meter rates during the day when parks are open” he said, “But leave us alone at night.”