Chicagoans long have been creative in finding places to stash their cars.
So creative that many have resorted to leaving their parked cars under CTA train tracks.
This is not a glamorous place to park. Instead of the heated garage experience some high-rise residents enjoy, cars under the tracks are exposed to the elements and whatever drippings fall off the rails. You’re also taking a little bit of a risk parking here, especially if it’s dark.
It’s hardly the sort of place anyone would choose if easier options existed.
Do you think folks should have to pay $150 a month for the privilege of parking under the Red Line tracks near Wrigley Field?
The CTA recently announced plans to convert the space beneath the stretch of the Red Line tracks at Wilton Avenue into official, regulated parking, creating 35 to 40 parking spaces. Monthly fees will run $150. Folks who park there told WGN News they’ve started getting flyers letting them know that area is CTA property. The message: Pay up or clear out.
More Top Picks Best Task Lamps For Crafts And Hobbies
Except that people have been parking in this spot for about 100 years. CTA says it’s upgrading the area, but the result is the same: parking spaces that neighbors have used for generations will now carry a hefty monthly price tag.
These parking spots have long served as a relief valve in this clogged and crowded neighborhood, which gets even more jam-packed when the Cubs have a home game. To the North Siders who depend on them, the CTA’s actions feel like one more example of government discovering yet another thing it can charge for.
Even the CTA said this is a way to generate “much-needed non-farebox revenues for CTA.”
A hundred years is a long time for a neighborhood custom to endure. Long enough that people stop thinking of it as a perk and start thinking of it as simply the way things are.
Leave it to the city to “inform” neighborhood residents of the unceremonious end of this longstanding Wrigleyville benefit by slapping flyers on their car windshields warning them to park elsewhere if they don’t want to be towed.
The CTA just obtained a major bailout via a sales tax increase and higher tolls. It can forgo this “non-farebox revenue” opportunity in the name of keeping Chicago just a bit more livable.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].