Parking Meter Revolt: Chicagoans Are Vandalizing Parking Meters In Protest!
The Chicago parking meter saga continues today with a post from theexpiredmeter.com, a blog about Chicago parking tickets and how to fight them. The post has photos of parking meters being spray painted, destroyed and otherwise defaced. Guess people aren't too thrilled with paying 28 quarters for 2 hours in the Loop...
An entire block of parking meters, numbering nearly 20, were spotted along west Irving Park in the Albany Park neighborhood, that had both the front and back of their heads spray painted black. Once spray painted, these meters are unreadable by Parking Enforcement Aides and therefore, vehicles can't be ticketed as it's impossible to see if the meters were fed or not.
Some angry citizens are going for the simple approach and simply peeling the stickers off the meters so that they don't have the instructions required by law.
One tipster named Brian says, "In some cases, these decals just peel right off the front of the meter with little or no effort. When these stickers were originally applied, the weather was very cold and it seems the adhesive didn't adhere correctly. These stickers just come right off. They also appear to be too big to fit into the recessed area they are being placed in. Yet another case of someone in charge not knowing what they are doing."
Other tactics that have been documented include, gluing quarters into the slots with superglue, ripping the meters out of the ground, stealing the coin box, and filling the meter with pennies so it breaks.
Apparently, the pennies don't register as money, but they do break the meter.
"We are finding a lot of pennies and nickels in coin slots," confirmed one LAZ Parking employee we confronted on the street. He wouldn't give us his name, his job it is to repair parking meters. "We see a lot of that going on."
And then, there's this:
Has The Parking Meter Revolt Begun? [The Expired Meter] (Thanks, Lindsay!)
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Comments:
Fight the man Chicagoans!!! The stickers and paint really are great ideas. Awesome.
sorry about ripping that meter out of the ground...I need to lay off the gym.
Is it just me or does that last image say 25 cents for 15 minutes, $1 for an hour? I was in Chicago over spring break and parked in Roscoe and the meter rate was the same.
begun, this meter revolt has...
In my city it's a violation to park at a defective meter. A stickerless, painted, or jammed meter would be considered "defective". Best to reduce the demand and abandon the Loop; the merchants will swing the Panic Hammer.
What, "SPAZ Parking" was already taken as a company name so they had to settle for "LAZ Parking"?
This makes me happy.
And this is a surprise? Hello, Chicago! Here's your wake up call. People are not going to be standing for this bullshit!
Take the clue, Daley.
28 quarters for 2 hours is REALLY just a bit ridiculous... As in "don't-know-how-to-reply" ridiculous...
While it may be illegal and crazy to be defacing the meters, I can't say I'm too opposed.
Wow, props to the commenter in early this week who posted in the "Boycott" thread and said ( I'm paraphrasing) "how long until boycott turns to vandalism".
Nice call.
So instead of being an adult and protesting your dislike of the rates by not parking at the expensive meters you destroy what is now private property.
I agree that $3.50 per hour is kind of steep but there are better ways to get your point across than acting like a teenager.
That still works. If all the meters are defective, then nobody can park there. If nobody can park there, the company receives no money and merchants will close up shop, meaning the city loses tax dollars. That means property tax increases.
Losses for everyone all 'round and you have citizens that vote in a new mayor with the balls to make downtown parking free. (You don't need to charge a fee to make people open up spaces, you just need to ticket offenders properly).
@DearEditor: Given the apparent explosion of vigilantism against these meters, saying that it was rendered defective while you were parked there is probably a valid defense.
So we're applauding vandalism now?
i'm going to start keeping rolls of pennies in my car now.
@wgrune: Sure, just like the King of England listened to reason in 1775...and just like George Wallace listened to reason in 1963...if people hadn't taken up the fight, no one would have listened.
@wgrune: I get that it's a huge source of frustration for a lot of people, but I haven't seen a lot of evidence to suggest that talking to local authorities hasn't worked. I mean, things take time. You can't walk in, expect not to stand in line, and get your ticket repealed in 10 seconds. And the fact is, as exorbitant as these fees are, they are the fees.
@wgrune:
I guess there were better ways to get a point across than throwing tea into a river? While this may not be as important or as historic, it's still the same idea. These aren't violent acts, they're acts of rebellion and sometimes rebellion is needed.
The Boston Tea Party was undoubtedly called vandalism by the owners of the tea.
I hope they catch one of these vandals and throw the book at him. Destruction of private property isn't a reasonable response to anything. Daley sold the profits from these meters to a company (probably a politically-connected company if it follows the normal Chicago pattern) that now has a monopoly on parking on the street. Gee, I wonder why no one saw price increase coming? If Chicagoans are upset about this, they should not park at the meters and (better yet) not vote for this asshole Daley the next time around.
@Mario Romero: But it destroys government property that taxpayers have paid for, so everyone loses out.
If there is a serious mayoral contender in Chicago, that person should POUND the parking meter situation for the next election.
I doubt that will help though. Daley could declare himself King of Chicago, secede from the nation, and attack Milwaukee, and no one would be surprised.
The Boston Tea Party was vandalism.
Somewhere Obama weeps for his city...
@William Gu: Yes, that's correct. In areas that used to be $.25 for an hour, the rate is now $1.00 for an hour. In areas that used to be $1.00 / hour, the rate is now $3.50 / hour. So, for that meter, it used to cost a quarter to park for an hour; now it costs a dollar.
I haven't defaced any meters yet, but I sure haven't paid them either...
@dmolavi: I just clicked the link provided and apparently a bunch of meters that are in areas I know are $1 a hour are being vandalized too. =/
@MaxSmart32: The National Guard didn't exactly write "Fuck you" on the doorway of the University of Alabama.
Man, Chicagoans are a bunch of wusses...when I lived in Berkeley, people beheaded about half the meters in town.
@TheRedSeven: Oh, OK. I didn't know that. I've never been in the area until last week so I paid the $1 and thought it was reasonable. I guess Chicago residents think otherwise.
@MaxSmart32: Yes! Sensationalist stances! I can clearly see the correlation between high street parking and the American effing Revolution.
Can't say I feel too bad for the company that is taking care of these meters. More power to the citizens of Chicago for taking a stand against these prices.
Boston has its Tea Party.
Can Chicago have a Parking Meter Party--toss 'em all into the river! I can has!?
@lpranal: well the incredible hulk has to do something when theres no birthday parties to work at :)
@Mario Romero: By your reasoning, I should be able to throw a brick through a window at the DMV because I'm upset about car tag fees.
"I hope they catch one of these vandals and throw the book at him. Destruction of private property isn't a reasonable response to anything"
Actually it does solve something- it makes it cost ineffective to gouge the public in their little monopoly arrangement with the city.
@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: No taxation without representation! Oh, wait. Because it's a private corporation that was merely sold a monopoly on a government resource, it can't be "taxation" can it? Yep, no correlation to refusing to pay taxes without a direct voice in their legislation. None whatsoever.
@lpranal: You don't want to mess with me then. Give me a lever and the place to stand, and I shall move the earth!
I wouldn't personally deface the meters myself, but I sure as hell won't shed any tears for LAZ.
Sometimes, living in Maine looks really good. Especially the free 2 hour parking.
Now, if I could only have high speed internet at home...
25 cents for 15 minutes? Quiet down, Chicago. That is what I have to pay here in Lansing, MI. I hate it, but I am not spray painting the meters (no matter how much I would like to)
@Hooray4Zoidberg: Yup.
The thing is, there's justice and there's the law. When the two veer off too far apart, people tend to go vigilante. A wise thing to consider to pols of all stripes: stray too far and expect b-i-g problems.
@William Gu: It depends on where you are. These rates are for the neighborhods, not for the downtown/near-downtown areas. So to park on a regular residential street shouldn't be that much.
@Red_Flag:
It's not taxation because it's entirely voluntary. Nobody *needs* to park at those meters. It's a convenience, and conveniences are paid for. If people aren't willing to pay the current price for their conveniences, they should just live without them instead of destroying them. This shouldn't be compared to colonists rebelling against unfair taxation in the Boston Tea Party; it should be compared to somebody getting upset over 7-11 overcharging for TV dinners, and rebelling by leaving the freezer door open to spoil everything inside. It's petty, it's pointless, and it's not an effective form of protest.
If I were the company using these (or even the cops) I would NOT want to mess with someone capable of ripping them out of the ground.
Filling these with pennies = epic win