Jun 19, 2009 4:55 pm US/Central
South Chicago Neighborhood Protests Meter Hike
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Some members of the South Chicago community are angry over the city's new parking-meter rate hike.
CBS
It seems there's just no end to the grief caused by those parking meter pay boxes. And now, people in the South Chicago community, near 87th and Commercial, are adding their voices to the "keep-the-meters-out" protest. CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports that not everyone is unhappy with those meters.
Geographically, we're talking about a two-block battle. That doesn't seem like much, but people who want to keep the meters out say scratch beneath the surface and you'll see this affects the South Chicago community on a much deeper level.
That's what they want their alderman to know.
Forget "nickled and dimed." These folks are tired of being quartered.
"The people are tired of all these parking meters, the rates are ridiculous," protester Robert Garcia said.
They went up from 25 cents to a buck an hour along Commercial Avenue. Even the meter-free stretch there isn't sacred anymore.
"They want to put parking meters, from the beginning of this block all the way to the end of next block," Garcia said.
That's where the Juan Diego Community Center is. It serves thousands of people -- many of them poor -- and many of them drive to the center for help.
"They're not going to be able to afford a dollar for an hour on the meters, because they're going to prefer to pay that on their milk or their food," Rosa Perea, assistant director of Juan Diego Community Center, said.
"Basically this is a community killer," one critic said.
He took his opinion and joined protesters in front of Ald. John Pope's 10th Ward office.
When you walk curbside, one thing that is noticeably missing in front of Pope's office: meters. We went inside to ask if they're getting any. They couldn't tell us
And the alderman wasn't there. Marchers vented, anyway. They think more meters and recent rate hikes hurt people and business.
Isaac Park has a barbershop just off Commercial.
"With no money people can't park, it's hard to do business in here," Park said.
Some fear more meters will mean more storefronts will go empty.
The head of the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce, who has a deli on Commercial, says that's where meters might actually offer some help.
Without them, he says people park way too long and drive off would-be customers.
"You cannot get people to spend dollars if they have to go around the block five times to find a parking space," said Neil Bosanko, executive director of the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce.
The argument won't convince this crowd.
"People are fed up with parking meters!" Garcia said.
A couple of business owners who wouldn't go on camera didn't believe meters already in place hurt their business. The chamber says that two-block stretch of Commercial is set to get meter pay boxes next week.
We still don't know if the alderman's office is going to remain a meter-free zone -- he hasn't returned phone calls.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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