Thursday, June 4, 2009

50 Parking Meters Vandalized, Many In Uptown

By Sally Ho, Chicago Breaking News
About 50 coin-fed parking meters were vandalized today in the three adjacent North Side neighborhoods of Andersonville, Edgewater and Uptown, according to Chicago police.

The coin slots were obstructed with an adhesive thought to be glue or putty, Police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said. The putty is removable "if they have something to scrape it with," Perez said.

The meters have also been sprayed with silver paint. Officials are on the scene.

Police said the meters are in the 5100 block of North Clark Street, the 5000 block of North Sheridan Road, the 1000 block of West Argyle Street, the 4900 block of North Winthrop Avenue and the 4900 block of North Kenmore Avenue.

Since the city leased the parking meters to a private company earlier this year, they have been the target of controversy, with complaints of price increases, computer glitches that made some pay boxes inoperable, non-working and mismarked meters.

It was not immediately known how long it would take to affect repairs or if police would refrain from writing tickets at the damaged meters.

Update: You can read more about it (with photos) at The Parking Ticket Geek.

15 comments:

  1. You can see I gave a tip about this in the last parking meter post (Sunday).

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  2. Its not only in the North side areas but its all over the city. People are really getting sick of feeding these meters. I seen some broken off the post and some that looks like they been smashed with a baseball bat. I guess soemone will get the message soon......

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  3. Unfortunately I don't see how people vandalizing the parking meters will get us anywhere. Voting the people out that approved this parking meter outsourcing is probably the best route to go here.
    Yes we are all sick of being nickeled and dimed by the city and state but when police have to get involved with trying to solve the case of the parking meter vandals, we are only hurting ourselves because those are police officers that could be working to arrest thiefs, gangbangers, rapists, etc... If these people have such a big issue with paying the meter rates, they should take the CTA or Metra and not drive. I am just as disgusted with our local and state gov't as most of you are; I just think there are far better ways to get the message out that doesn't cost us more in the end.

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  4. Your right nmf I agree with what you wrote that is the solution vote the officials out of office!
    Having said this, you have to admit that was in a certain level great, give that person a ribbon!!

    The US Revolution starting by a small act of rebellion look what that turned into!!

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  5. Now if only an election were tomorrow, next week, even next month!!

    But it's not.

    So what to do in the interim to get the currently elected officials to truly lend an ear?

    Once again, I'm not saying vandalism is right. A criminal act is a criminal act.

    On the other hand...wasn't destruction of property a criminal offense during the Boston Tea Party?

    Oversimplified, maybe, but the brass tacks idea of, "We're not gonna take it anymore" still remains.

    Now bring on the Twisted Sister jokes...

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  6. Sounds like some people are fed up!

    The placement of the updated meters, versus the old meters, seems wildly erratic.

    As I've noticed before, a lot of the ones on broadway are happy to take a quarter, but the ones on Sheridan, several blocks east, are the 'piggy' 2 bucks in quarters meters.

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  7. Breaking Parking meters is the kind of thing that makes the politicians listen.

    They don't care about your letters, or even public opinion.

    They care about MONEY. Organized money, coming from organized sources.

    What's happening in England...could happen in Chicago...it's the little things that get politicians out of office...and what gets them out of office is when they can no longer function due to negative attention.

    Breaking Parking Meters is negative attention to King Daley the 2nd.

    Isn't it about time a somebody whose dad wasn't mayor or president and who worked there way up got the Mayorship...or just somebody out of the blue would be better with NO CONNECTIONS....

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  8. Kinda like a Boston Tea party in Chicago. Long overdue. Way cool, "spot on", phat, all that and a big bag of Doritoes.

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  9. I'd bet you'd still get a ticket even if the meter was vandalized beyond use.

    Why didn't they just take a hack saw and cut them all down. It would take at least a few weeks to get replaced and you could put them in an alley for the scrap collectors.

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  10. Cool Hand Luke is Alive and Well and Hanging Out In Uptown!

    And amidst all this chaos, all over town, the city wants to install MORE meters in this nabe
    (Wilson L area)???

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  11. Post-mater-deal vandalism is--almost literally--"a day late, and a dollar short" as a response to this issue.

    Politicians care about votes, donations, and maintaining a manageable level of positive public opinion.

    If they start giving tickets for cars parking at the vandalized meters, they will make any lost money back very quickly.

    This is chess, not checkers people.

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  12. I'd bet you'd still get a ticket even if the meter was vandalized beyond use.

    You're not supposed to. If you pull up to a broken meter, you're supposed to call the number on the meter, report the number. If you get a ticket, write the confirmation number on the ticket and mail it back. No fine. I know it sounds preposterous in this city, but I did it once. Pulled up to a meter, discovered it was broken (actually I could have pulled up to the next meter, but screw that). I called the number, some dude answered, asked me a few questions, gave me a number and explained about the ticket thing.

    This mass meter destruction, coupled with the slow rate at which the company is replaced the already working meters, means we might get a week or so with free parking. But something tells me they'll put this replacement thing on the fast track.

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  13. BTW, I love the name of the reporter who wrote the article. Sounds like a rallying cry.

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  14. Yes one criminal act by Daley stealing the meter revenue from the Citizens doesn't make it right to do another criminal act by vandalizing the meters.

    Or does it.

    I think they are both criminal acts.

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  15. Wait till the Park District starts charging for those lakefront/beach parking lots, then you will really see some citizens' anger...

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