Parking fee increases again. Residents of Oak Park who have cars are taking the brunt of higher costs so the village can make more money. I just read the article in the Tribune that overnight parking is going to increase from $72 to $92. As the article states, the village says “this is to promote turnover in parking.”
Excuse me? It’s called “Overnight Parking.” What part of that does the village not understand? Overnight means that while we are sleeping in our overpriced condos and houses, with inflated taxes and not enough parking to accomodate all the condo conversions that Oak Park is so fond of approving, we have somewhere to put our cars at night. Just exactly what type of turnaround is expected–at midnight, or maybe 2 or 3 in the morning? What in the world is the village thinking?
I always see people cruising around the streets in the middle of the night looking for parking. Are parking tickets and fees the only place the “powers that be” can make money from? The village does not seem to be short of cash to put cement planters on street corners, or fancy brickwork on the sidewalks.
Just as with Marion, the street will be narrow and brick-paved to let drivers know that the street is mainly for pedestrians–now what kind of logic is that?
But wait … I’m referring to the Kingdom of Oak Park; they don’t know what logic is. If you don’t want cars on the “new Marion,” then why have them?
This has got to stop. When are the residents going to rise up against these constant parking increases while the village continues to waste money? I wonder how many board members have the great joy of looking for a place to park at night or do they have garages? They should drive in our shoes and see what we go through. People still won’t shop here because there is no place to park and with the new garage rates, people will continue to shop at the malls where parking is … oh no … free.
The village should be embarrassed that they again are screwing over the residents with cars. We get no parking, pay high overnight fees and now the response is “to promote turnaround?” Unbelievable.
Betty Marszalek, Oak Park
