Chicago Parking meter rate hike sparks a rebellion

Carol Marin of The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

And at 2 p.m. around the Sheraton Hotel on Columbus Drive, a place where normally you can't crowbar your car into a space, there were at least three or four parking spaces. What's up with this?

What's up is that a month ago, when the City of Chicago privatized parking meters, rates were immediately jacked way up, and you now have to feed 28 quarters into the meter to park a car in the Loop for two hours. In exchange for a 75-year lease, the city got $1.2 billion to help plug its budget holes.

But by handing over municipal parking meters to a private company, the city has given its citizens a colossal case of sticker shock. The cost of most meters will quadruple by 2013.

The deal Mayor Daley rammed through a pliable City Council in 48 hours allows the company to keep all revenue from the meters while the city keeps all cash from parking tickets when meters expire.

We wonder if the law of diminishing returns from higher taxes has kicked in,in high tax Chicago.Great moments in Blue America.