Parking Questions (live, vacation, cars)

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by chet everett

If you are using the car to get to your office from the Metra station it would not be parked in the same spot for more than 24 hours. The visitor would have to trek out to Geneva daily, move the car and come back. Not practical.

I agree it would not be practical to trek to Geneva daily. However, that would not be necessary as it is allowable to pay for multiple consecutive days at once. Also, I don't generally work weekends, so my car sits from Friday evening to Monday morning almost every weekend. Occasionally I take a whole week off from work for vacation. After my winter vacations, I can easily spot my car in the parking lot because it tends to be the only one with several inches of snow on it. I'm sure I tick off the people who plow the lots.

Anyway, it sounds like EMATHIAS has a better solution.

[cloud2010]

Originally Posted by emathias

I have a parking space I don't use that I sometimes rent out for $10/day. I live in River North about a 10 minute walk from Michigan Ave (I won't post my address here, but check 700 N Wells St on Google maps and I'm within a block of there). I'd be willing to rent it to you for a week for $50 total.

If you're interested, PM me. The only real catch is that it's not a huge space, so if you have a huge car it wouldn't work very well. But depending on where downtown your hotel is, it could save you a lot of hassle vs. remote parking, while still being cheaper than most overnight options downtown. The Felix Hotel, for example, is 1 block from me and they charge $40/night for parking.

Sounds good! I PMed you

[chet everett]

I can't help but feel that the persistent exposure to corruption has made every Chicagoan immune to understanding why rules exist.

Parking costs $20 a day becuase that is how the bonds that paid for the parking garage need to be paid off.

The reason a town like Geneva can decide to subsidize the cost so that daily users are only paying a fraction of that is because the various benefits of having more shopper spend money in the shops near their station and workers patronize the lunch spots help the local economy.

Scamming the town by storing a car out their is just not the right think to do.

Similarly the various parts of Chicago that do not have permit controlled parking are not doing so to pull cars that ought to be paying for parking at a hotel or near-loop garage, they simply have residents / businesses that have not YET felt a need to involve the City in parking restrictions HOWEVER should the appearance of out of area plates start making a regular appearance in their neighborhoods it would likely result in yet more permit zones...


{The solution emathias proposes sounds perfectly fine}

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I can't help but feel that the persistent exposure to corruption has made every Chicagoan immune to understanding why rules exist.

Parking costs $20 a day becuase that is how the bonds that paid for the parking garage need to be paid off.

The reason a town like Geneva can decide to subsidize the cost so that daily users are only paying a fraction of that is because the various benefits of having more shopper spend money in the shops near their station and workers patronize the lunch spots help the local economy.

Scamming the town by storing a car out their is just not the right think to do.

Again Chet, I think I know more about the parking situation in Geneva than you do. The route 31 lot is a barebones parking lot, not a parking garage. I don't believe it has been repaved in the 6 years I've worked in Geneva. There is no scam involved in parking there, following the regulations, and paying for multi-day parking as indicated in the clearly marked signs which are posted. If the signs indicated that parking was restricted to residents of Geneva, I would not park there nor would I encourage other non-residents to park there. FWIW, the route 31 parking lot is underutilized and always has excess capacity so an individual who pays for parking there is pure extra revenue for the city of Geneva. Also, who knows, the individual who drives to Geneva to park their car may choose to spend some cash at the shops along 3rd St while waiting for the train to arrive.

I don't advocate illegal or unethical behavior and for you to imply that following the posted regulations is somehow nefarious makes me reconsider my formerly high opinion of your perspective. Geez, next you're going to say that not paying for parking on Sunday is unethical despite having no legal obligation to pay.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I would really question the sanity of anyone suggesting that a visitor from a foreign nation (or even a neighboring state...) essentially abandon their car for a week in Chicago or any other place.

Why? People do it all the time.

Originally Posted by chet everett

The handful of Chicago neighborhoods that are not covered with restrictive parking regulations tend to be both distant from any sort of reliable transit options and in parts of the city that are so far off the beaten path that, while even in "safe" from a crime statistics standpoint, are so uncommon for visitors that the various things that could "go wrong" far outweigh any savings...

But they exist. That's why I offered to make suggestions for him.

Originally Posted by chet everett

Park your vehicle in a garage on the edge of the Loop. One of the the largest and least hassle prone ones is across from Union Station: Chicago Union Station :: Parking If you could not budget $20 maybe you should have planned on visiting a cheaper area...

Don't be a jerk. The guy wants to visit our city and you're basically telling him to go somewhere because he doesn't want to spend money he doesn't need to? You're so helpful.

[chet everett]

If one wants to drive to Chicago one ought to be cognizant of the circumstances that go with such a journey. Suggesting that there are ways to avoid Chicago parking regulations / costs for parking near a hotel is more of a disservice.

The cheapest legal way to park at a long term lot is probably to stuff the $4/day into the pay box at the Yellow line station lot, but honestly that is something that you'd have to be a little goofy to do -- Deprecated Browser Error The drive out to Skokie probably about half an hour and then you chug back into the Loop area so you've wasted 90 minutes. Heading back out to Skokie with your luggage and souvenirs on the Yellow line is really going to set the tone for a lovely drive back to Canada...

Spend a little less on tipple and just get a convenient spot in garage near the hotel...

[Drover]

Originally Posted by chet everett

If one wants to drive to Chicago one ought to be cognizant of the circumstances that go with such a journey. Suggesting that there are ways to avoid Chicago parking regulations / costs for parking near a hotel is more of a disservice.

The cheapest legal way to park at a long term lot is probably to stuff the $4/day into the pay box at the Yellow line station lot, but honestly that is something that you'd have to be a little goofy to do -- Deprecated Browser Error The drive out to Skokie probably about half an hour and then you chug back into the Loop area so you've wasted 90 minutes. Heading back out to Skokie with your luggage and souvenirs on the Yellow line is really going to set the tone for a lovely drive back to Canada...

Spend a little less on tipple and just get a convenient spot in garage near the hotel...

... or park your car for free on a side street so you have more money to, you know, enjoy yourself.

It's not that difficult to do. Honest.

[kafka_on_the_shore]

Originally Posted by Drover

... or park your car for free on a side street so you have more money to, you know, enjoy yourself.

It's not that difficult to do. Honest.

At the expense of possibly having his car towed, sure. That's a great idea!

[Drover]

Originally Posted by kafka_on_the_shore

At the expense of possibly having his car towed, sure. That's a great idea!

You can leave your car in one spot for up to a week, which is as long as the OP intends to stay in town. So there's no reason why he'd have his car towed. Not that it matters becuase the OP appears to have made satisfactory arrangements.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Drover

You can leave your car in one spot for up to a week, which is as long as the OP intends to stay in town. So there's no reason why he'd have his car towed. Not that it matters becuase the OP appears to have made satisfactory arrangements.

It's winter. If it snows, he'd be screwed. And even if it doesn't snow, if you miss a snow plow sign you can be towed. It's more complicated than just "you can park for a week" - as a local, you may just automatically remember to check those things, but a newcomer may not even know what to look for.