Mayor Daley at a City Council meeting in November
Yesterday the Mayor had some constructive driving advice: Slow down. The cutbacks in the Chicago city budget hit the Department of Streets and Sanitation pretty hard, which, in turn, will affect snow removal this winter. The Chicago Reader today reported that this is the smallest winter cleanup budget since 2004. Snow removal is no bargain:
“That was only 1.5 inches, 2.5 inches of snow. It’s almost half a million dollars just like that,” Mayor Daley said.
That’s a lot of tax dollars. The main arteries won’t be affected as much as the side streets will be, so be prepared. So if you want to recession-proof your commute, don’t drive. And if you were thinking about parking your car, don’t. Or at least watch out for snow removal zones or quadrupling parking meter fees or the increased parking garage taxes. Oh, and don’t run red lights
But again, this is what has to be done to keep Chicago’s budget afloat without raising property taxes, which is great and all, but there are other costs incurred to us through all of these other “nickel-and-dime” taxes. The thing is, a lot of these things are aimed at inconveniencing area drivers, which could backfire on the city if people do actually start to choose public transit over driving in the loop. But like Daley said when he introduced the budget earlier this fall:
“Make no mistake: This is no ordinary year or years.”
***By the way, I’ve noticed a spike in new readers, so thanks for stopping by!
I’ll be moving to Chicago this summer and I’m hoping to use all public transportation. Nice post about aspects usually overlooked about driving in the city
Thanks, Max! And I try to stick to public transit myself, though I do own a car. One of my favorite parts of living in Chicago is that if you have a car, it doesn’t cost a fortune to keep it here. And if you don’t have a car, you won’t need it because you can get anywhere you need with public transit.