If it's just a political gimmick, it's an awfully good one.
Ald. Joe Moore says he will dip into his city stipend for office fees and administrative costs to pay for free overnight parking at two lots in his ward that used to be free and now cost 25 cents an hour.
The plan will cost Moore $89,000 from the stipend - which is taxpayer money - over three years.
The recipient?
The Chicago Park District, which installed the fee in all lakefront lots in order to help balance its budget.
The deal was struck in a last-minute, closed-door meeting between Moore and Park District Supt. Tim Mitchell. Daytime fees at Loyola Park will still go up to $1 an hour.
“I don’t have any real serious problems with them increasing the meter rates during the day when the parks are open," Moore had previously said. "But leave us alone at night."
That's when the anguished ritual of finding parking in Moore's Far North Side ward is at its worst.
"So the 123 spots at Loyola Park right on the lake and also right next to several apartment buildings are very popular," ABC7 notes.
The Park District says it expects to generate about $1.5 million a year from the new lakefront parking fees.
