Now that the Daley administration has spelled out some of the more significant details on how it plans to close the city's huge budget gap, interest groups expected to feel the most pain are lining up to state their case. One of the first to step up to the plate: the Parking Industry Labor Management Committee - also known as the PILMC.
The PILMC is an arm of the Teamsters, and its top officials said over the weekend they would "begin a campaign" against the Daley administration's proposal to raise the parking tax from $2.25 to $3 on bills $12 and higher, including distributing pamphlets, buying advertising, and pressing its case with various city council members.
"It'll be the sixth time in the last 12 years that they've raised the parking tax in the city and county," PILMC spokesman Brian Rainville told the Sun-Times. "Chicago parking taxes are already higher than Manhattan. You're gonna stop people from driving. By doing that, you're gonna stop them from going downtown."
Of course, the PILMC's official stated purpose is, in part, "To promote the parking industry's important contributions to the Chicago metropolitan area.
As a client of Wilhelm & Conlon Public Strategies, the PILMC has some PR heft behind it. And it's not the first time the PILMC has sprung into action trying to forestall parking tax increases. In 2005, the organization distributed leaflets to drivers in downtown parking garages.
The PILMC also operates the website ChicagoParkingMap.com.
But in tough times, the lot of commuters who park their cars downtown might be hard to fight for.
