Where is GEM? He is usually all over this stuff.

GE Parking fines increase

Obviously its to raise revenue for all of the shoppers in the cbd. I sometimes wonder if they have ever done the math of the salary of the person who gives the tickets vs the ticket revenue.

quote:

Originally posted by southge:
I sometimes wonder if they have ever done the math of the salary of the person who gives the tickets vs the ticket revenue.

Highly doubtful.

No parking patrol and what do you think would happen . . . especially during the school year? You think the kids would just obey the signs and not park in the CBD? Think you have a parking problem now, get rid of the enforcement and get ready to bitch even more.

16 years in this town and I can count on zero fingers the number of parking tickets I have gotten in the CBD.

Not to worry. I have observed that that their parents give them their passes for the commuter lots.

I have noticed that too. There is a black car with a personalized plate that I think says Ms or Miz something that parks there. Kid must be going to football practice.

For once . . . we agree.

According to this, it's perfectly fine. And seems like a great idea.

Except the gist of the brochure seems to suggest that the Montclair is primarily for commuter parking. Since I have moved her the wait list has increased from 6 months to 1 year. I realize that there is nothing that can be done about how the permits are being used. Its just annoying that in the summer the lot runs about 2/3 capacity and during the school year its almost to full capacity.

Maybe a lot of Chicago P.S. teachers live in G.E.

Which is supposedly against policy, right?

Probably.

I finally snagged a Pennsylvania parking pass last week. (The lot to the west of the fire station.)

It took me (almost exactly) 11 months.

I bought it for the rest of the year. I'm also on the waiting list for a closer spot -- but it dawned on me: can I sublet my parking space? (I walk to the train station now and only really got it for the beastly cold winter. I live about six blocks away, but I realized that 5pm commuter traffic -- especially in the winter -- is far, far more dangerous and crazy than any traffic I encounter in the city. People pulling out of Montclair are true maniacs -- and I'm not exaggerating. There's a dudette in a black Toyota Camry who not only runs across Main to get to the lot but *DOES NOT* stop for anybody walking in front of her car when she pulls out. It's crazy. I've never seen anything like it. She'll honk at the pedestrians (as she nudges forward) to get out of her way so she's the first one out of the Montclair lot at 5:45pm. It's like those maniacs who sense the play is about to end and dash for the aisles in order to be first one out at the curb for the valet. Meantime, if you're sitting in front of them, they'll ram their knees into the back of your head as they lunge for their coats and make their getaway. )

I ran into someone at a party last weekend that offered me triple for what I paid for the pass the rest of the year (someone who lives South of Roosevelt -- so walking to the train station is essentially out of the question.) I refused -- out of fear of breaking some hidden Glen Ellyn law that would surely cost me triple the triple amount I might receive for the pass itself.

BTW -- and this is way, way off-topic -- but the dudette in the black camry reminded me: did you ever realize that the most annoying people on Metra -- the loud talkers, the stand-in-the-vestibule-drinking-beer-and-screaming-with-riotous-laughter-folks -- the most annoying people on any given train all *know* each other?

It doesn't matter what car they're in -- or that they're spread across the whole train -- but not only are they incredibly annoying and loud but they all are friends. It's a very strange thing.

I realized this early on in my metra-riding career. If there's a loud person in car A, three loud people in car B, a cell phone shrieker in car C -- they'll all invariably get off at the same stop, stand on the platform together, wave at the conductor, call the conductor by name, finish their beers, finish their gab session/back slapping session, and then disperse reluctantly after the train pulls away. Only to do the same thing again the next day, 5 days a week, year after year.

Weirdest thing ever.

(The dudette in the black camry is apparently part of a Glen Ellyn contigent -- the same group who get off the front of the train at Lombard -- walk along the platform so (apparently) everybody can see them -- only to get *back on* the rear of the train -- and then walk back up the aisle toward the front where they got off originally. I kid you not. I've been observing this for a couple months now. I can't figure out if they walk the platform so folks can see them, if they walk it to avoid the aisle (but why walk back up once they're back on?) or if they're just train freaks who like to get off on the platform, schmooze with the conductor, and get back on.

Trains seem to bring out the weird in everybody. I'm sure I'm just as weird as I sit in my invisible wall of iPod sound, pretending that no one can see me, thinking (in my Samuel Jackson voice): okay, listen up, no one better invade this here iPod sound space of mine. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: farber55,

I chalk it up to getting old and cranky, but people on the train are starting to piss me off more and more with each passing day. And if you really want to put yourself through hell, take the train on the weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by Flora Klok:
I chalk it up to getting old and cranky, but people on the train are starting to piss me off more and more with each passing day. And if you really want to put yourself through hell, take the train on the weekend.

Yep. Exactly. Or lunch time during a weekday. It's one thing to take, say, the 7:17a going and then the 5:09p coming back. Everybody sits in their same seats, reads their kindles/papers/books and generally stays pretty quiet. But every time I leave work early and, say, take the 11:40 out of Ogilvie, it's a nightmare. A mix of boozy weirdos, sweaty business dudes, and generally freaky people (who refuse to share a seat, so you're forced to keep walking forward).

Communal transportation is weird. I realize Metra is probably the *less weird* out of all the different possibilities, but it's still trippy -- and gets worse every year.

quote:

sweaty business dudes

HEY!!!

BTW, farber...exceptional post and dead on observations.

It's more of a manly musk.

I thought Clam looked familiar in those tv ads...

Wow maybe I should start leaving work early and riding the midday train.

And it doesn't help us southern GE folks that they got rid of our buses. What I do find ironic, is that Pace still picks us one gentleman(which is good) from my subdivision because he is blind. But they drive down most of the old bus route with one person in a bus when the rest of us would be more than happy to pay for a ride.

I have GOT to get to the Montclair lot when black Toyota lady is pulling out. I would be the one obnoxious pedestrian to stop and stand directly in front of her car when she honked at me, simply to prove a point. And let me tell ya', if the weirdo hit me....I'd be MORE than happy to press charges. Some people just don't deserve a driver's license. Sounds like she is one of them.