The report below was circulated by ANSWER Chicago. Over 200 people protested at City Hall in Chicago on Wed., July 29 to demand an immediate end to parking meter rate hikes and the expansion of parking meters. The action was held in the middle of the work day, during the monthly city council meeting held at City Hall. A militant picket, with protesters waving and pumping hundreds of signs and banners, was followed by a short rally. Protesters chanted with anger and purpose: “Parking meters mean, we got to fight back! Racism means, we got to fight back!” People walking and driving by the protest responded with claps, honks and cheers. The anti-people administration of Mayor Daley is deeply unpopular. Signs read, “No More Parking Meters,” “No Budget Cuts, No Layoffs” and “Money for Jobs, Not the Banks!” The protest was covered on ABC news and CBS radio as well as many local media blogs. Earlier this year, Mayor Daley sold the city’s parking meters to bailed out financial giant Morgan Stanley for a period of 75 years. The big bank has raised meter rates by 400 percent in most parts of the city, criminally increasing hardship for workers during a time of skyrocketing unemployment. Called by the People’s Parking Meter Campaign, an initiative of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and ANSWER Chicago, the action was joined by Centro Communitario Juan Diego and No Games Chicago. Centro Communitario Juan Diego has organized a 24-hour vigil to stop the installation of meters outside their South Side community center that serves workers, the poor and immigrants. The fight goes on against the parking meter expansion and all attempts to make the people pay for the economic crisis in the form of higher fees and costs, layoffs and budget cuts. Join us: working people shouldn’t have to pay one penny for a crisis created by the banks! The People’s Parking Meter Campaign is an action oriented initiative that has collected thousands of signatures to stop the privatization of the parking meters. To find out more or to get involved, click here. Join us Sat., August 8 to gather more parking petitions at the Bud Billiken Parade. More info soon or call 773-463-0311 for more info. Help support the People’s Parking Meter Campaign by making an online donation now
Watch Video of the parking meter protest
28 2 minutes read
