Parking problem spoils nice evening
I went to see a wonderful play,"Damn Yankees," at the Metropolis at in Arlington Heights with my extended family. It was the first time there for us and the only snag we ran into was trying to find a place to park for our three cars. The entire area was amazingly crowded with cars. We saw the large parking garage nearby and pulled inside. There was a sign on the first floor that said free parking after 6:00 pm. It was packed. We were lucky to find a spot on the second floor. It said permit parking, but we assumed the sign on the first floor talking about free parking on the first floor applied to all the floors.
So, we saw the show, had a wonderful time, came out to the car and found that the entire AHPD must have come out to ticket more than half the cars in the parking garage. Just scanning the cars in my row and the row behind me, most got ticketed. To write so many tickets in just a two-hour time frame was incredible! Our $25 ticket had a scrawled name impossible to decipher, indicating they were working fast and furious to give out tickets to every car that had no Arlington Heights permits.
This is an outrage! Why isn't there a sign that says "No parking in the municipal parking garage above the first floor ...you will be ticketed!"
Arlington Heights has a real money-raising deal going on here. I estimate it made easily $2,500 in parking ticket fines. Are only Arlington Heights people supposed to be here? Is this city so insular that it doesn't want outsiders using their businesses?
I had never before been in a town that has too much business. I guess Arlington Heights is the exception. The restaurants, bars and the Metropolis do not want extra business from outside the city limits otherwise they would have changed this parking trap policy.
This is a warning to all patrons of the arts. Do not go to Arlington Heights. They have vastly INADEQUATE LEGAL parking for the activities in the downtown area and you won't know about it until you are ready to leave.
You know, the play at the Metropolis was only 90 percent full. Maybe others have found out about the parking issue and decided not to return. I know my
family won't. We've been going to Ravinia in Highland Park and Drury Lane in Oakbrook for years and frequent the restaurants in their respective areas. These communities respect patrons. Parking fine traps don't exist there.
Roger Blank
Lake Zurich