There's a blog entry on the Chicago Reader site that was recently mentioned to me as possible fodder for a blog entry of my own.  The item is mainly focused on a recent "U-turn" of opinion by the Active Transportation Alliance (formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation). 

The Reader reports that just recently, the ATA has come out and said it actually supports the city's privitization plan for parking, and the guy in charge of ATA says he regrets the organization's original scathing report of the deal.  Also in the blog post, Mayor Daley recieves an award from the ATA - for being such a great guy to work with on transportation issues. 

Now, a lot of this is just political wheeling and dealing... and who knows what this meter deal is really going to mean for EVERYONE involved down the road.  Besides, why does a community activist group do what it does?   We don't really know.  It's likely that not all motives are pure, and the ATA likely needs powerful allies like King Daley to stay relevant and productive.  Now, this is all very interesting cocktail chatter for the Kombucha tap at Whole Foods, yet it doesn't really have an impact on my everyday life.  But one point of the blog entry IS extremely important to me as a bike commuter -- and that's the lack of bike parking now in the city. 

Now, when this meter lease deal first went down, the new parking tsar/company (Chicago Parking Meters, LLC) promised it would keep old meters around, despite the 'upgrade' to new-fangled boxes... just for cyclists.  And, it is true that sometimes you'll see one, with a little plaque saying, 'Left for the convenience of cyclists' - or some other such ditty.  Yet, even if there is an old meter, it's probably already got two bikes locked to it.  Judging by the comments on the Reader's blog entry, several bicyclists agree with me - there are simply not enough racks in Chicago.  I could really get behind some sort of campaign to get funding for this... and I really don't think it's a good use of anyone's time to groan about the backroom dealings of most high-placed city officials, whom, let's face it, likely put on their "To-Do" list tasks that will ensure their security- financially or politically.