Bucktown Resident: Car Rental Agency Taking Up Scarce Parking Spaces
(CBS) -- Parking in the city is tough enough, but one North Side resident says a local car rental agency is making it impossible in his neighborhood.
It's a congested street in a congested part of town. So, imagine how frustrating it is when a local business takes all the parking spots.
The sign says "No Parking, Tow Zone."
The tickets on the windshields seem to say "I don't care." Nine cars on one street, all parked illegally. Four tickets on one car alone.
"Some of these cars of been here for a week," says Sean Melnick.
He lives on Moffat street in Bucktown and says the illegally parked vehicles belong to this Enterprise Car Rental agency on Milwaukee Avenue.
"They use the neighborhood as their own personal parking lot," says Melnick, who notes residents buy permits to be able to park in the spots.
"Enterprise doesn't care. They say we don't know what to do. We don't have any place to put the cars," he tells CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez.
A manager outside the small store front declined comment.
Melnick says he's complained to 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack, who says he has reached out to the company.
Even with the numerous tickets, Melnick says the city isn't doing enough to crack down on Enterprise.
"It's a tow zone, not a ticket zone. I don't understand why they don't tow them," he says. "They don't respect the neighborhood. It's not cool."
Enterprise did not get back to CBS 2 after saying they were looking into the complaints.
The city of Chicago's Revenue Department says Enterprise cars generate more than $200,000 in parking tickets each month. It wasn't clear how much of that is the responsibility of drivers who rented the vehicles and violated parking rules.
