Parking to pay for potholes?

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to give a financial boost to the city's pothole patching crews by raising the tax on Chicago parking garages.

Parking downtown is not cheap, but for people who drive the flexible schedule is important. Drivers who park in a public garage in downtown Chicago or at the airports pay a tax to the city. The mayor wants to increase the tax by 2-percent. Under the proposal, 22-percent of the fee would go to the city for weekday parking and 20-percent for weekend parking.

"The economy is down now. So that really is not acceptable," Erica Miner said.

The selling point: that parking tax hike would bring in $10 million the mayor's office said will go to year-round pothole repairs. Alderman Rick Munoz, who was recently so disenchanted with the pace of pothole repair that he re-appropriated some patch from another city project and did some of his own work.

"We need year-round pothole repair crews and I think that the mayor recognizes that and to his credit is doing it right," Ald. Munoz said.

But Miner said fixing potholes doesn't make a difference to her.

"Absolutely not. If it was helping our youth, maybe so. But potholes, no," Miner said.

The majority of downtown parkers live outside the city. But they still navigate the potholes.

So if a driver is paying $33 for less than a two-hour stay, will less than a dollar more change habits?

"I'll take the train and do what I go to do to get here," Tom Lamantia said.