World Series fever has residents in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago firing up their entrepreneurial spirit. As the tournament plays out, parking in the area around Wrigley Field is scarce, so people who live there are selling their parking spots to the highest bidders – some go for as high as $150. The Chicago Tribune reports that Wrigleyville residents create a small economy of vending, parking, souvenirs and ticket sales during the regular season that is only getting bigger as the home team competes for the series.
I don’t know much about baseball, I can admit, but I understand the concept that ordinary people can make a profit on extraordinary events. What I love is that municipal leaders support the effort – with limits. The article states:
Residents can sell as many as three private parking spots per individual owner without a license, per city code.
“There’s a little gray area there,” said Bennett Lawson, chief of staff for the office of 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney about residential parking proceeds. “It’s still income, but it’s up to them how they report it.”
Wrigleyville residents have to follow a few rules, besides facing competition from taxi and ride-sharing services, but they’re allowed to do what makes sense to any reasonable person: rent out a resource that is temporarily in high demand with low supply.
When I hear about cities that require permits for yard sales and lemonade stands, I think about moving to Canada, but that’s not going to happen, so I just shake my head and fear for the future of our country. Nobody wants a free-for-all because that’s not a healthy setting for capitalism, but our government has gotten so top heavy. It starts to seem like every aspect of our lives is legislated and regulated.
Maybe I’m not much into baseball, but I’m into creativity, innovation, hard work and good ideas. These kinds of stories make me feel good about being American.
Read the article here.
