Chicago auctioning parking spaces downtown

I read an article in the tribune about auctions going on downtown, and that people are paying quite a sum for parking spots. Unfortunately, the computer I am on sucks and I can't cut & paste, so I'll just let somebody else post that article. It's good to know that parking is expensive downtown, but it annoys me that Chicago doesn't make it more difficult. I love how London charges a toll for people arriving downtown by car. That has been an idea I have been floating around for a long time. London has it, Manhattan has it (Lincoln Tunnel, etc etc), and now Chicago needs to have it. FREE expressways and FREE entry to downtown is more than free--it's SUBSIDIZED. The government throws billions of dollars into expressways and, along 95% of them, doesn't even ask for a penny in tolls. GOD how this country has fallen right into GM, Goodrich, Exxon, and BP's hands! Let those gas prices rise... Ultimately, transit will be the only viable option, and finally this car-lover's hell (yes, they call it "paradise" but I give it a different name) will fall asunder.>