# Help me plan 4 nights in Chicago **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2022, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193 "2022-12-08T07:58:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/321 "2024-08-22T20:58:33Z")
Adler is tiny. If you do not do a show there I am not sure you’d even spend 30 minutes in the place (the shows are kinda the thing for Adler). But, one of the absolute best views of Chicago is from the Adler Planetarium (and Chicago has a great skyline as city skylines go). ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/322 "2024-08-22T22:02:22Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Just to make sure, I’ll mention that the CTA pass does not work on Metra trains or Pace buses (suburban buses) Having actually read the dang thing, I guess it _does_ work on Pace buses. Not that that’s likely to come up. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/323 "2024-08-22T22:18:50Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > But, one of the absolute best views of Chicago is from the Adler Planetarium (and Chicago has a great skyline as city skylines go). Too bad you no longer have small planes taking off and landing overhead… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/324 "2024-08-22T22:19:58Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Too bad you no longer have small planes taking off and landing overhead… ☹ I’ll never forgive former mayor Daley for that (and a few other things). ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/325 "2024-08-23T12:26:40Z")
Think of that as you use a parking meter! 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/326 "2024-08-23T12:32:01Z")
That was my second thought after Meigs Field. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/327 "2024-08-23T20:18:48Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Think of that as you use a parking meter! 🙄 Mind explaining that reference for us non-Chicagoans? I’m familiar with the story of how Meigs Field was illegally closed, but I don’t get the parking meter reference. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/328 "2024-08-23T20:33:09Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I’m familiar with the story of how Meigs Field was illegally closed, but I don’t get the parking meter reference. Back when Richard M. Daley was mayor (1990s and early 2000s), his administration generated some short-term revenue for the city, by privatizing/selling off the rights to several public assets and services, on very long-term contracts. One example was the city’s [parking meters](https://news.wttw.com/2023/07/27/wttw-news-explains-what-happened-chicago-s-parking-meter-deal): in 2008, his administration balanced the city’s budget by signing a contract for over $1 billion, which gave the rights to administer (and profit from) the city’s meters to a private firm, on a 75-year lease. Other examples are the Chicago Skyway (a toll road), the city’s downtown parking garages, and bus shelters. In each case, the city quickly burned through most, if not all, of the revenue generated from the contracts, while the contractors stood to continue to benefit from them for years or decades to come. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193/329 "2024-08-23T21:29:46Z")
The parking meter deal is a particular “gift that keeps on giving” 🤨 because the City must reimburse the firm pretty much each time it chooses to close a street with metered parking for construction, a festival, or whatever. For instance, street closures for the NASCAR races cost the City $348,306 in 2023 and $273,665 in 2024. [Cite.](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/08/15/parking-meter-pay-off-for-nascar-cost-chicago-600k-over-two-years/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-4-nights-in-chicago/976193.md?page=16)