Highland Park drops a couple notches
We went up to Ravinia last night to see—well, hear—the BoDeans. The sound was good, they played a nice quasi-acoustic set, and the rain held off to allow a nice evening picnic. I always thought Highland Park was a nice suburb—pretty houses and tree-lined streets, an actual downtown area—however a couple of things that I experienced as we were trolling for parking eroded some of the town’s luster in my estimation.
First off, the whole parking situation was terrible. The signage from the Edens over to the downtown area was fine, but once there it was very frustrating. Now, I recognize that they need to arrange things primarily for the benefit of their own (tax-paying) residents, but as long as they use Ravinia as a drawing card they have the responsibility to make accomodations for visitors. The problem is that it’s not obvious from the parking signs, which indicate a myriad of zones with various restrictions, where exactly Ravinia parking is allowed—or prohibited. Would it be so hard to add some signage that says "Ravinia parking allowed" or "Ravinia parking prohibited"? Oh, and how about a few "Lot open" or "Lot full" signs…these could even be hand-made. Yes, there are police and some staff standing around to answer questions, but when people have to stop, roll down the window, and talk for 30-60 seconds, it just snarls traffic that much more.
Second, I noticed ‘good citizenship’ admonitions on the folded-up stop signs in the downtown area. In and of itself that raised my hackles a little bit as being somewhat Orwellian (although my irritation over the parking situation probably had something to do with it too). Fortunately, most of them seemed somewhat banal, things of the ‘look both ways before crossing’ variety. However, one simply said "Respect authority". Ugh! That implies one should respect an authority figure because he/she is an authority figure, which is just plain wrong. Achieving authority on merit and exercising it with restraint and diligence deserves respect; gaining authority questionably and/or exercising it incompently deserves scorn; gaining authority improperly and/or exercising it capriciously deserves outright defiance.