PERMIT PILE- UP
Aldermen seek ‘ educational’ pass, which would add to city’s permit parking habit
Chicago is a parking- starved city addicted to residential permit parking and unwilling — or unable — to kick the habit.
In fact, some aldermen want to make that addiction worse.
Ald. Ray Lopez ( 15th) wants to create an “educational permit” for 7 a. m. to 4 p. m. on school days to solve the parking crunch around public and private schools.
The new zones could be created around only those schools that have off- street parking for less than 80 percent of employees. The zone size would be based on the availability of on- street parking and proximity to public transportation.
“I have at least five schools that have no- parking [ zones] around their buildings and, to varying degrees, issued some sort of pass from within the building for teachers and staff and, sometimes even friends and volunteers, to park in the noparking zones,” said Lopez, who introduced the ordinance at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
“I’m hoping this ordinance will kind of regulate that a little bit and make it official, so staff members can park in those areas during school hours in areas where the density is great and the parking situation is not so good for the staff.”
Ald. Susan Sadlowski- Garza ( 10th), a former school counselor, said there’s a parking crunch around “every single school” in her Southeast Side ward.
“Teachers have nowhere to park. It’s right in the middle of a community. They have to walk three blocks to get to school. That’s kind of hard in the snow or when it’s raining and you’re carrying all your supplies and your things. It would be good to let teachers park close to the school,” said Sadlowski- Garza, who signed on as a co- sponsor.
Ald. Tom Tunney ( 44th), whose ward includes Wrigley Field, wants to alter residential parking “buffer zones” and establish a “grace peri- od” so daily residential parking permits remain valid for 15 days past the expiration date.
The Chicago Department of Transportation — in consultation with the local alderman and city clerk — already can designate a buffer zone in an area next to and within a “200- number range of street addresses” in a residential permit parking zone if the zone has “created conditions that result in insufficient available parking in the designated area.”
Tunney wants to expand that if an alderman can demonstrate “that an area sought to be designated as a buffer zone has either a population density that is higher than the city average or is an arterial street with mixed commercial and residential use.”
Residential permit parking got its start in 1979 on the streets near Northeastern Illinois University — and fast became the catchall solution to Chicago’s notorious parking crunch. Chicago now has 2,070 residential permit parking zones generating 190,140 annual permits, 244,574 daily permits and $ 6.7 million in annual revenue.
For a $ 25 annual fee, motorists get permits to park on residential streets where parking otherwise is banned. Guest passes are a bargain; 15 permits cost $ 8.
In her final city budget hearing before assuming the job of state comptroller, then- City Clerk Susana Mendoza urged aldermen to eliminate permit parking, saying it creates “false expectations.”
“Let’s just get rid of it and not even do it. Then, it’s just, if they find a spot, they find a spot,” Mendoza said.
“It’s a false expectation. People pay the $ 25 and, if they don’t find a spot on their own block, they get even more frustrated. … [ If ] you have a lot of apartments or multi- family units, it’s gonna gobble up parking spaces. … Eighty percent of the time in those congested neighborhoods, they’re still not able to find a parking space.”
Mendoza urged aldermen to level with their constituents and begin weaning their wards off the permitparking habit.
“I would move in that direction because it doesn’t help you. All you’re gonna do is make enemies,” she said.