It's time.
Residential permit parking in Chicago has become so unrestrained, has grown and gotten so far away from its original purpose and intent, it is time for drastic reform or preferably, end it altogether.
NOW!
Time To End Residential Permit Parking
Because finally, someone with a brain and the courage to tell the truth, has come out and stated what is obvious to the rest of us--the residential permit program is out of control.
Last Thursday, during City Council budget hearings, Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle said the residential permit parking program has become too big, difficult to administer and challenged alderman to review and reform it.
"Any system or program that has been in place for 30 years should be reviewed," says del Valle. "We should examine it to ensure it is as efficient as possible. The review may not result in significant changes, but we should still review it. We welcome the chance to be a part of any review the City Council does on this program."
The residential permit parking program began in 1979 to ease parking problems on the residential streets surrounding Northeastern Illinois University. College students had taken advantage of the abundant neighborhood street parking, but made it hard for residents trying to park in front of their homes.
"When the RPP program was created in 1979, it was originally intended for areas near hospitals and schools and has since ballooned to encompass nearly every area of the city," explains Kristine Williams, Information Coordinator for the Clerk's Office.
In the subsequent 30 years since it's creation, the program has grown to monstrous proportions to over 1339 RPP zones and, as of October 29 there have been 118,321 individual permits sold thus far in 2009--at minimum a 2% increase over last year, which totaled just over 116,000 for all of 2008.
While residential permit parking makes it easy for people living within the zone to park on a particular street, the effects for this privilege of convenience can be profound.
When one street or block gets RPP, it displaces other drivers from parking on that street onto an adjacent or nearby block. When this happens, the surrounding bl0cks often feel pressure from an increase in parked cars to obtain their own permit parking zone. Thus creating a slow moving domino effect.
But permit parking will often have a more insidious effect on local businesses.
When permit parking zones go in around retail business districts, it will often have a harmful effect by discouraging shoppers from outside this neighborhood from patronizing these businesses because of the lack of ample parking.
Permit parking zones are essentially a way for a block, street or neighborhood to effectively privatize their streets and thus create a gated community without an actual gate or security guard watching the People's Court on a portable TV inside his little glass hut.
For Chicago residents in favor of permit parking, let me clue you into the hard reality of street parking.
You don't own the street.
That's right, not even in front of your house or apartment.
That's because roads, streets, sidewalk are all considered "the public way."
For some reason, some people feel that just because they decided to live near Wrigley Field, or a school, or in a popular and congested neighborhood, they have a right to park in front of their home. They don't.
It's not anyone else's problem when someone makes the decision to live in Lakeview, Lincoln Park, or near Wrigley Field. Just because you don't want to accept the fact you live in a congested part of the city or on a street where parking is difficult, shouldn't mean other drivers, who's taxes have gone to pay for the street you live on, can't park on that street. It's so fundamentally wrong, it is difficult to understand how this program could even exist.
But del Valle was not telling alderman anything they don't already know. Because alderman already are painfully aware of the scope of the problems with permit parking, but have been fearful of the political backlash they might feel from those constituents already living in RPP zones, if they tried to do anything about it.
Perhaps del Valle's courageous frankness can give alderman the nudge they need or even the political cover necessary to actually get something done on this issue.
Del Valle is encouraging a review and reform of the RPP system. If reforms are to be instituted, they must be crafted in such a way to make qualification for a zone much more difficult. The there must be a higher standard to meet to qualify for an RPP zone.
At the very least, for the short term, there should be an across the board moratorium on new RPP zones. In addition, each and every existing RPP must endure a review to see if it still meets the standards it met when the zone was originally awarded. In fact, all established zones should be made to endure any new higher, more difficult standard. No grandfathering should be allowed.
In addition, zones should have a single year term and a requirement of no less than 75% or higher approval of city sticker owners residing in the proposed zone. Finally, there should be a significant prohibitive cost for the individual zone that should come out of the pockets of the petitioners, as well as a much higher annual individual permit fee of $100 or more. $25 per year is much too low for this privilege.
But, to my mind these are half measures and don't address how permit parking is fundamentally unfair.
I suggest something more practical, fair and draconian.
End all residential permit parking in Chicago.
Kill it. End the entire program. Now.
Aldermen, let's put a stake in the heart of RPP, and make it an annoying note on the ash heap of Chicago history.
Grow some cajones and do it before it's too late.
16 Comments
bf18 said:
Your point about the effect on businesses is well taken. Perhaps restrictions should go into effect after a certain time of day.
The rest of your post is silly. Most importantly, Chicago will never see an end to residential permit parking. Never. How many people does this program inconvenience? A handful. How people does it help? A whole lot. And those people actually live in the neighborhoods affected. There is no chance they would let go of their precious parking, and they have a much louder voice in the ears of the alderman that some passing visitors who couldn't find a good parking spot.
WestSide said:
Here's what irks me the most. How come streets like the 1900 block of North Burlington was able to have front driveways thereby eliminating the parking spaces in front of the homes while still having an alley I have to pay for in the back????
My other parking peeve are the condos like the one built on West Kinzie just west of the Chicago River. When that site was a parking lot, you could park on the street in front of it. It becomes a gated community and now you can't park on the street by it. Same for Grand Avenue just east of Kingsbury. New developement and no more street parking.
So include those two scenarios in your lament as well.
cimbalok said:
I agree with this article 100%. In fact, I have even ranted on my own blog about this subject. See this post: http://psychicaccordionist.blogspot.com/2009/06/dontparkhere.html
We need to get rid of all permit parking on residential blocks where a majority of the housing stock is single-family homes with garages. I have no problem with permit parking in neighborhoods with high-rises or a preponderance of seniors who need to park close to their homes. But this issue has morphed into a selfish cancer. Let's revisit, revise and restrict the number of RPP zones.
Ginger said:
The City of Chicago will never get rid of residential permit parking. The permits are making alot of money for the city and all the tickets cars get for parking without a permit are a big money maker for the city!!! Daley never gets rid of anything that makes money for the city!!!
SailChicago said:
Except metered parking.... Daley sold the meter revenue but kept the ticket revenue...
Fred Smith said:
The geek is spot on. It's also crystal clear that nothing will change; if anything the system will grow along with Chicagoans' entitlement complex and economic ignorance. Oh well.
anonymous said:
I don't agree with taking residential parking permits away completely. Like a previous post said, they help many and hurt a few. My issue has been to request a residential permit for the street I live on in the West Loop. Right now, the suburbanites park for free from 7am to 5pm in front of my house and walk a few blocks downtown to work. On Bulls/Blackhawk game nights, Carmichaels parks their overflow of cars in front of my house. It is ALWAYS busy now. How fair is it that I pay city taxes and city rent, and don't get to park conveniently close because others who don't live here have taken advantage of a free street? The alderman promises it is being "reviewed" but I'm also told it could be a year or more.
taxgeek said:
Interesting, still I doubt thinks will change cause the alderman only care about staying in office. I called Alderman Mell's office regarding the parking issue in my neighborhood. The Irving Park Charter School teachers and parents use all the parking and the residents are forced to look elsewhere. I was told by his office that residential parking permits are currently not being issued. If these zones were originaly created around schools and hospitals then why is it that its not available infront of a school. My guess is the school has more pull with the alderman than the residents do. Then again when someone runs constantly unapposed we deserve what we get, regardless if gets to kick his opposition off the ballots.
lezah said:
To be perfectly honest, as a Lincoln Park resident I sometimes wish they would designate one Friday a month where the area is open to residents only because that is my day off. That is the day I do my errands and the traffic even as early as noon is horrible.
I realize that this is the price I pay for choosing to live in the area so I know my wish is ridiculous. I have noticed an increase in the number of streets in the area that are permit parking only. It hasn't made parking any easier in the area for most of us but what it has done is hurt local businesses. I think that between the new parking meter system and permit parking we are doing a lot to drive out the types of neighborhood businesses that many people live in areas like Lincoln Park to patronize. I'm for getting rid of them.
osis said:
We live on a quiet Northwest side residential street. Granted, sometimes parking was a problem because single family homes were occupied by extended families resulting in multiple cars per household. However, one day a notice from the alderman appeared in our mailboxes that starting with the next month we would have zoned parking. I asked my neighbors if they knew anything about it but the only result was a rumor that some guy down the block got annoyed (he has a 2-car garage) that he could not find a place to park and had requested zoning from the alderman. No one asked us or our neighbors. The decision to have or not have zoning in a residential area should be determined by the majority of the people owning homes on that street not by some politically connected crank.
cimbalok said:
Yes, a majority of residents should decide, but the majority should be more like 80% and less like 50%, which, to my knowledge, is what it is now. Fight the power, vote your corrupt aldercrook out.
carfreechicago said:
"When permit parking zones go in around retail business districts, it will often have a harmful effect by discouraging shoppers from outside this neighborhood from patronizing these businesses because of the lack of ample parking."
This is about availability, not quantity of parking. The parking is always full on these retail streets because it is underpriced. Meter pricing needs to be adjusted to a rate where there are always a couple available spots on the street, and no higher (in many places, the current minimum meter rate of $1 is already too high to keep the street mostly parked).
I totally agree that the street is "the public way" and that there's no right to park in on the public way in front of your home. But I also believe there's no right to store your property (i.e. your car) on the public way for free. So I'd be much more likely to agree with your idea of significantly raising the cost of the permits than getting rid of them altogether. Considering the going rate of parking on the private market in places like Lakeview, it would be appropriate for these permits to cost hundreds of dollars or closer to a thousand per year in some neighborhoods.
carfreechicago said:
I think a more reasonable solution that would also accommodate people from outside neighborhoods would be to replace the permit areas with meters, even on residential streets, and simply offer monthly or yearly passes for the meter zones. This would not only allow shoppers to find parking more easily anywhere in the neighborhood, making businesses happy, but residents could then also pay up so they wouldn't have to worry about ever paying or recharging a meter while running errands in their neighborhood.
Now, I have no idea whether the new meter contract would allow anything like meter passes.
Richard S. said:
Is there a map that shows which areas of the city do not have restidential parking permits?
Steve Dale said:
Yesterday, went to the Dr. or tried - South of South Loop (Prairie Avenue area). Here were the choices:
- Pay for on street 2-hour parking (that'll cost more than the Dr. I believe). No matter, 2 hours! My appointment was going to be longer. Do I run out undressed to plug a meter?
- Park on the street elsewhere - no wait! I can't...Zoned residential parking. And businesses here were apparently denied zoned passes, included my doctor's office.
- City lot was filled
Yes, I could have taken public transportation, but I was coming from another destination where there wasn't public transportation. Guess I could have driven to somewhere I could park then take a taxi, train or bus - how sensible is that?
The city is cheerfully killing small businesses. Small businesses could ban together - they are not. To that extent, their own fault. But then they're busy trying to somehow run a business. So, sure the city is making revenue by the increase in meter fees and zoned parking. But they are losing one by one small businesses, and even some residents. Was happening slowly, now that the economy has crumbled, happening fast. Eventually, someone will figure it out - but lots of people will have paid a price by then, and the exodus has already begun.
Steve Dale said:
One more thing I should have mentioned, this all came up because of Clerk Miquel DelValle - let me tell you first hand - he has his pulse on what citizens (families) really are thinking. He's an extraordinary guy - and NO I do not work for him. In full disclosure, I'm on his dog task force, and have gotten to know him some. He cares about people. That's is what I've learned.
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