1 Comment - Add Your Comment

The West Loop could be the very definition of a multi-use community.

There are hundreds of condominium owners who flooded into the area over the last decade or so, as well as institutions — labor unions, social service providers and non-profits — long headquartered in the neighborhood or on its edges, a batch of new salons, cafes and restaurants (some patronized by locals, others “destination” places that draw from the surrounding area and far and wide), meat packing companies and light industry, two parks with one more under construction, several schools, a television studio, art galleries and a wholesale food district.

Such competing interests make parking in the West Loop complex.

Then there are the so-called “day trippers,” a much-reviled group comprised, neighborhood residents say, of suburban residents who park in the neighborhood and then take public transit into the Loop for work.

Maryanne Cohen, who lives near Washington and Peoria, said in the mornings she sees day trippers circling the neighborhood, waiting for spots to open up and then racing toward them. It’s obvious why the day trippers exist, Cohen said — the West Loop is “so convenient to downtown.”

Parking in the neighborhood even gets political. Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) and then-incumbent Madeline Haithcock sparred over West Loop parking during an April 2007 debate.

Back then, both candidates backed away from a neighborhood parking plan drafted by the West Loop Community Organization that called for metering most east-west streets and installing permit parking zones on most north-south streets. At the time, according to a Chicago Journal report on the debate, Fioretti called the proposal “idiotic.”

With this context setting the stage, the first of three public meetings about on-street parking in the neighborhood was held last Wednesday night.

The West Loop parking study, which Fioretti pushed for, is led by HNTB. The engineering firm is being paid $200,000 through the city Department of Transportation for the study, and it will ultimately float solutions about better managing neighborhood parking.

At last week’s meeting, HNTB staffers shared some of the data they’ve gathered about parking in the area under examination, between Randolph, the Eisenhower Expressway, Halsted and Ashland.

The study area, according to HNTB, has a total of 3,590 parking spaces, the vast majority of which (2,580) have no restrictions on them.

The remaining 1,010 spaces are restricted in some way — by parking meters, loading zonings, no parking stands, residential permit spaces, standing zones and handicapped spaces.

Meters comprise the largest portion of this group, at 341, with loading zones and no standing spots both taking away 257 spaces.

After the presentation, HNTB organized the approximately 44 people at the meeting into groups of four to six.

Each group was given a map showing an aerial view of the West Loop and instructions to mark up the areas where they saw parking challenges.

At Cohen’s table, the group marked where a new condominium building replaced what was shown as a surface parking lot and indicated blocks where they thought more on-street parking was warranted.

Residents at another table complained about a lack of enforcement in permit parking zones and said visitors to the United Center — located just west of the study area — regularly snarled neighborhood parking on game days.

HNTB planners and Department of Transportation staff milled around as residents and other stakeholders busied themselves over the maps. Chris Weullner, who works with CDOT, asked a table about parking options in their immediate blocks. “What parking is available to you as a resident?” he said.

Jim Degnan, who lives near the Haymarket Center, answered specifically.

“There are six spots here, three spots here, one spot here,” he said pointing at the map. It’s not enough, he said — Degnan’s building has 28 condo units but just 18 spots.

“We park where we can,” he said later.

Leslie Bubel, who lives with her parents in the 1100 block of W. Monroe, said she gets hit by the day trippers when returning from her café job around 3 p.m. “I’ve driven around for 45 minutes before trying to find a parking spot. And that was three blocks away from where I live,” she said.

Others brought concerns about their tenants to the meeting. Reuben Taylor said he needs parking spaces for businesses who rent space in his building in the 1500 block of W. Adams.

“Time restrictions are helpful. On West Adams, where I am, no parking from 4 to 6 p.m. seems to be a very good way of clearing out the street, and beyond that, making it available for residents,” he said. “On our street, I have lots of people that need space.”

Dates for the remaining two meetings haven’t yet been announced.

1 Comment - Add Your Comment

Copyright 2010, Chicago Journal
141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302, 312/243-2696
To view any of the other publications owned and operated by Wednesday Journal, Inc., click on the appropriate title.
Wednesday Journal • Forest Park Review • Riverside Brookfield Landmark • Austin Weekly News • Chicago Parent magazine
Developed by: Zero Degree Production
Powered by: Snowflake