parking policy

“Across the country, more and more cities are finding a simple way to lower housing costs: increase downtown development anchored in public transit and improve the environment by removing mandatory parking minimums,” Rep. Robert Garcia said.

One of America's fastest-growing cities has eliminated parking minimums citywide, sending a clear message that a flood of new residents doesn't have to be followed by a flood new asphalt or congestion upon it.

This is part one of a two-part series about ON TO 2050, the new comprehensive regional plan for Chicagoland.

Chicago’s City Council recently passed a beefed-up transit-oriented development ordinance that eliminates parking minimums for new residential buildings near transit. However, new development outside of the TOD zones still are still generally required to provide a parking space for every unit.

It turns out that, despite Chicago's disastrous parking meter deal, the city government can still use meters to benefit neighborhoods. During a recent discussion of Chicago's parking challenges and their accompanying report, Metropolitan Planning Council vice president Peter Skosey and research director Chrissy Mancini Nichols told me how the city can make lemonade out of this lemon of a deal. There are a few issues that need to be resolved first, and this turnaround would require installing more meters, but that would only be a good thing for neighborhoods.

Yesterday DNAinfo reported that a block club is pushing to expand permit parking in Uptown and Andersonville, in response to complaints that workers at a nearby office building are taking up too many parking spaces on side streets. The Illinois Department of Human Services recently took over three floors of a ten-story building at 5050 North Broadway, owned by Imperial Realty, to house about 400 workers. The building is otherwise largely empty.

Taxing parking, the way Pittsburgh does, can make downtowns livelier and encourage a healthier mix of transportation options.

Every Saturday night at dusk, the main streets in Wicker Park and Bucktown seize up. The stalled lines of cars don't just infuriate drivers -- they also stall buses, block crosswalks, and push cyclists into the dangerous door zone. These crowds don't descend out of nowhere to watch the sunset, or to pile into shows at the Double Door. No, this dangerous mess stems in large part from poorly managed public parking.

Over the past few months, I have witnessed several instances of the Chicago Police Department violating the laws they are entrusted to enforce -- namely, those laws that keep bike lanes and sidewalks clear from obstructions like automobiles. In none of these instances were public safety emergencies apparent within the immediate area, nor were any of the police officers present urgently scrambling to a crime scene.