Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Ald. Shiller: The Disabled Can Share Parking Spaces

By Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times

Motorists with disabilities in two congested lakefront wards would be forced to share the designated on-street spaces in front of their homes under a pilot program in the works tailor-made to ease the parking crunch.

Aldermen Vi Daley (43rd) and Helen Shiller (46th) want to test the concept of "shared restricted parking spaces" to reduce tension between disabled motorists with special parking privileges and able-bodied drivers who have to fend for themselves. Continue Reading

11 comments:

  1. Interesting.

    One problem will be what happens when all the handicapped parkers are at home? Let's say there are 8 placard holders on a block and they are all at home. Like say Tuesday night at 9pm and there are only 6 designated spots.

    Oh well. I guess time will tell whether this change works.

    Sometimes being an alderbeast means telling one group of your constituents to stick it. If some folks are complaining about an abundance of handicapped parking it may be that there is no good solution and that the non handicapped folks will just have to cope with the hassle.

    I know Helen knows how to tell evil property owners and bad apples how to stick it.

    I'm one of those people who loathe and detest able bodied people I see parking in handicapped spots. I'd rather walk than take a spot away from someone with a disability who needs it. Then again I am the 12 time winner of the Joseph Cardinal Bernadin Humanitarian Award given personally to me yearly by the Pope and the Dalai Lama.

    That's the ticket.

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  2. This action by Shiller isn't quite as obvious as saying "Move to Lincoln Park" but insensitive nonetheless. You're right IP, time will tell if disabled people can cope or not.

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  3. It's not the first time handicapped parking spaces have had to be shared in this ward:
    check it out
    .

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  4. i live in buena park and there is a 'handicap' spot on my street that NEVER, EVER, EVER, in 5 years has a car parked in it unless its a pizza delivery driver with hazards on. night time, 3 am, tuesday, saturday, sunday, wednesday, 2pm, noon, 9am, 6pm, etc. never ever a car there. ive seen someone in a motorized wheel chair living by there but vans or buses pull up at the corner. this 'handicapped' parking here is more of a handicap on other residents. i have no problem with handicap spaces at all but........... for it not being used...EVER? its like when you go to a store and they have 500 handicap spots and about 20 other regular spots.

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  5. for it not being used...EVER? its like when you go to a store and they have 500 handicap spots and about 20 other regular spots.


    Cmon now, when does that happen exactly? The handicapped spots are almost always the first two on the row, leaving another 20 for the rest us. Jebus, we don't walk enough as it is.

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  6. I think one possible solution for parking is to have lined parking spots on the streets. Too many times I have seen cars parked so poorly that an entire spot is unusable. If spots were lined on the streets, then the ability to maximize space should occur.

    People shouldn't be penalized b/c they are handicapped or b/c they aren't. If the street parking space were used to its best ability, some additional spots should become available.

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  7. Thank you Matt M.! I have to constantly battle for parking around my house in Uptown and it is a VERY RARE occassion that I find parking within 3 blocks of myself, which is fine, I don't mind walking...HOWEVER, I have a HUGE problem with the cars (and I see at least 10 of them each day) parked around my neighborhood taking up AT LEAST 2 spots. Seriously, if you don't know how to park, either don't drive and park in the City or get out of the City. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I have literally drove around my house for 45 minutes to an hour in tears looking for parking. It is absolutely uncalled for. There would be enough parking for people in my neighborhood if people could actually park their cars. I think the lines idea could certainly help.

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  8. Thank you for your support Sooneratkent. I had submitted this idea, along with one about motivating home owners and landlords to clean off their sidewalks in the winter, to Helen last year. Of course, I didn't even get a "thanks for your idea" response...in fact I got no response.

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  9. I wonder if Shiller ever considered making the 46th Ward like 48 other wards in the city and not allowing taxis to street-park residentially.

    Yes, they have to park somewhere, but why only in Uptown, our of the whole North Side?! Like we've been saying, we're not anti-cab, or anti-scattersite housing, or anti-shelter, but ... we're saturated. WHY IS IT UPTOWN'S JOB TO TAKE ALL OF WHAT THE OTHER WARDS DON'T WANT?

    If Ald. Shiller put her efforts into pushing through a resolution saying that cabbies could park in all wards of the city, rather than in two out of 50, the drivers could actually park in front of their own homes. Safer, handier, easier.

    And then the 46th Ward would have more street parking for the handicapped.

    Makes sense to me. Of course Helen will say "It's not my reality," as she does to so many other plots that don't portray her as The Savior Of The Whole Frigging World.

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  10. Tygerkub, cabs are not allowed to park on residential streets ANYWHERE in the City, that's a City-wide municipal ordinance. The reason you may see cabs parked ILLEGALLY (and they all know it) on your street or around wherever you live is because they wait until after 5pm when many of the parking enforcement officers get off for the day to park there and the beat officers that work during the evening have the authority to write the tickets, but are usually busy doing what they would call "real police work."

    My suggestion, next time you see a cab parked on a residential street, call 311 and then write a "friendly" little note to the cab that is illegally parked and remind them that they are illegally parked and can be issued a ticket. Call the cab company while you are at it, if it happens enough and tickets are actually issued, perhaps the cabbies will get the message. I have seen a few around me, but fewer once I started calling them in and informing them that they are parked illegally.

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  11. SoonerAtKent, it is illegal in 48 wards of the City, but not the 46th. We'll take all the taxis who can't park in front of their own homes in other wards, but make the handicapped share spaces.

    "Parking and Standing Violations:09-64-170(a): Park Truck, Recreation Vehicle more than 22 feet in length, Self-contained Motor Home, Bus, Taxi (except Wards 15 and 46), Livery Vehicle on a Residential Street."

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