Residents invited to talk parking for pilot study

I hope that the solutions can eventually be applied to more residential areas. Overnight parking restrictions, multiple permits (I have to buy 3 where I live), frequent street sweeping periods, and metered/permitted lots within our zone make it very complicated just to park at home. We are new to Oak Park and love it a lot, but we've already gotten two tickets even while feeling we are being attentive and diligent. Here's to continued improvements!

Thanks,
Dan
123 N Humphrey Ave Apt 1E

I agree. Y4 overnight parking. Lately very difficult to find a spot after 6 PM !!! Getting worse. A few times ended up parking in another spot a setting overnight parking through Passport Parking.
Also, I don't understand the cleaning work. In our side of Washington Blvd we can not park on Wednesdays from 8 AM to 10 AM. I've got several tickets on top of paying overnight parking. Days are busy and these rules make things more difficult. On top of that I have pictures that show that cleaning is not quite good.
I am not sure about solutions but a more dynamic system has to be implemented that could allow flexibility when overnight spots for each zone are gone. This system should be working with an online system through smartphone app. Or maybe the concept of overnight zone is not useful anymore.
Also, people need to be aware that parking your car in these zones is not easy and should try to park better. Several times, if cars were parked close to one another it would be easy to get an extra spot.

I, too, would love to see less complicated and restrictive processes for obtaining parking permits (now in person, on paper rather than online and printable or with electronic registration; 20 at a time) in residential areas and more accessibility for people to park on the streets. Parking restrictions on my street are such that it is difficult to have multiple visitors that stay overnight -- despite the fact that there is often more than enough space for cars to park. I'd love to see some rethinking and adjustments on the design of parking permitting and a loosening of very difficult-to-comply-with regulations. Thank you!

I work at the Hephzibah group home and parking is an absolute nightmare on Clinton and Home. I have gotten 3 tickets so far because the signs are so confusing and change from day to day. We really need to find a better solution to parking.

I've filled out at least two parking surveys in the 18 years or so that I've lived in Oak Park and no significant changes were made. It's still a byzantine system and the homeowners always shoot down allowing 24/7 parking for the rest of us who live in multitenant buildings. I pay about $700 a year to park on my street (which requires one annual and four quarterly permits) and parking is still a hassle. Meanwhile, enforcement is inconsistent and lax, so people who have expired and no permits park overnight in the permit zone, often with no consequences. I've called the parking office multiple times (hello, Jennifer, who was going to call me back three days ago) and again, nothing changes. SOS, different day.

I live at Washington Blvd/Maple and I park (24h)almost a mile from where I live, which makes it really unconvenient and a hassle making all that walk especially in a rainy/ freezing weather. We really like OP, but we are leaving it as soon as we finish school!

Parking in Oak Park is ridiculous. We need three permits to park where we live and with two cars, it's astronomical to say the least. I feel that oak park is taking advantage of condo owners / renters who cannot afford to buy a home with parking. To top things off, the cost of getting a ticket is $40 plus another $30 if late. I don't feel charging such a high penalty is right to do to hard working, tax paying citizens. I feel we should pay one permit to park year round and fines should be lowered.

I really like staying here, but paying that much for parking is way too much. I paid so far over $ 400 for STREET parking only. Knowing that I moved in March 2017. And to make things worse, I get a scratch on my car almost everyday!! So i'm losing money everyday for parking and my car's value is going down only from parking there.

I agree with everyone , the restrictions are insane . It's not safe to walk a mile from a garage at night and in the cold. This needs to change...

I attended the Transportation Commission meeting on 1/29/18; I submitted a list of written questions related to the parking pilot and overnight parking. I asked for hard data, not opinion or anecdotal musings, on the following related to the proposed pilot and any subsequent easing of overnight parking in our village: the % of Oak Park's adult residents who support the proposed action; the current cost and long-term costs of the proposed action; the availability and efficacy of the technology needed to manage this incredibly complicated plan of action; the number of additional police officers to be hired to monitor and enforce the action; the impact on snow and leaf removal and sewer cleaning of this action; how more vehicles parked on residential streets, especially at night, created by this action will impact resident safety; the impact on residential property values of this action; how more vehicles in our village, as this action would lead to, supports the village's commitment to the environment; the impact on the character of Oak Park as village, not a city, as a result of this action. I gave my email and address and phone number. Now two weeks later, I have yet to receive a single reply. Having attended meetings related to this proposed action, I assert that in my 42 years as an Oak Park resident as a renter and home owner, no proposed action by our village government, especially one that will change the very nature of life in Oak Park, is as ill-conceived, as poorly planned, as poorly researched, as poorly communicated as this proposed parking pilot and any subsequent overnight parking easing. The current village board has made good decisions, decisions that serve the best interests and future of our village. This pilot is NOT one of them. It is the classic example of a solution in search of a problem. As stewards and trustees of the entire village, the village board needs to end all discussion related to this proposed action, just as a previous village board did ten years ago.

It is no secret that Oak Park's nickname is called "No Park". The new signs and rules being tested are not a solution, but more stirring of the mud. Why make it more complicated? The signage looks like a tennis court - and is not easier to understand. I am highly educated and found it a quagmire. Then let's add the snow ban. Oh thrill. There is no where to move your car to so they can plow. Tickets were distributed like candy on halloween, yet parking areas were not plowed. Just fines? Why bother? People are already irate about parking. Remove the fines for people with valid stickers Oak Park! We are really close to getting rid of our car and removing your income. Too complicated.