The Chainlink

disappearing parking meters and the local economy

In recent media coverage about the city of Chicago's parking meter fiasco, an issue has arisen that needs our vocal attention. Howard created a thread months ago about local pet peeves, mentioning disappearing parking meters creating a shortage of bike parking in some neighborhoods.

The latest bit of news is that, due to pressure on the new parking meter companies to make up for their screw-ups so far, parking meters will be phased out quickly to ensure more accurate metering and reduce the number of erroneously issued parking tickets. The plan discussed on Chicago Tonight was for 3,000 of the 3,600 existing meters throughout the city to be replaced by pay boxes by year-end.

How does this affect us? It creates a fairly urgent need to get a LOT of bike racks installed really soon. IMO, I think it's critical to emphasize to the powers that be that many of us shop and dine by bike, supporting neighborhood businesses, thus supporting the city's tax base. In light of stories like this, asking for bike racks so that we can help support local business may improve the odds of our message being heard sooner rather than later.

** NOTE: I got a correction on the numbers. It's 30,000 of 36,000 remaining meters.

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Permalink Reply by Homebuilt on May 28, 2009 at 11:53am
One thing you could do is encourage the alderman to use their ward money for this. They have discretionary fund to use, and if enough people push them on it, maybe they can use some for that.



I appreciate your contacting your alderman, and I'm sure your expressed support of bike infrastructure sends a useful message, but as I've posted previously in this thread, the number of available racks is very finite at present and there is a backlog of a length that I don't feel at liberty to divulge, having used personal connections to get the info. You could have gotten the same result requesting racks yourself either via the online form or by calling 311- and any clout used to prioritize racks to your ward drops equally, or perhaps more deserving requests from other wards further down in the cue.
If you could get your alderman to commit to =funding= racks from ward-specific funds, that would be a positive response.
Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on May 28, 2009 at 4:05pm
Hello all, here's the City's response:

http://www.activetrans.org/blog/rsadowsky/city-responds-bicycle-par...

Thanks,
Active Trans
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 28, 2009 at 5:05pm
In the short term, the City plans to leave 1-2 meter poles per block to serve as bike parking, when no bike rack is available nearby.

I assume that these will have some time of head on them to prevent thieves from just pulling bikes free over the tops of the posts. Rob - Is that correct?
Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on May 28, 2009 at 5:09pm
Yes, they will either have the parking head or a metal ring so the meters can be used as secure bike parking.

Anne Alt said:
In the short term, the City plans to leave 1-2 meter poles per block to serve as bike parking, when no bike rack is available nearby.

I assume that these will have some time of head on them to prevent thieves from just pulling bikes free over the tops of the posts. Rob - Is that correct?
Permalink Reply by Erik Swedlund on May 28, 2009 at 5:15pm
Wow! I'm really impressed--thanks, Active Trans for not only talking to the city but also for keeping this thread up to date with the info!
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 28, 2009 at 5:21pm
I'd like to offer a big THANK YOU to Active Trans for their help with this issue.
Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on May 28, 2009 at 5:50pm
You are very welcome, of course. Thanks to everyone who is actively involved in this issue.

Please do keep calling your Alderman to let her or him know that funding for bike parking is important as they are working on the next budget. They need to know their residents consider it a priority.

We will continue to post updates on bike parking as we get them.



Thanks always,
Active Trans
(FYI, our offices are closed on Friday but we'll be back on the Chainlink and transportation advocacy work Monday)
Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 28, 2009 at 8:05pm
To find your alderman's info click here
Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 28, 2009 at 8:07pm
Does anyone (active trans included) have a letter template we could use to send our alderman? email template to send to alderman and media? press release?

Anne Alt said:
I think this is worth proposing to the city, as I'm sure it would be less expensive than installing all new bike racks.
Meanwhile, will we see a letter blitz in Trib, Sun-Times, Reader, etc.? Are your aldermen getting buried by letters and phone calls? Let 'em rip! Talk about supporting small businesses AND sustainable transportation to sell the idea. Because it's not direct revenue like a parking meter, it's a slightly tougher sell.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 29, 2009 at 9:55am
Here's an example of post and ring rack currently in use on State St.

Permalink Reply by yaj 7.4 on May 29, 2009 at 11:46am
I think contacting our alderman, calling 311 or emailing (www.chicagobikes.org/bikeparking) will help demonstrate how many people are concerned about bike parking.

I sent this letter off this morning:

My Alderman’s name
Her or his address

Dear Alderman,
I live in your ward, and I bike whenever and wherever I can; to businesses and services all over our neighborhoods. I am writing because I am very concerned that replacing parking meters with pay-and-display kiosks will significantly decrease bike parking in Chicago.
I urge you to please make funding bike parking a priority. I also encourage you to consider converting parking meters into bike parking, as both Toronto and Seattle have done.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this important issue.

My name
My address
Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 29, 2009 at 1:19pm
Thanks!

y a j said:
I think contacting our alderman, calling 311 or emailing (www.chicagobikes.org/bikeparking) will help demonstrate how many people are concerned about bike parking.

I sent this letter off this morning:

My Alderman’s name
Her or his address

Dear Alderman,
I live in your ward, and I bike whenever and wherever I can; to businesses and services all over our neighborhoods. I am writing because I am very concerned that replacing parking meters with pay-and-display kiosks will significantly decrease bike parking in Chicago.
I urge you to please make funding bike parking a priority. I also encourage you to consider converting parking meters into bike parking, as both Toronto and Seattle have done.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this important issue.

My name
My address

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