Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 23, 2012 at 1:25pm

Google StreetView to the rescue. This image, from March 2009 looking at 109 N Franklin shows parking meters still in place

 

Charlie Short said:

2008 saw record gas prices, and ridership jumped pretty significantly in the loop that summer Julie, so that pre-dates the meter deal. I'd guess neighborhoods like Lakeview, Pilsen and Wicker Park/Bucktown saw an increase in ridership after the meter deal.

I wonder if anyone knows how many meters were actually in the loop before the parking meter deal? I seem to remember that parking meters were mostly removed after 2001 and replaced by pay boxes in the loop. This is not to negate the concern over bike parking, but I think that the Loop was already deficient in bike parking spaces before the meter deal.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Such a waste that more meters weren't able to be retrofitted.    Would have saved a lot of money and resources in the end, right? (I'm no expert in economics, urban planning, etc.)

 

Is it true that the meter deal itself was a catalysis in the jump in cyclists commuting downtown? 

 

 
Justin B Newman said:

Just to quantify this a bit, city-wide there were somewhere about 36,000 meters. Assume 25% were "saved". (Removal of 27,000). Assume all were "double headed".  13,500 poles. Each bike rack has 2 "poles". That means 6,750 bike racks are required to replace every meter in the city. 600 bike racks per year.

 

So, at the current rate of installation, Chicago will be "back to where it was" in 11.25 years. And that's with some generous assumptions. I suspect the number is more accurately 15-25 years.

 

And that's just to return the city to where it was, not taking into account locations that don't have meters, but still need racks...

 

-jbn

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on June 23, 2012 at 3:42pm

Ooh. Excellent. I didn't mean to poo-poo, it was serious question. I'll have to check some spots my self, because I think around the corner from there was a city pay box on Washington. I'd actually like to know how many spaces we lost in different parts of town.

I'll also point out that regardless of what the city does, there are times when bike parking gets taken out without the bike programs knowledge, or spots never get installed because of other departments (water, streets and san) work. If you live in Rogers Park right now, theres a bunch of bike parking (along with sidewalks and other important stuff, like the street) that got ripped apart because of really crappy utility work. Unfortunately, this happens way too much, and often bikers aren't getting the worst of it. Many senior citizens and moms with kids can't access public transportation in corridors like this for huge stretches of time (Clark is still really nasty.) On the plus side, Rogers Park is full of awesome folks and work is being done to fix the mess (and the folks involved actually know what's happening.)

Advocating to your alderman, local businesses, SSA's and other invested parties is what's going to make a difference for bike parking, and it's only going to help other folks too (like ped's). Someone asked why only federal dollars are used to install bike racks. Ask your alderman. Find out what they are spending your 1.2 million dollars a year on. City resources can only be dedicated to projects if the Mayor and Alderman say so (that's not an invitation to critique, just an observation/statement.) Tell the Alderman what you want. For the original poster, it's Alderman Reilly who you can contact about getting more bike racks at this location. Reilly has spent a whole bunch of money on bike stuff (again, I know it's not "enough," but check out this list): Grand and Illinois Bike lanes, Kinzie Protected Bike Lane and Wells Buffered Bike Lane just in the last two years, and that's big stuff.

As far as what could have been done and what wasn't, and what may or may not happen in the future I say this: talk to someone now, inundate all the folks I just mentioned. Email me (I get a lot of city inquiries because of the work I do), email the commissioners of departments and aldermen. Attend committee meetings. Talk, talk, talk. There are great ideas on this board. Get them to the right people, or at the very least, get them to me and I'll get them to the right people.

Thanks Chainlink,

Charlie Short

Program Manager

CDOT Bike Safety and Education

charlie.short@cityofchicago.org

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on June 23, 2012 at 3:52pm

Thanks Charlie for getting involved in this conversation since you know first hand more of the ins and outs of local bike legislation, budgets, and how the city works.  

Charlie Short said:

Ooh. Excellent. I didn't mean to poo-poo, it was serious question. I'll have to check some spots my self, because I think around the corner from there was a city pay box on Washington. I'd actually like to know how many spaces we lost in different parts of town.

I'll also point out that regardless of what the city does, there are times when bike parking gets taken out without the bike programs knowledge, or spots never get installed because of other departments (water, streets and san) work. If you live in Rogers Park right now, theres a bunch of bike parking (along with sidewalks and other important stuff, like the street) that got ripped apart because of really crappy utility work. Unfortunately, this happens way too much, and often bikers aren't getting the worst of it. Many senior citizens and moms with kids can't access public transportation in corridors like this for huge stretches of time (Clark is still really nasty.) On the plus side, Rogers Park is full of awesome folks and work is being done to fix the mess (and the folks involved actually know what's happening.)

Advocating to your alderman, local businesses, SSA's and other invested parties is what's going to make a difference for bike parking, and it's only going to help other folks too (like ped's). Someone asked why only federal dollars are used to install bike racks. Ask your alderman. Find out what they are spending your 1.2 million dollars a year on. City resources can only be dedicated to projects if the Mayor and Alderman say so (that's not an invitation to critique, just an observation/statement.) Tell the Alderman what you want. For the original poster, it's Alderman Reilly who you can contact about getting more bike racks at this location. Reilly has spent a whole bunch of money on bike stuff (again, I know it's not "enough," but check out this list): Grand and Illinois Bike lanes, Kinzie Protected Bike Lane and Wells Buffered Bike Lane just in the last two years, and that's big stuff.

As far as what could have been done and what wasn't, and what may or may not happen in the future I say this: talk to someone now, inundate all the folks I just mentioned. Email me (I get a lot of city inquiries because of the work I do), email the commissioners of departments and aldermen. Attend committee meetings. Talk, talk, talk. There are great ideas on this board. Get them to the right people, or at the very least, get them to me and I'll get them to the right people.

Thanks Chainlink,

Charlie Short

Program Manager

CDOT Bike Safety and Education

charlie.short@cityofchicago.org

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on June 23, 2012 at 5:20pm

Your welcome Julie. I'm happy to help with clarifying things. We're just people too at CDOT, and I always appreciate it when folks give ideas. This thread has made me think about what I want personally from bike parking, and what my professional experience tells me can be done.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on June 24, 2012 at 3:29am

Charlie, maybe you can request that bike racks be added to the list of menu items that aldermen have to choose from next year. For this year's menu funds, the aldermen were highly encouraged to choose items from this list, which had newly added items like protected bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, in-road "stop for pedestrian signs", and more. It would be great to have bike racks added to the list of items for next year, maybe including bike corrals as well.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 24, 2012 at 6:38am

+1

Michelle Stenzel said:

Charlie, maybe you can request that bike racks be added to the list of menu items that aldermen have to choose from next year. For this year's menu funds, the aldermen were highly encouraged to choose items from this list, which had newly added items like protected bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, in-road "stop for pedestrian signs", and more. It would be great to have bike racks added to the list of items for next year, maybe including bike corrals as well.

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on June 24, 2012 at 7:27am

I'll mention that to the commissioner, and let's bring it up at the next MBAC meeting. It'll be awhile before that, so I'll bring it up.

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Permalink Reply by Jason W on June 26, 2012 at 3:57am

So federal plaza has been under construction for 2 years. Has CDOT or active trans lobbied for more bike parking when that gets done? It is right in the area I originally posted about (ridiculously congested), and has a lot of open space.

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