Board of Aldermen 10-12-2021 Page 9
Then the study was authorized, | want to say last year and the study was presented upon recently at the
Infrastructure Committee meeting and my objections throughout the process of the parking study was that we
were doing a city wide. Do we want overnight parking? Do we not want overnight parking, which was largely a
question nobody had asked any of the outer Wards? Nobody had proposed overnight parking in those areas
and they largely objected to it because in areas that are suburban where they have enough room to pave their
driveway and they have a large enough property that it makes sense to do, that they can park in their lot in their
driveway. In the more urban areas where there isn't a lot of land available where residents typically build up or
have to, you know, have multiple people per unit, you don't just have an unlimited number of parking spaces
and driveways. So they need on-street overnight parking.
So this is a major issue for Ward 4 but it's not a major issue for other Wards necessarily. Some of the other
wards did identify during that citywide evaluation that they do want to have additional on-street overnight parking
and some of what was proposed by the study once they completed it was a new process. So instead of people
on the street just asking their Aldermen who then confirms it with DPW, Fire, and Police and then authorizes
either the spaces that are available or if there's extra capacity at least the ability to apply for an overnight
parking permit, the process that they recommended is very different where there has to be a commitment on the
neighborhood level to a number of years in advance. Like we will get permits over the next five years. There
has to be a certain percentage of neighbors in that area that are specifically interested in it and if you don't have
the percentage of people on that street, you can take the half of the street that has the higher percentage and
then move to the next one. That's where my concern is. The process that was proposed in the overnight
parking study is very convoluted and to me is counterintuitive.
When the study was presented, the company that managed it and was making the recommendations was very
frank and said that almost nobody that they've had as customers has actually adopted all of their
recommendations. | remember Alderman Jette had a particular interesting soundbite because he said well |
wish we'd have known that before we hired you. So that's my concern is, is the study is done. | do want to
move forward with overnight parking 100% because | think it's an urgent need in Ward 4 but I'm not confident in
the process that is being proposed and in the amount of time that it would take to adopt that process because
the neighborhoods who, in my mind, precipitated this and spoke most loudly in favor of it have had their motions
tabled for almost the duration of my term in the Infrastructure Committee and very likely would just get no
answer before the end of this entire two-year process. So I'm not enthusiastic about that.
I'm not averse to the idea of coming up with a good system that is a sound system that is effective for all the
people affected, but I'm not sure that that's what was presented and I'm not sure that's the direction we're going.
As it is right now, the system that | see is four wards where it is relevant you can approach your Ward Alderman
or any Alderman. They can approach the at-larges, indicate the need, and then that Alderman is responsible for
coming up with the legislation and then having the rest of the committee vet it but that's not the process that's
being proposed. That's where my concerns lie.
Alderman Klee
Thank you, Madam Chair. | do agree with Alderman Lopez in respect of that. We cannot take all the
recommendations to give someone permission for five years and we don't open it up again for five years. | kind
of found that a little bit hard to handle. But! do think that we can take the plan and we can work with it. | think
we can create something. As | said, | have been working with constituents, talking to them, getting ideas. They
liked the idea of it but | don't believe there is a one size fits all for a ward. | don't think there's a one size fits all
within my own Ward. | think we do need to create these zones. | do think we need to start doing some work. |
have been willing to work with my constituents to go door to door and literally ask them, do you have a need?
Do you have a want? It's a lot of work. I've already had a couple meetings. One | had to cancel suddenly, but |
do think, in general, it's a good idea but | do think it needs to be tweaked. | do agree with Alderman Lopez that
we can't adopt it as is but | do think it should go to the Infrastructure Committee. | think that it should be worked
out there sooner than later. The year is almost up and as Alderman Lopez has said, he's got a lot of people that
have been waiting for a long time to get a positive or negative rather than just sitting in limbo. So thank you,
