Dec 19, 2008 10:36 am US/Central
Daley Wants 'Congestion Reduction' Parking Fee
Plan Intended To Ease Traffic Jams, Generate Transportation Funding
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
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Mayor Richard M. Daley (File)
CBS
Motorists who insist on parking in downtown Chicago -- either on the street or in commercial lots or garages -- would pay a "congestion reduction" fee for the privilege, under a mayoral plan in the works to ease traffic jams and generate transportation funding.
Truckers who make downtown deliveries during peak periods would also pay a fee for every minute they block traffic, under the ordinance quietly introduced by Mayor Daley at Wednesday's City Council meeting.
CTA President Ron Huberman said the fees would go into a so-called "congestion reduction fund" to finance an array of improvements, including more trains and buses serving the Loop, turn lanes and synchronized traffic signals.
The mayor's ordinance makes no mention of specific congestion fees. It merely gives the city's revenue director unbridled power to set the rates and adjust them without City Council approval. A study under way by the Civic Consulting Alliance will determine the size of the increase.
"The price can be moved regularly until we find that sweet spot where it alters behavior. We're trying to have the minimum amount we need to charge in order to encourage people to drive a little earlier or a little later and use mass transit," Huberman said.
The timing of the increases could not be worse.
Daley's $1.15 billion plan to privatize Chicago parking meters already includes steep rate hikes that will force downtown motorists who now pay $3 an hour to cough up $3.50 Jan. 1, pay a whopping $6.50 an hour by 2013 and feed the meters 24/7, including holidays.
The mayor's 2009 budget also includes an increase in Chicago's parking tax -- from $2.25 per car to $3 -- on motorists who pay more than $12 to park.
The ordinance authorizes higher parking meter rates in an area bounded by Chicago Avenue, Orleans Street, Lake Shore Drive and the Chicago River with a goal of creating a "minimum average vacancy rate" of 10 to 15 percent.
"You want to hit the tipping point where people are not driving in circles looking for open meters," Huberman said.
Higher parking taxes would impact most of the Central Business District, while apparently exempting the Millennium Park and Grant Park garages privatized by the city two years ago. Those increases would only apply during the morning and evening rush periods, defined as 6:30 to 10 a.m. and 3:30 to 7 p.m.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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