By Bob Seidenberg
A proposal to consider creating up to two-hour free parking in Evanston’s business districts would significantly impact city revenues, city officials have maintained in a memo.
Council member Clare Kelly, whose First Ward includes a portion of downtown, made the initial request for the issue to be considered.
Economic Development Committee (EDC) members held an introductory discussion of the proposal at their Feb. 25 meeting and are scheduled to hold a follow-up discussion at their meeting later today.
Paul Zalmezak, the city’s Economic Development Manager who staffs EDC, noted in a memo that the primary objective of Kelly’s proposal is “to enhance the City’s competitive position relative to neighboring North Shore communities and Westfield Old Orchard, where free parking is a standard amenity.”
Visitors to the city’s business districts have raised criticism of the city’s aggressive parking enforcement in the past, sometimes relating stories of dining at a restaurant only to return to a ticket on their vehicle’s’ windshield.
But the criticism has crept into more discussions lately, with the city’s downtown slow to recover after Covid, and neighboring districts such as in Wilmette — with free parking downtown — seeing a resurgence.
In memos leading up to tonight’s discussion, officials, Zalmezak as well as Michael Rivera, the city’s Administrative Services Director, and Carina Sanchez, Evanston’s Deputy City Manager, have stressed that certain operational and fiscal realities would have to be taken into account with such a change.
• The Parking Fund “provides critical financial support to the City, contributing over $5.1 million annually in 2024 and 2025 through internal transfers and taxes,” wrote Zalmezak in his memo.
Equal to Two Sam’s Clubs or four Target stores
Meanwhile, hourly meter revenue is highly valuable, he said, with every hour of daily enforcement generating approximately $95,000 over a four-month span.
“Recouping $5 million in lost parking revenue would require $250 million in new retail sales—equivalent to the volume of two Sam’s Clubs or four Target stores,” he said. Accommodating this would demand up to 500,000 square feet of new retail space. Given that Downtown Evanston’s total retail footprint is only 800,000 square feet, absorbing this massive volume in a fully built-out community is not realistic. Furthermore, without population growth to drive demand, replacing this revenue through sales tax alone is highly unlikely in today’s economy.”
The idea that paid parking ‘is this horrible evil’
Several committee members, including the heads of the city’s two Special Service Area organizations which provide the marketing for their business districts, expressed reservations about the proposal in the first discussion of the issue Feb. 25.
“I just feel like sometimes we are held hostage by the community in some ways that paid parking is this horrible evil,” said Andy Vick, executive director of Downtownevanston.org, which serves the downtown area.“People go to Chicago and pay two or three times as much money to park in front of wherever they are parking. The key to the problem is not the paid parking. The problem is let’s create a destination that people want to go to.
“Yes, we’re different (than other northern suburbs),” Vick continued. “We are this composite of urban/suburban and so we’re going to be different. And I don’t think we should feel compelled to bow to this constant demand, or this constant feeling that paid parking is a sin.”
Angela Shaffer, who heads up the Central Street SSA, noted that in Highland Park, where she is a resident, parking is free. Yet, “everyone still complains if they don’t have the rock star spot.”
Council member Jonathan Nieuwsma, 4th, pointed to the cost of providing parking. “It’s not cheap to the city. It costs us money to maintain the streets. It costs us money to enforce the parking rules, and in most cases, drivers are paying only a fraction of that cost, if at all. So I’m going to be very skeptical about giving away too much parking away for free.”
Free parking at Old Orchard a lure
Some others, though, pointed to the longstanding concerns raised over the current system.
Committee member Cheryl Judice expressed surprise that “we are having a discussion about business and parking, and there’s never been one mention of Old Orchard (Westville). Virtually all the years I’ve lived in Evanston, people talk about going downtown, (maintaining) ‘oh, there’s no parking, maybe we can do it over at Old Orchard’ (where parking is free)…They have a plethora of restaurants, there’s this huge space, people always go there.”
Council member Bobby Burns, 5th, questioned whether a tool such as AI could bring light on the issue beyond what policy makers hear anecdotally.
”I will say, I think I hear about parking a little too much,” he said at the Feb. 25 meeting. “That makes me feel we need to do something.”
A system aligned with how people use downtown: Kelly
He said the revenue generated through the parking system should be separated from officials decision, “because I don’t think that’s why we have parking regulations, right? We do it for parking turnover.”
Kelly, who made the original request for the discussion, said it would be great if the city were to survey residents on the question, “just to find out really what is the biggest trigger in terms of what makes people upset about parking here.”
Ultimately, she said, “we really want to align what we do with how people actually use downtown.”
She said the feedback could apply to other areas too. “I hear it all the time. People head north (to Wilmette) just to make it easier for an errand.”
