Evanston residents will see more regulation of parking and traffic if City Council approves tonight a hike in parking fines and a reduction in certain speed limits.
The increase in parking fines would add $478,000 in revenue to the city’s budget, which now faces a $4 million shortfall, by further punishing violations such as parking in alleys or lacking proper registration.
In accepting the new fines, the Parking Committee chose to reject a proposal by City Manager Roger Crum to raise the fine for expired parking meters.
“(The committee) just tried to determine the difference between an active and a passive parking violation,” said Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th), who serves on the committee.
By passing an increase in fines for expired meters, the city would punish accidental mistakes and create a disincentive to park downtown, said Ald. Edmund Moran (6th). He said he strongly supports the committee’s proposal, which would punish more flagrant violations.
“These types of offenses are really behavior that we could probably agree … are the proper subject of behavior modification,” Moran said.
The recommended increases are an increase from $20 to $35 for parking in an alley, from $10 to $30 for lacking Evanston vehicle stickers, from $10 to $35 for missing state registration, from $25 to $30 for missing permits for residential districts and from $25 to $30 for parking longer than allowed at a meter or signed area.
Unlike Crum’s proposed budget, the changes likely will benefit businesses, said Troy Thiel, president of the Evanston Small Business Association. Downtown businesses have suffered from employees who occupy the same space for an entire day, feeding the meters before they expire. An increase in fines would dissuade employees from doing this, Thiel said.
“It does validate the recognition that meter feeding is an issue,” he said.
With the future construction of Sherman Plaza on Sherman Avenue between Church and Davis streets, Thiel said meter-feeding would become a bigger problem and any plan to provide incentive to park in the city’s garages would be helpful.
Also scheduled for action at Monday’s meeting is a reduction in the speed limit in residential areas. If the council passes the change, the speed limit would be reduced from 30 to 25 miles per hour.
Moran said the safety of pedestrians concerns him. He said that in his own neighborhood and throughout Evanston he sees the need to promote slower driving, especially in areas that may be paths for children walking to school. He added that although drivers frequently break the current speed limit, any effort to change drivers’ patterns would be helpful.
“The notion behind this proposal is to tell people to slow down,” Moran said.
