Downtown Parking Enforcement Showing Results, Improvements

In the first two weeks of increased parking enforcement in downtown La Grange, the village is starting to see results.

During a discussion about parking issues at Monday’s Village Board meeting, Police Chief Michael Holub said there were 60 citations issued in the first weekend and 40 in the second weekend.

“I would suspect those numbers to go down as the employees recognize that the words in the letters we sent, we mean it,” Holub said. “I don’t think we’ll have many repeat offenders.”

La Grange police began enforcing premium downtown parking spaces June 28 to help free up spots and make sure they're used by patrons, not employees. The enforcement area is between Cossitt to the south, Ashland to the west, Burlington to the north and the alley between La Grange Road and 6th Avenue to the east.  

Village officials and business leaders have been communicating about possible solutions to downtown parking, and increased enforcement was one of the more feasible options.

The village sells Central Business District parking stickers to employees at $20 per month, which several trustees pointed out is cheaper than a $35 parking ticket. But those stickers aren’t required.

Many trustees said more should be done to incentivize businesses to buy the CBD decal stickers. They also supported finding more ways to subsidize free valet parking for patrons and employees, whether through a tax or the combined efforts of restaurants to foot the bill.

Trustee Jim Palermo said charging for parking shouldn’t be ruled out as an option, either.

“As distasteful as it may be for patrons, we only have so many spaces and I don’t think we’re going to create more,” he said. “A pricing mechanism is something that needs to be explored.”

La Grange Business Association President Steve Jasinski was on hand to answer questions, and he said another option being explored is additional parking in the Cossitt School lot on weekends. He said the school is on board and that the LGBA is now working with the PTO.

But many people believed prime spaces would be opened up for patrons if employees were all parking in designated spaces away from the main strip. It will be an ongoing discussion among businesses and village officials, but Holub was confident the enforcement is working so far.