WBEZ | cars

Question answered: Why ban pickups from Lake Shore Drive? Where can they park?

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:13:00 -0600

Yours truly drives a teeny, tiny 1999 Toyota Corolla. It may not be the most stylish vehicle, but on the plus side it doesn’t attract much attention from cops or my Chicago neighbors. That’s more than can be said for some of my fellow Chicagoans’ vehicles, apparently. Take this question from from Bronzeville resident Jef Johnson:

I keep hearing that pickup trucks are not allowed on Lake Shore Drive, though I do see a number of them daily, and that there are parts of the city where pickups are not allowed to park. Is all that true and if so, why?

Intriguing, no? And it's especially so when you consider that industry sales data show the Ford F-Series pickup trucks topped automotive best-sellers lists for more than two decades. The answer means a lot to Jef, who says he’s been driving one type of truck or another since 1987. Being able to throw stuff in the back, he says, made trucks handy for his camping and other outdoorsy activities. And, he hasn’t let up; his most recent purchase — finalized just this October — was a Dodge RAM.

“I’m also a wedding officiant,” Jef tells me, “so I’m often meeting brides in the evenings and weekends and, since I go visit them, I end up parking in all parts of the city.”

That got him wondering and worrying: Was he going to walk out of a bride’s home one of these days to a bright orange ticket on his car?

“I’m always half expecting to get pulled over on LSD,” he says.

So where, exactly, can Jef and his new Dodge go, and where might they run into trouble?

Should Jef get the jitters while on the Drive?

I put Jef’s first question — the one about Lake Shore Drive — to the city’s law department, and the spokesman there sent back an email, replete with relevant portions of the Chicago municipal code. The gist of the largest chunk gets to the idea that commercial activity doesn’t belong on city boulevards, and the assumption is that pickup trucks are commercial vehicles.

Translation: No, pickup trucks can not drive on Lake Shore Drive. It’s considered a boulevard, so vehicles with truck license plates designed to “carry freight or commercial goods” are supposed to stay off. That’s the case even when the vehicle’s not actually used for such purposes.

There are notable exceptions, however. If, for example, you drive a Ford F-150 to a Bears game, and you take I-55 to the Soldier Field parking lot, you should be okay. Another exception: If you’re a construction worker and you bring lumber to McCormick Place for a convention.

But why?

The rationale behind the rules took some digging and, frankly, is a bit elusive. My City Hall sources had a tough time accounting for how this all came to be and, it seems, they don’t get this question very often. One person even called my request “WBEZ’s latest trivial pursuit question.” Perhaps, but we’re assuming that Jef isn’t the only Chicago truck owner who’s anxious about driving the Drive.

Regardless, the best account I could get is a historical one, and it comes from the top source on Chicago maps: Dennis McClendon, who produced maps for the Encyclopedia of Chicago. And get this: He even drew the original CTA system map.

Anyway, McClendon says the truck issue likely gets down to a mentality, one which dates back to the late 1800s when Lake Shore drive was first planned.

“It was to be a pleasure drive,” McClendon explains. “It was not to be a traffic carrying arterial, it was a way to enjoy the park in your carriage or your brougham.” (A brougham being a light carriage that was drawn by a single horse.)

“I think it was Thursday afternoons were set aside for fast driving,” McClendon says. “So the young men who lived on the Gold Coast nearby would bring their fastest trotting horses and their lightweight broughams and race each other.”

By the 1930s, McClendon says, this parkway grew into the Outer Drive and Inner Drive we know today. The idea was to allow more traffic on Lake Shore Drive but this whole concept of a “pleasure drive” stuck, meaning the proscription against commercial vehicles (pickup trucks included) is really just a holdover, one that’s consistent with a bias that kept commercial or “working” life separate from upper-crust residential life.

Consider, he says, that fancy apartment buildings once had separate entrances for residents and tradesmen.

“You wouldn’t want a scruffy workman carrying his tool box through the front door, just as ‘Miss High Nose’ was coming out with her poodle,” McClendon says.

Where pickups can’t call home

Jef says he lives in Bronzeville, a South Side neighborhood. As I found out, his ward escapes proscriptions against parking pickups on residential streets. The municipal code is clear on this one, as the relevant sections list exactly which wards pickup trucks can park, so long as the owners work with their alderman to get the proper stickers and permits and their truck is registered properly with the state of Illinois.

That leaves only two North Side wards where pickups are not welcome to park on residential streets: the 38th and the 39th.

When it comes to the 39th Ward, Alderman Margaret Laurino says she does hear complaints about the policy, but they’re mostly from newcomers — not long-time residents.

“My staff often times has been instructed by me to say, ‘Well you’re just going to have to park your pickup truck in your garage or find an off site parking space,’” Laurino says, adding that this has been the case for the 17 years she’s been in office.

As for a change? Laurino says her staff check in with constituents each year about the policy, and for the most part, resident want their residential streets free of pickup trucks.

‘Miss High Nose’ and her poodle at it again?

If McClendon’s theory about the attitude towards trucks on Lake Shore Drive is right, is it fair to say that maybe some neighborhoods just find pickups unappealing, and they’re willing to press aldermen to keep the trucks in check?

Jef doesn’t buy that argument (“A pickup can be just as easy to look at as an SUV or a hummer or some really ratty car,” he says), and the bias against trucks is getting scrutiny from other sources, too. One source is Mike Brockway, the writer behind the “The Expired Meter” blog, which helps Chicagoans solve driving, traffic or ticket problems.

Brockway says maybe it’s time for City Hall to consider upgrading the policy on truck parking. Right now, it’s mentioned in a section dealing with livery vehicles, busses and RV’s, despite the fact that, for many owners, they’re neither solely commercial nor entirely personal.

“Am I using a vehicle 51 percent of the time to get groceries for my family and bring my kids to school and bring them to violin lessons? And 49 percent of the time I’m using it for business purposes?” he asks. “I mean, how do you define that?”

Brockway calls the parking provision a “dinosaur of a piece of law” that can give you headaches. “My theory on parking and driving laws,” he says, “is they need to be simple so people can understand them.”

And where do most Chicagoans fall on this issue? Again, it’s OK to park in most wards. Residents in the 38th ward had their chance to speak out on the November ballot, and a majority said they would support a law that would allow pickups to park on residential streets.

But until the municipal code reads crystal clear, Brockway has this advice for pickup drivers, and for Jef: If you’re gonna park a pickup, triple-check with the alderman first.

Regarding Trucks on Lake Shore Drive
9-72-020 Operation of vehicles restricted.
It shall be unlawful to operate any vehicle upon any boulevard (a) when such vehicle is used for carrying freight or other goods and merchandise for commercial purposes, (b) when such vehicle is designed primarily for carrying freight or other goods and merchandise, and (c) when such vehicle is used for carrying freight or other goods and merchandise on the outside of the vehicle; provided, however, that vehicles carrying freight or other goods from or to any building or premises abutting any boulevard where it is impossible from the location of the building or the character of the freight or other goods to be received or delivered, to receive or deliver the freight or other goods and merchandise from an alley or a side street or a street other than the boulevard, shall be permitted to enter the boulevard at the cross street nearest the building or premises to receive or deliver the freight or other goods, but shall not proceed further on the boulevard than the nearest cross street. Operators of emergency vehicles and such vehicles excepted by permits issued by the executive director are exempt from provisions of this section. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, it shall not be unlawful to operate any of the vehicles described in clauses (a), (b) and (c) on those portions of Interstate Route 55, and the exit and entrance ramps thereto, which lie between the King Drive Interchange and the north and southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive and the most easterly lane of northbound Lake Shore Drive and the most westerly lane of southbound Lake Shore Drive and the exit and entrance ramps of Lake Shore Drive which lie between Interstate Route 55 and 31st Street; provided that such vehicles are traveling to or from the McCormick Place complex and its support facilities.
(Added Coun. J. 7-12-90, p. 18634; Amend Coun. J. 11-28-90, p. 26192; Amend Coun. J. 12-11-91, p. 10832; Amend Coun. J. 11-15-06, p. 93351, § 1)
Regarding parking restrictions in Chicago neighborhoods
9-64-170 Parking restrictions – Special types of vehicles.
(a) It shall be unlawful to park any truck, tractor, semi-trailer, trailer, recreational vehicle more than 22 feet in length, self contained motor home, bus, taxicab or livery vehicle on any residential street for a longer period than is necessary for the reasonably expeditious loading or unloading of such vehicle, except that a driver of bus may park the bus in a designated bus stand as authorized elsewhere in the traffic code; provided, however that in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 40th, 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th and 50th wards this prohibition shall not apply to the owner of a pickup truck or van weighing under 4,500 pounds who has no outstanding parking violations, when such vehicle is parked at the curb adjacent to the owners place of residence and the vehicle bears a valid and current city wheel tax license emblem and a special parking permit issued in accordance with this subsection. In the 7th, 15th, 10th, 23rd, 35th, 46th and 50th wards this prohibition also shall not apply to the owner of a taxicab who has no outstanding parking violations, when such vehicle is not in service, when the vehicle is parked at the curb adjacent to the owner's place of residence and when the vehicle bears a valid and current city wheel tax license emblem and a special permit issued in accordance with this subsection. The owner shall apply for a permit for such parking from the alderman of the ward in which he or she resides. The Alderman shall evaluate the vehicle for compliance with relevant provisions of the municipal code and shall issue a special parking permit if the vehicle is believed to be compliant.

United Auto Workers vote 'yes' to Ford contract

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:31:00 -0500

Ford union autoworkers have approved a new four-year contract that's expected to bring 2,000 jobs to the Chicago region.

At first, it didn't seem like a slam dunk deal. Many workers complained the new contract reinforced an unfair two-tier payment system with part time workers doing the same work as full-timers and getting paid substantially less. The new contract included profit-sharing in lieu of pay raises, and many living in expensive metropolitan areas like Chicago wanted a cost of living pay increase.

Chicago's union workers were so against the contract that 77 percent of the South Side assembly plant voted against it last week; 70 percent at the Chicago Heights stamping plant did the same.

But as big 'yes' votes came in over the weekend from major facilities in Michigan and Kansas City, the scales began to tip tellingly in favor of the contract. Workers in Louisville, Ky., approved the agreement Tuesday, according to a post on the Louisville local's Facebook page. That was the last large local to vote, and it ensures the agreement will go into effect.

A final tally was not immediately available from the UAW Wednesday morning.

Richard Hurd, Professor of Labor Studies at Cornell University, said he's not surprised at all in the variation between plants on the vote. He said typically in votes for or against a contract, a local union leader holds a lot of sway.

Regarding the case of the Chicago plants' rejection, he thought it could go deeper.

"It could be that there are tensions in the facility and the vote reflects things other than the workers particular view towards the terms of the agreement. There may be bad relations between the current plant manager and workers, or between supervisors and workers. So workers less happy with situation will be more likely to vote against a contract," Hurd said.

The UAW represents approximately 41,000 hourly and salaried workers across 27 Ford manufacturing and assembling facilities in the United States. Now that the vote is in, the new four-year contract will begin moving forward. According to a UAW press release, it includes adding 5,750 new UAW jobs.

"These new UAW jobs mean more than 12,000 new jobs in total with jobs previously announced by Ford," said UAW President Bob King.

Chicago's two area plants are expected to reap 2,000 new jobs out of the deal by 2015. The agreement also promises $16 billion Ford is investing in new and upgraded vehicles and retooling plants.

A signing bonus for workers comes in at $6,000 dollars, which according to Hurd, is a big figure in these days of a depressed economy.

Now that the contract is approved, local unions will continue work on bargaining on behalf of individual plant agreements.

Need a parking space? Look in your hand

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 08:54:00 -0500

It's one of the great frustrations of urban life: the seemingly unending search for a parking space.

Motorists drive themselves crazy circling the block looking for a place to park while wasting gas and polluting the air.

But the city of San Francisco has turned to technology for help — it is testing a smartphone app that shows drivers the location of available parking places. The app also tells them how much the space will cost, and prices are adjusted depending on demand.

Demetrius Martin, an actor and producer, recalls the stress of looking for work in San Francisco. "I had to learn the city under the duress of making it to an audition on time," he says. "You're probably going to have to park illegally and end up getting a ticket. That will be your fee for the day."

Martin is in his car, holding an iPhone, and launching a new app offered by the city. It gives a driver real-time information, on a block-by-block basis, about exactly where and when there are parking spaces available.

Demand-based parking prices

Red dots show there is extremely low availability, and blocks marked in sky blue or darker blue mean there's higher availability.

Sensors installed at more than 8,000 parking metered spaces and more than 12,000 spaces in city-owned garages allow the application to update itself every 60 seconds.

"I like that they have price and availability because that's — in any metro area — that's another challenge you have to consider," he says. "The prices per 20 minutes, let alone per hour are so high that you kind of lose your shirt."

Under this new system, parking meter prices are adjusted higher in areas with high demand. The idea is that higher prices will discourage drivers and push them to blocks where space is available. For now, rates can be changed only once a month.

This pricing structure and the parking app are part of a pilot project called SFpark, which is funded through a $19.8 million federal grant from the Department of Transportation.

"One of the most exciting things about this project is that it's going to create an unprecedented data set — bringing together data from parking meters, parking sensors, citations, transit vehicles, sales tax," says Jay Primus, the manager of SFpark. "And truly a case where technology is allowing us to be much smarter about how we manage parking."

Other cities following suit

So far about 25,000 people have downloaded the parking app. Other cities, including Los Angeles and Fort Worth, have also introduced smartphone parking apps.

Seattle is experimenting with demand-based parking prices. But San Francisco has the most comprehensive approach, says Donald Shoup, who teaches urban planning at UCLA.

"San Francisco is by far the most sophisticated and the highest-tech experiment with this, and I think if this works out in San Francisco — with their adjustable prices — that every city on earth with be copying it," he says.

But before that happens, people will be watching to see how much of a distraction the smartphone app is to drivers who are supposed to keep their eyes on the road. Martin confesses that problem is real.

"So here we are, I am trying to avoid looking at it but every time you're at a pause or a stop you're looking at this trying to find where the next parking space is," he says. "It's hard to not want to keep looking at it, and with some people it's a challenge, it's an ego challenge, and it's a game, you know."

City officials are trying to downplay that risk. They say they always encourage drivers to look at the app before they start driving.

Quinn signs new seat belt law

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:38:00 -0500

Every car passenger in Illinois will soon have to buckle up. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill today that requires it. Before this seemingly common sense law, backseat passengers 18 years or older weren't required to wear a seatbelt.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White explained why backseat passengers need to be restrained.

He said, "If by chance they are not buckled up, then of course they could become a human missile for those in the front of the vehicle."

But the law still exempts riders in buses, emergency vehicles and those in the backseat of taxis. Illinois Senate President John Cullerton sponsored the bill with the late GOP Rep. Mark Beaubien.

Regarding the taxi exemption, Cullerton said, "A lot of times in taxi cabs, the seatbelts are not maintained properly and it's hard to find them. I know I have trouble myself digging down to try to find them sometimes." Cullerton said he hopes taxis will be added to the bill sometime later on.

The new law will take effect January 1, 2012.

Meanwhile just before the seatbelt press conference, a taxi cab crashed into a downtown Chicago building - killing a pedestrian and seriously injuring the driver and backseat passenger.

Dear Chicago: Green the fleet

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:00:00 -0500

Between sanitation trucks, fire engines, and police SUVs, the City of Chicago owns its fair share of motor vehicles - nearly 13,000 in all, according to the Department of Fleet Management. And fueling them up is not cheap: in 2010 the city spent more than $24 million on gasoline and diesel fuel.

Compare that with only $164,000 spent on alternative fuels and you might have a hard time squaring reality with outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley’s stated desire to improve the city’s environmental record.

In a 2006 Time Magazine article Mayor Daley said the city was “aggressive in terms of the environment,” and his claim bears out in some cases. Daley founded the Department of the Environment in 1992 and is credited with planting thousands of trees and remediating thousands of acres of brownfield sites in the city. He even had a rooftop garden installed on City Hall.

In addition, the city launched its Climate Action Plan in 2008, with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The plan includes improvements to the fleet, but a publicly available progress report suggests most improvements come from changes to the Chicago Transit Authority's bus fleet, not improvements to vehicles under the city's direct control.

This has not been enough to satisfy some, such as scientist Forrest Jehlik, who want the city to address its fleet’s impact on global warming faster and more aggressively. Jehlik, 38, is an environmentalist, but he’s not wed to weepy, low-performance vehicles; in fact, he loves muscle cars and stock car racing, and hopes to buy a classic British chopper motorcycle this summer. But as a research engineer at Argonne National Laboratory he is also pioneering technological advancements that could make all automobiles greener and more fuel efficient.

Here, Jehlik explains why he wants this city to put its money where its mouth is and green its fleet.

Dear Chicago is a project of WBEZ’s Partnerships Program. Forrest Jehlik was nominated for the series by Argonne National Laboratory.

Dear Chicago,

For a long time now you’ve portrayed yourself as a green city. Let’s make sure those words aren’t just a dream.

I love cars. I really, really do. I went to a horror movie when I was 10 or 11 years old and in the movie there was this car, a 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda, and I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It’s a classic Chrysler car, and from that day on I was sold. I went out and read and learned about cars and knew that was my dream car. To me, cars done right aren’t just a utility; they’re pieces of art.

I’m also passionate about trying to reduce our reliance on foreign petroleum, and looking for solutions that are domestically generated, helping support industry in the United States.

I was at General Motors for 5 years. My job was in research and development working on diesel engine systems for the North American marketplace. Our fuel economy targets were really aggressive at that time, and diesel engines are inherently anywhere from 25 to 40 percent more efficient per gallon than a gasoline engine.

Now I work at Argonne National Laboratory on two different projects. The first thing I’m working on is the effect of temperature on fuel consumption in advanced vehicles like hybrids.

Let’s say you have a Toyota Prius or some advanced vehicle that you were driving around the city. If you were to drive the same route every day, driving at the same speed, and for the sake of argument you didn’t turn on the air conditioner or the heater, you would notice a tremendous increase and decrease in your fuel consumption depending on the temperatures outside. I’ve been working on techniques to characterize what the fuel consumption is relative to those ambient conditions and what engineering solutions could be applied to that loss, which could really benefit the consumer with increased fuel economy.

Then, I got involved a little over a year ago with a green racing program. Racing has an enormous volume of fans in this country, whether it’s motorcycle racing, stock car racing, indie racing, or American Le Mans series racing. It’s second only to the NFL [National Football League]. It’s the perfect platform to say, hey, this race car has this whiz-bang gadget or this new advanced technology and your production cars could have this too.

The results have been amazing. Last year we were able to record a 40 percent reduction in petroleum use over a whole American Le Mans race series as well as a 40 percent reduction in well-to-wheels greenhouse gas emissions. It was pretty staggering.

There are a lot of technologies on the horizon that Chicago could look at to diversify their fleet and become much more sustainable environmentally.

The first step is we really need to find out what their driving habits are. Engineers tend to be a lot more rational than we are political. I think the key is doing the research and seeing what makes the most sense for the driving route, driving conditions, seasonal driving distance, loading conditions and so forth. Certain technologies lend themselves better to certain things. It could be anything from electric power vehicles to compressed natural gas for busses. There’s not one silver bullet. There are more like a lot of silver shotgun pellets, and you need to find the right shotgun pellet to address the issue.

The image a city portrays is a global thing, and it can really make the difference between people wanting to invest and become a part of the city or looking elsewhere. So the City of Chicago has touted itself for a long time now as a green city, but what does green mean? Well, in my opinion green means sustainable. The city definitely has the potential to be a world leader in this movement. We can really start down that path where we’re not reliant on just petroleum-based products that will ultimately become too expensive for the world to use.

What I’d like to see the city do, if it really wants to make good on its green image, is take a look at the entire transportation sector to see what the free market could do to reduce their petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions, and truly reflect the image of Chicago as a leader of clean transportation.

'Consumer Reports' Sees Ford Gaining On Toyota In Latest Ratings

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:55:00 -0600

Cars and trucks made by Ford are getting better and better, according to Consumer Reports. And while Ford is making gains, Toyota has been in a slide, according to the non-profit testing group.

In its just-released ratings for 2011, the magazine chose Nissan's Altima as its top family sedan, praising its comfort, handling and fuel economy. The Hyundai Elantra was the choice for the best small car, with the Honda Fit taking honors as the best budget car.

On the CR website, you can see a video that lists the magazine's top cars for 2011. As the magazine says, "No automaker dominates; the 10 picks come from six manufacturers and eight brands, which reflects the increasing competitiveness within today's auto market."

In a Newscast report, Paul Brown quotes Consumer Reports auto testing director David Champion as saying that Ford is improving noticeably.

"Over the last sort of 5 to 8 years, their reliability has steadily improved, til they're getting close to where Toyota is," Champion says.

Here's more from Brown's report:

Champion says Toyota, which has struggled with massive recalls, is still a very good car-maker, but its reliability and quality aren't as good as they were.
Overall, Toyota now gets a third-place rating — behind Honda and Subaru.
Champion says most German cars are below average in reliability. He calls the new Volkswagen Jetta disappointing.

An AP report sheds more light on the rankings:

Honda Motor Co. had the best overall score of 74 out of 100 points in the Consumer Reports' ranking. Honda was followed by Subaru with 73 points and Toyota Motor Corp. with 71 points. Volvo was fourth with 68 points, followed closely by Ford and Hyundai.
Chrysler Group LLC had the worst ranking among the car makers with 43 points. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and General Motors were also near the bottom.

Ask Me Why: Cars vs. bikes

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 21:44:00 -0600

Only around 1% of Chicago residents bike regularly for transportation. Some cyclists see themselves as an embattled minority, fighting for a safe space on roads that were not designed with them in mind. Some drivers see cyclists as a nuisance, flouting traffic laws and putting themselves and others at risk. But do cyclists deserve the same rights as cars on the streets of Chicago? That’s the question in this next installment of Ask Me Why, our series of recorded conversations that explore the personal experiences and stories that shape our beliefs. Each installment of Ask Me Why pairs two people who know each other and disagree on some issue, asking them to share what's at the root of why they believe what they believe.

In this case, Dan Schleifer and Rich Beckmann are friends who met through their shared interest in cooking. They see eye to eye where food is concerned, but they disagree on their preferred modes of transportation. Dan sold his car when he moved to Chicago from rural Virginia and bikes to work daily. He’s been hit by a car more than once and is angry that drivers so often disregard his safety. Rich sees biking on the street as inherently dangerous and drives to get around. He gets upset when he sees cyclists disregard the traffic laws he himself must obey.

In the audio excerpt posted above, Dan and Rich share stories of what they’ve witnessed and experienced on the streets of Chicago. Their conversation is a good reminder that not every difference of opinion can be resolved through talking, but that hopefully something good comes from trying to understand the other person’s perspective.

Ask Me Why is produced in collaboration with the Illinois Humanities Council, and was made possible by a grant from The Boeing Company. If you and someone you know are interested in participating in this series, you can download the application form here.

Drivers share parking ticket horror stories

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:29:00 -0500

Boots are big this fall – especially on cars. According to new numbers parking tickets are fewer this year. But not boots – those numbers are up. And it’s making motorists mad as hell. After receiving a few too many tickets of his own, The Parking Ticket Geek as he’s known to his readers, started to fight back. At The Expired Meter.com, the Parking Ticket Geek posts stories and strategies for fighting back against the ticket boot or parking man.