Eighth Street block most likely to still have 3 spaces

Residents of Eighth Street south of South Street walked away unhappy Monday from Geneva city hall, as the council dismissed their request to prohibit parking on their block.

Instead, the council committee of the whole recommended, 9-1, that parking be prohibited except for three spaces on the west side of Eighth, from 511 Eighth north to South Street. Because of distance from stop signs, driveways and a crosswalk, that will leave three parking spaces.

The council will take an official vote Sept. 2.

An hour was spent debating the issue that arose when a resident of western Geneva began parking his car there weekday mornings and walking a half-mile east to the train station to commute to work in Chicago.

In a petition in April, residents of Eighth asked for time limits. They contended that it would be difficult for delivery, construction and emergency trucks to get down the street if people parked on both sides, as they were allowed at the time.

The residents filed a revised petition, after the city council in July tabled the matter to get more information about the width of the street. City code prohibits parking on streets less than 24 feet wide.

John Devine, the parker in question, again questioned why he shouldn't be allowed to park on Eighth.

"I thought this was a community of inclusion, not exclusion," he said, while acknowledging that fellow train riders josh him about the walk he takes to save $1.50 on parking garage fees. "I'm saving gas, I'm getting exercise. Where is that wrong?"

He said he was "confronted" by residents of the street who asked him why he was parking on the street so long.

"What was being harmed?" he asked the council. "And when did commuters become the worst people in the world?"

"I've never heard a complaint about commuter parking (on Eighth). I can't believe we've spent this much time on it," said Alderman Robert Piper, in whose ward the street is. Piper made the motion to keep the three spaces.

Alderman Dawn Vogelsberg was the sole "no" vote. Other aldermen said they worried prohibiting the parking would encourage other neighborhoods to ask for "no parking." But Vogelsberg knocked that down, noting that the city established resident-only parking around Geneva High School to prevent teens from parking there during the school day, which she opposed, and that it put time restrictions on streets downtown to keep downtown workers from parking on the streets all day and taking up spaces that could go to shoppers.

"It's three spots. We have a parking garage. We spent millions of dollars and staff hours to make it all perfect. it's there. Let's use it," she said.