Downtown parking no dry issue in Arlington Heights

If you consider parking a dry issue, you haven’t talked with Judy Mccarragher.

Mccarragher, who works at Panera Bread in downtown Arlington Heights, broke into tears this week while telling the village board about the plight of people she works with and their struggles to pay for parking.

“We have hourly employees,” she said. “We have someone being evicted from her home, and you guys want to charge her $30 a month just to come to work. We had a fundraiser for her, but it’s not enough for her and her eight kids. Most of the people working there are paying student loans.”

It was the third board meeting in recent weeks that downtown business people attended to complain about employee parking.

People who work in downtown Arlington Heights are expected to park in lots or garages, but merchants complain they instead park in the coveted street spots reserved for customers.

And when good customers do find spots and are spending a lot of money downtown, they might stay past the three-hour limit for those spots and get tickets.

It’s a complex issue, and village staff will have suggestions for the board to discuss at a May 14 meeting, said Village Manager Bill Dixon.

The village’s parking budget is $1 million a year, and it is paid for through fees and tickets, not property taxes, he said.

The village’s parking policy and time limits is meant to keep commuters who ride the trains from grabbing the free parking spots, leaving those spots free for shoppers.

Katie Van Egeren, owner of a shop called Vignette, urged the board to look at Naperville, where employees can purchase parking passes for $5 a year rather than $30 a month.

Dixon, however, said both residential and commercial properties in downtown Naperville pay an additional special property tax to subsidize the parking, something that does not occur in Arlington Heights.