Arlington Heights proposes ways to crack down on 'undesirable activity' at parking garages

Arlington Heights officials are planning a set of physical building upgrades and new enforcement actions to crack down on an increase of what they call "undesirable activity" in the downtown parking garages.

That includes kids' skateboarding up and down ramps or jumping across to roofs of adjacent buildings, vandalism, overnight camping, unauthorized storage of personal property, urination and public intoxication, said Village Manager Randy Recklaus.

What he said brought the issue to an inflection point, and prompted discussion by the village board Monday night, was the March 17 battery arrest of a man known to frequent the Evergreen Avenue underground garage. Man grabbed the victim, who was not physically injured, Recklaus said.

In 2018, police responded to four or five nuisance calls at the garage, which is located below the Arlington Town Square shopping center. Last year, it was about 60.

"It creates feelings of unsafety and unwelcomeness for patrons and visitors," Recklaus said. "And we try to promote our downtown. We try to get people to come to our downtown. And this type of behavior and these types of incidents make people feel a little unsafe, a little uneasy."

Among the options Recklaus presented to the board Monday:

• Installing of closed-circuit television cameras.

• Installing additional LEDs in dark areas after lights were first put in during a 2018 upgrade.

• Repainting walls with newer, glossier products not available in 2018.

• Replacing carpeting in the elevators with hard flooring that can be cleaned.

• Broadcasting regular audio public service announcements to deter use of garages as a place to sleep or hang out;

• Approving an ordinance that would designate the garages as "limited use" public facilities. That would make the garages more like village hall as opposed to a public park. Police would be able to warn and then cite anyone not walking to or from vehicles or bicycles with trespassing.

• Approving an ordinance that would allow the village to remove private property left in garages after tagging the items with a seven days' notice, then giving the owner 30 days to retrieve the items from the public works department. Such an ordinance is rooted in constitutional law, the village's attorney says, and a similar measure has been approved by the city of Chicago.

Board members generally agreed to pursue those recommendations, though nothing was approved officially since Monday's session was just a committee discussion.

Also endorsing the recommendations was Barbara Coy, condo board president of the 77 S. Evergreen Ave. building, which includes residents and their guests who park in the garage. About 20 of the homeowners attended the meeting Monday night. One of the residents is Trustee Jim Bertucci.

"While I want to be very sensitive to those homeless people and make sure that they get the help that they need, it is infringing on the safety of those who are trying to use the parking garage for its actual purpose," Bertucci said.

Trustee Mary Beth Canty, the recently elected 54th state House District representative, said there's a "great balance" that has to be done.

"I want to be sure that we are looking at everything with an eye toward both the safety of our visitors to our downtown and those who live in those areas, but also being mindful about what we are doing to those people who are particularly unhoused," said Canty, who sits on the House's housing committee.

Recklaus said he is planning a meeting next week with Beth Nabors, executive director of Journeys The Road Home, which operates a shelter and provides social services.

The idea behind the garage security recommendations isn't to move the unhoused "from one place to another," Recklaus said, but that "the underground garage is not a good place for people to be living."