ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst Alderman Jacob Hill on Tuesday joined his colleagues in voting to spend $240,000 to repair one of the city’s three parking decks.
But he said the city should consider long-term strategies for its mostly “underutilized” decks.
The repairs are being made to the city’s deck at Adelaide Street and Adell Place, which Hill said he understood was usually full.
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At the same time, Hill noted Metra train ridership has declined since 2019. And he said new housing developments downtown take care of their own parking.
“Perhaps we can use this as an opportunity going forward to look at the utilization of our parking decks,” Hill said.
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Two years ago, Elmhurst closed the top level of the parking deck at 149 N. Addison Ave., which it built in 2016.
At the time, the city said it was doing so because of low demand for parking and “youth vandalism and disruptive behavior.”
Since then, the city has arrested people, typically those in their teens or early 20s, on charges of trespassing, among other offenses, on the top level.
In April, the City Council increased parking fees to wipe out shortfalls in the city’s parking account. The deficits are the result of fewer residents commuting to Chicago since the pandemic.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council unanimously approved Tinley Park-based J. Gill and Company for repairing the deck. Alderman Guido Nardini was absent.
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