6 posts from 2008

More about six corners and its parking problem.

Dec 4, 2008
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Alejandra's Six Corners Final

Dec 4, 2008
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By Alejandra Silva

The bustling sounds are heard throughout the day at Six Corners. People rush up and down the streets. Cars honk their horns and stop at the red lights. Buses make their usual stops. Six Corners is at a walking distance for the residents of the neighborhood, also known as Portage Park. It’s also easily accessible by its three main streets; Irving Park Road, Milwaukee and Cicero Avenues. Minutes away from the Kennedy Expressway, Six Corners offers a variety of stores.

However, there is one concern that revolves around this quick method of transportation. What if you were to drive here and there was no parking available? What if you were a business owner and sales were being affected because customers couldn’t find parking? Indeed, this creates a problem and this concern may also be an issue in other busy intersections in the city, for example, the intersection of Damen, North, and Milwaukee Avenues or Milwaukee, Diversey, and Kimball Avenues. A solution is important because it can help the businesses and customers at Six Corners and other intersections with a similar problem.

This urban shopping district started in the 1840s with a grocery store, bakery, and restaurant. In 1914 a local paper carried neighborhood news and advertisements driving Six Corners into a successful retail center. By the 1980s, Six Corners had 150 stores. By the 1990s, there was a mixture of National chains and family businesses. Six Corners holds the well-known Art Deco Sears shopping center which according to portagepark.org had the “highest per square foot sales of any Sears in Chicago region.” There’s also the Klee Buildings, the Classical Revival Portage Theater constructed in the 1920s, and the Peoples Gas Irving Park Neighborhood Store which is a city landmark. Today, groups such as Portage Park Neighborhood Association and Six Corners Association have been formed to keep the success at Six Corners. It has been their job to address the concerns of shoppers and business owners and better accommodate the needs of the increasing population.

According to portagepark.org Six Corners “serves a primary trade area of 31,248 persons and an extended trade area of 76, 409 persons.” It is important that businesses stay and help Six Corners thrive because annually, Six Corners makes over $315 million from sales. An organization called the Six Corners Main Street called for a transportation consultant to deal with the parking availability issue. A survey was conducted in 1997, by John Edwards and it stated that there are “279 metered on-street spaces and 1,805 off-street spaces (128 public and the rest private.)” leaving 407 public parking spaces. According to the survey conducted, on a Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., block occupancy exceeded 90% and some blocks exceeded 114% which means many people were parked in the no parking zones and bus zones.

Alex Gato, owner of Gato & Sons Jewelers on Irving Park Rd. said that over the years his business has been affected and he gets complaints from customers. “They say they drive around the block and can’t find parking,” he said. His busiest hours are early mornings and late afternoons. Gato also said he refuses to move his business because it has been at Six Corners since 1984. His solution was to enforce the law saying people can park for only two hours at the meters. He believes people abuse this law and stay in a parking space for more than two hours. According to Edward’s survey the average duration for on-street parking was 1.8 hours.

Ed Bannon, executive director of the Six Corners Association said the reason for this was because employees and some business owners go outside every two hours and pay the meters so they don’t get a ticket. Also in Edward’s survey, he recorded 94 parkers who were at the same parking space for four hours or more. If these spaces were available there would be almost 300 more spaces available. Edward’s survey also said that there were 25 tickets issued every day for overtime parking plus 70 parkers who illegally park and are not ticketed. According to the survey, this results in a revenue loss of $1,050.00 per day or $310,000 per year for the businesses at Six Corners.

Anthony Walker is the store manager at the Bedding Experts on Irving Park Rd. and he said his store was not really affected by unavailable parking. “It probably does to a certain level, but we try not to worry about things out of our control,” he said. Walker said the busiest days are Saturday and Sunday, which probably explains why his business doesn’t find parking an inconvenience. Less people go to work on Saturday and Sunday leaving more parking spaces available.

Vince Mule, president at the Midwest –Academy of Taekwondo on Irving Park Rd., said his customers are late to class because they spend a lot of time driving around looking for parking. “People get tickets and others have to run in and out,” said Mule. As for his solution he said, “Knock down some of the buildings and make them into parking lots.” Luckily for him, a new plan was proposed by Inland Commercial Property at a meeting on Monday, Dec. 1. This company would demolish the Bank of America on the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Irving Park Road. In its place, a smaller Bank of America would be made along with parking, a grocery store, health center, and two community gathering spaces. Also there would be extra parking on the roof top of the grocery store and health center. This would make 377 extra parking spaces. Bannon said, “the people at the meeting were generally supportive and others were concerned about the historical preservation of this area."

Steve Rusky regularly visits Sears and City Newsstand on Cicero Avenue. He doesn’t think parking is a problem because according to him, he parks in the Sears parking lot and walks over to the intersection. “That’s usually the smartest thing,” he said. On the other hand, the city can tow his car but this is unlikely to happen because this law is not fully enforced. Rusky also said he avoids coming to Six Corners during rush hour. The busiest hours at Six Corners, according to Edward’s survey, are from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Employee Cathy Bunger at Fantasy Costumes Headquarters on Milwaukee Avenue has to deal with long lines outside the store when it’s time for Halloween. She has to tell customers not to park at nearby stores or their cars will be towed. Bunger directs customers to the city parking lot on Cuyler Avenue that is a block west of Milwaukee Avenue. It now offers monthly parking permits for $55. When Edward conducted his survey in 1997, this lot was only a proposal but after the Six Corners Association was formed this idea was reviewed and executed.

Also, Fantasy Costumes Headquarters relies on help during their busy season. “Burger King being our neighbor is pretty courteous to us, it’s their busiest month also because of our store and all the traffic we bring here, so they’ll let people park there every now and then,” said Bunger. She also mentioned that the owner of the building has considered knocking down the other businesses he owns next to his business and build his own parking lot.

Ed Bannon said this parking problem has been an issue at Six Corners for many years. He agreed that there was a lack of parking at times but at others available parking is not an issue. According to Bannon, the Portage Theater, located on Milwaukee Avenue, gets filled with 1,300 people and the tickets are sold out. “People will figure out a way to get there,” Bannon said. He said he wasn’t sure how they got there or where they parked if they drove there but it didn’t seem to be a problem then.

There’s actually two Bank of America’s at Six Corners and both have large parking lots that are mostly vacant by the evening. Bannon agreed that the Bank of America on the corner of Irving Park Rd. and Lamon Avenue has a big parking lot and if necessary in the future, they could negotiate a deal that would allow them to rent it. He also said that years ago there was more pedestrian traffic but over the years the people gradually preferred going to shopping malls where there was plenty of parking. It’s important for this organization to try to do anything possible to offer better services to its visitors before there are fewer people shopping at Six Corners. Keeping it a successful shopping center is key to making the neighborhood prosper.

Source List

Alex Gato

Owner of Business

773-777-4484

Songato49@sbcglobal.net

Interviewed on November 25, 2008

In person at 12pm

Vince Mule

President of Business

773-685-4133

sales@mwmas.com

Interviewed on November 25, 2008