As a citizen affected by Oak Park’s proposed three-year bike plan, I received notice that all parking would be removed on three streets designated as bike paths (LeMoyne, Harvard and Augusta). At a public meeting on Jan. 13 with the Oak Park Transportation Commission we were told:
1) Since no houses face on those streets, we would not lose parking in front of our homes. In fact, all houses on LeMoyne face LeMoyne, no matter their address (mine is 1200 Linden — our front door and driveway are on LeMoyne).
2) You could park 10 cars on any block on LeMoyne on either side. But because of alleys, four driveways, and one stop sign, you would be lucky to park five cars on either side of LeMoyne between Linden and Columbian.
3) In a parking study — conducted on one day in July of 2024, during the morning and evening — few cars were parked on those three streets. First, this was in the summer, and second, it was not in the daytime when service vehicles, visitors, parents of school children, lawn crews, buses, etc. are frequently parked on these streets.
4) As Oak Parkers, we should be glad to give up our on-street parking to ensure safe bike paths.
No one at the meeting was opposed to safe bike paths (I raised my kids in Oak Park and my grandchildren live and bike here), but LeMoyne especially is not often used for biking (instead we are a jogging, running and walking route), so designating it as a bike path is not necessary. We would lose on-street parking in front of our homes which is inconvenient and unsafe for older people and guests. Not having parked cars would increase the chances of speeding cars (LeMoyne is used as an alternative to North Avenue). And no on-street parking would lower our home values.
This plan is not well thought out and rife with errors. Surely there are alternatives to removing all on-street parking. I am hoping this is not a done deal and that the commission listened to our concerns.
Martha Jacob
Oak Park