‘The traffic is just getting out of hand!”
“Taxes are going through the roof!”
“Parking is impossible!”
“We don’t have enough truly local neighborhood businesses and grocers!”
“Rent is getting out of hand!”
“Everything is getting more expensive, I just can’t cope!”
These are the top complaints of Oak Parkers. If I’ve missed any, let me know. (Helicopters?)
When faced with these problems, politicians will offer up rent control, road widening, subsidized housing, free parking, government-run grocery stores and targeted middle-class tax rebates.
None of those headline issues are root causes, they are effects of a system that prioritizes low density, car-dependent development. The politicians’ solutions just make things worse.
Low-density development means both housing and retail are spread out. You need a car and car parking when you go shopping, so you need a car and parking at home. This limits the density of both residential and commercial districts, putting a hard cap on sales and property tax revenue, driving up our share of the tax pie.
Spread-out development makes transit slow and costly, forcing more car trips. Clogged roads and limited parking turn residents against new housing, decreasing supply and driving up rents. Low density kills walkable retail, pushing shoppers to big-box stores with parking lots. Car dependency causes more car dependency. It’s a vicious spiral, and at the bottom, our lowest-income neighbors pay $12,000 a year per car just to participate.[1]
The solution is bike lanes. No, bike lanes aren’t magic, but every one we build is a vote against the car-dependent system that got us here. It’s a vote for a future where the car isn’t the only way to live and work in Oak Park.
Safe bike routes divert car trips, decreasing traffic and conserving parking. This enables higher commercial and residential density, increasing the funding we have for fixed infrastructure, decreasing our tax share. The new development this unleashes increases housing supply, controlling rents.
Every new bike lane creates a virtuous cycle — fewer car trips mean less parking demand, less parking means room for density, more density means more places worth biking and walking to.
It will, of course, take more than just bike lanes. We need transit that goes where people actually go, and zoning reform so that we can build new housing. Not more roads. Not more parking. Not more subsidies for a broken system.
We must begin the work of undoing 100 years’ worth of car-dependent urban design. But it will take vision. You can already see that vision in some parts of Oak Park, where residents walk to local businesses that provide most everything they need. Their kids walk or bike safely to school. Families get rid of one car, sometimes even both. In these areas beats the dense economic heart that subsidizes everyone else.
[1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/auto-loans/learn/total-cost-owning-car
Josh is a passionate urbanist and entrepreneur who’s lived in Chicagoland for 30 years and has called Oak Park home for over a decade.
