From the Chicago Dispatcher, October 2007
Skokie Bans Taxicab Parking
New Village ordinance bans taxicab parking on public streets or private property in commercial or residential areas
By: Jonathan Bullington
Skokie cabdrivers will no longer be allowed to park their cabs on public streets or private property in commercial or residential areas thanks to a new village ordinance set to go into effect November 1st.
In the past, Skokie had a law prohibiting commercial vehicles from parking but made an exception for taxis, allowing parking for one taxi per block. However, according to Assistant Village Manager John Lockerby, Skokie police officers had trouble enforcing this exemption.
“How do you determine which cab was on the block first,” Lockerby said, adding that Skokie officials received feedback from a judge stating the old ordinance was difficult to enforce.
Come November 1, taxicabs will only be allowed to park or stand on streets for the time necessary to load or unload passengers. Other than that, cabs must be parked either in an enclosed garage or overnight in the Skokie Swift parking lots, located to the north and south of Dempster Street. (According to Lockerby, parking at Skokie Swift is free when a train is not in operation - typically on nights and weekends.) Skokie-licensed cabs will still be allowed to park at designated cabstands.
In a flier distributed by the Village of Skokie, the following reasons for the change in parking are given:
1. Village staff found problems with enforcing the taxicab exemption. Police very rarely actually observe the violation of a second taxicab parking on a residential block, thus a police officer would write both vehicles a parking citation.
2. Since the inception of the taxicab exception, the number of taxicabs that park in residential neighborhoods and in the Village generally has grown.
3. The Village has received complaints from residents regarding taxicabs parking in residential neighborhoods on already congested streets and that other commercial vehicles are prohibited from parking in residential neighborhoods. Village staff, from the Offices of the Village Manager and the Corporation Counsel, and from the Police and Community Development Departments, convened and reviewed the Village Code and the Taxicab parking problem within the community.
4. After surveying surrounding communities, Village staff found that it is a common practice for communities to regulate the parking of commercial vehicles, including taxicabs, in residential neighborhoods.
“It's not that cabs are eyesores,” Lockerby said. “It's that they are commercial vehicles parked on residential streets. Limos and towncars have been not allowed (to park on residential streets) for years. The issue is with consistency.”
One cabdriver and Skokie resident, Danny Jahjah, said this new rule was just another reason for him to sell his medallion.
“It's not worth the 15-to-20 thousand dollars for me to build a covered garage. We have a hundred-year-old tree in the way. I would have had to get a lawyer to get permission to cut the tree. It was just to much.”
“Or I could move the family,” he added.
Lockerby said several drivers had called his office seeking clarification on the new parking rule.
“Some have expressed disapproval; others were understanding of the change,” he said.
Once the ordinance goes into effect, Lockerby said taxis still parked in residential streets will receive warning citations. Come January 1, monetary fines will accompany any citations issued.
I see racism is alive and well in Skokie.
They can try to sell the idea that other commercial vehicles - i.e. trucks and vans - have not been allowed to park and, with this new ordinance, taxicabs are receiving the same treatment. They can try to have us believe that this is a fair ordinance that levels the playing field for all commercial vehicles.
Assistant Village Manager John Lockerby can try to tell us this:
“It's not that cabs are eyesores,” Lockerby said. “It's that they are commercial vehicles parked on residential streets. Limos and towncars have been not allowed (to park on residential streets) for years. The issue is with consistency.”
Does anyone believe this? I'm sure towncar drivers are always being harrassed by Skokie police about parking. I had a Skokie resident tell me: "my neighbor can only park his boat in his driveway for two months." I told her how bad I felt for her neighbor that he had to keep his yacht in a boat slip. Now he'll have to walk from the lake to his house instead of boating there. Poor guy!
They say they don't think cabs are eyesores, yet the only way a Skokie resident can park his or her cab in their driveway is if it is covered by a garage? So it's not that cabs are eyesores, but they can't be seen in a driveway? Is anyone else choking on the hypocrisy?
We all know the real reason for this ordinance. Affluent Skokie residents want to take cabs to the airport, but they don't want to see cabs parked in the driveways of their neighbors.
Why?
Simple: Those cabs belong to dirty foreigners. Make it so difficult for them to park their cabs in Skokie that they move out of Skokie and can be replaced with smiling white faces. Keep the foreigners out of our nice clean village! After all, they might be terrorists, right?
Where has this been done before? It sounds vaguely familiar to me? Something about being separate but equal maybe? Some guy named Jim perhaps?
I have a solution. Let's get together and purchase the cheapest, ugliest, most beat-up looking, hunk-of-junk cars possible and give them to the cabdrivers of Skokie so they can have private cars to park on their streets and in their driveways. That way, instead of seeing a clean cab parked in front of their neighbor's house, Skokie residents can see a dirty, piece of crap car in its place. They can't complain about that, right? After all, these cars won't be commercial vehicles.
On second thought, maybe we shouldn't do that. It will probably lead to a new ordinance: something along the lines of "only vehicles costing more than X dollars can be parked on Skokie streets." That doesn't sound too far off.
Awesome!
what hapenend at the council meeting?
Why should cabs be the exception to this rule? No other commercial vehicle is allowed to park on our streets. Why does that rule not apply to cabdrivers? I love how you cabbies like to play the race card whenever you see fit. You don't like something so it must have been done because of your skin color or ethnicity. My husband has a construction van that he is not allowed to park in our driveway or in front of our house. Is it because I'm white or because ITS THE LAW? If I was a minority, could I say it's racism?
If you don't like our laws, you are free to leave. You have that freedom because you are in America. But if you stay, follow the rules like everyone else. Stop complaining.
By the way, no one is forcing you to drive a cab. If you don't like your job, find a new one. Take responsibility for your own life and stop expecting everyone else to fix your problems. And I don't want to hear about being "poor immigrants." My parents came to this country with nothing and they became successful by hard work. They never complained, they never expected any handouts. They controlled their own destinies and you can too. But not if all you do is complain.
"Who is complaining?"
Are you serious? Do you really have to ask this question?
Well if you really do, I'll try to answer it in simple language so you can understand.
YOU ARE COMPLAINING.
By you, I mean you Mr. Tang and the rest of the people on this forum, who I can only assume are cabdrivers as well. Please look at pretty much any post on this forum to find examples of cabdrivers complaining. It seems to be your favorite hobby - complaining about how poorly your treated instead of working to fix your situation.
Personal responsibility - a precious natural resource. Please try to find it in yourselves.
