Quote:
Originally Posted by kolchak
The West loop is the single hardest neighborhood in Chicago to park in right now. I am generally opposed to adding so much parking but I think the area needs more parking somehow. A highrise public garage or two could help and maybe mitigate the need for developers to add so many spaces as is the case here.
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I live in the West Loop with a Fulton address. There are a number of public garages in the area that are COMPLETELY underutilized, especially on the weekend when visitors are most likely to use them. Just as an example, the public garage at Fulton and Union is always (ALWAYS!) at least half empty on nights and weekends. My family from out of state and local Chicago friends visiting me always use this garage, and not a single time has it been a problem in 8 years.
Parking in the West Loop is all over the place, IF you know where to find it. I don't think it's a matter of availability, but more so an issue of knowing where to go. It's such a new neighborhood, not everyone knows where all the garages are. And the ones that do exist, admittedly, don't have great signage. Additionally, just looking at apps like SpotHero or ParqEx, there are tons of spots all over up for grabs.
But, if you just have to park on Randolph, on the very same block as the restaurant you're visiting ... good luck. I know some people are unable to walk far due to medical conditions, etc. as my mom is one of them. But it's really not hard at all to find reasonable parking within a 10 minute walk of most places. If 10 minutes is too far, park close and Uber/taxi the rest of the way for $5.
My apologies for the rant, but the last thing the West Loop needs is more parking that goes underutilized 90%+ of the time.