Obnoxious West Loop Parking Restrictions Cost Drivers 150K

• Chloe Riley
• A bagged sign in the West Loop

Parking in the West Loop is already a painful experience for Chicagoans—right up there with braving a Polar Vortex and pretty much any amount of snow shoveling. So it’s no wonder that West Loop residents were peeved when, about a year and a half ago, even more parking restrictions were proposed for the area.

But Burnett must have changed his tune at some point. Over the summer, in response to complaints from constituents, the 27th Ward alderman told his staff to put bags over all the signs, despite the City Council’s extension of the restrictions. More recently, Burnett said the 27th Ward had an “agreement” with police not to hand out tickets for the bagged signs.

Now, Burnett says he’s going to introduce an ordinance to abolish the signs altogether at the next City Council meeting on January 21. After that, he says he’ll consider an alternate proposal for parking restrictions in the area, this one from the West Central Association, another West Loop-oriented chamber of commerce.