Politics & Government

Oak Park Meeting Recap

Free parking for electric cars, bond refinancing, amending cab rules are addressed at recent meeting.

Missed Monday's Oak Park Village Board of Trustees meeting? We've got you covered with a recap:

Free parking for electric cars: Trustees debated the merits of a proposed two hours of free parking for electric cars. Under the proposal, the village would tag or sticker all electric vehicles and allow them to park for two hours, for free, in business districts.

Trustee Jon Hale wondered if the benefit extended far enough.

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"If we're going to do it, we should do something more significant than that,"  he said.

Others, such as trustee Colette Lueck, asked if the free-parking benefit would be better suited for village-owned garages—away from the street level business districts where parking turnover is encouraged.

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Village officials agreed the proposed measure is more symbolic than financial. There are roughly 200 electric vehicles in the entire Chicago area, village manager Tom Barwin said, so Oak Park wouldn't be missing out on much parking revenue.

Cabbie ordinance shelved: Trustees were scheduled to vote on a number of changes to the existing rules that govern cab drivers, including a provision allowing cabbies to demand pre-paid fares.

But village officials balked, saying that part of the amended rule could pave the way for discrimination. 

"You may end up with some sort of requirement that treats people differently or could be abused by individual cabdrivers in a way that is discriminatory," said village president David Pope.

The village will work with local cab companies on an appropriate mileage when drivers can ask for fares in advance.

Also included in the amended ordinance was another tweak to the controversial cabbie dress code. This time it involved changing the language back to its original wording, which requires cabbies only to "be clean in dress and person."

The vote on the amended ordinance was delayed and is now expected to take place at the Oct. 18 board meeting.

The board also heard the first reading of changes to a separate cab-related ordinance that could potentially raise licensing fees to cover the cost of a statewide background check.

Currently, Oak Park conducts only local background checks on drivers who apply for cab licenses in the village.

"If something happened outside of Oak Park, we'd have no way of knowing about it," said village clerk Teresa Powell.

Bond refinancing approved: The board unanimously approved the refinancing of a $10.3 million bond originally issued to build the new main branch of the Oak Park Public Library on Lake Street.

Officials said the bonds were being refinanced to accommodate a delay in property tax collections by Cook County. Craig Lesner, Oak Park's chief financial officer, said the lower rate will save taxpayers $353,000 over the life of the debt.


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