Local Officials Respond to Myriad of Dempster Parking Concerns

While interviewing owners of a number of Dempster Street businesses on other issues, a common thread kept coming up: problems with the elimination of street parking on the busy thoroughfare after a multi-year reconstruction project.

Businesses who have been open for decades brought up different aspects of the parking issue. As a result, Patch had John Said, Morton Grove’s director of community development, and police Cmdr. Mike Fujara respond to the different issues that applied to their expertise or jurisdiction.

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Despite the dislocations caused by the Dempster projects and the resulting “parking challenges,” Said restated the village’s position that the construction was necessary after the street had fallen into disrepair in spots and an aging water main needed upgrading.  

“We have a lot of people coming into the community saying with this new corridor, this is a good place to come,” he said.

The first issue was the lack of parking behind the 36-year-old shop, 5717 Dempster St., and several shops just east on the south side of the street. Peter Spizzirri, the second-generation in his family to run Emanuele, said customers have had to park in the alley on the west side of the store for want of any other obvious parking.

Parking lot has accessibility, sign issues

An 11-space village lot across the street at 5714 Dempster St. has several drawbacks, Spizzirri said. There are no stops to the often 40 mph traffic on the street to cross to his store unless pedestrians walk more than a block west to Menard, the next stoplight. In addition, the sign designating the lot as free village parking is low to the ground and thus not very visible to motorists. And a “no parking midnight to 6 a.m.” sign in the lot throws some customers off, said Spizzirri, because the “midnight to 6 a.m.” prohibition is in smaller print.

“These are all very reasonable questions,” replied Said, who added he took notes to the businesses’ questions as relayed to him by Patch. “Those concerns are understandable. I share their concerns about people coming across Dempster Street unless they can do it at intersections where you have traffic signals. To me, that’s not advisable."

Said added that having the lot serve the south side of Dempster is not an ideal situation due to the volume of traffic. 

"One of the things the village did before I showed up (after working for the city of Elmhurst) and will continue to do is ‘first block’ parking," Said said. "Just east of Emanuele is Major Avenue, where you find public parking in the first half-block (south of Dempster). It’s a real challenge. We’ve informed folks, but we still need to clarify it. On-street parking was there forever.”

In the wake of the elimination of on-street parking on Dempster, Fujara has noticed more customers of retail stores parking on the side streets.

In more efficiently alerting motorists to the free lot and the parking on Major and Menard, Said responded that “village-wise, we’re constantly looking at signage…we have to balance that to make sure there’s not too much sign clutter.”

“(More) signage obviously is a good recommendation,” Fujara said. “It probably can’t hurt at this point.”

Winter traffic to make a big splash?

Almost three blocks west, at 6037 W. Dempster St., Violet Sego, owner of the homey , is concerned about a loss of business in the dead of winter. Sego is concerned customers might not want to park at a village lot four storefronts west and trudge through snow while getting splattered with slush from fast-moving Dempster traffic.

Said had no easy answer to Sego. While advocating all businesses shoveling the sidewalk in front of their storefronts as an “issue of neighborliness,” he also said the idea of “change is difficult.”

“We have no qualms about walking a (long distance) from the edge of the Costco or Wal-Mart parking lot,” he said. “Now with our wider sidewalks, part of our hope is providing more encouragement in walkability. There does seem to be more people walking on Dempster. We don’t have a parking problem, we have a walking problem.”

Fujara addressed the concern from Larry Strybel, owner of , the sole remaining tenant in the Riverbank Plaza strip mall. While satisfied with all the parking he needs due to the mall’s empty lot, Strybel was concerned about female customers being forced to park in back of Dempster stores to come through the more dimly-lit alleys after the early sunsets of winter.

“We take that into consideration, especially during the holiday shopping season,” said Fujara, adding the alleys are regularly patrolled by Morton Grove police. He noted the increased number of customers parking on the side streets instead of in back of businesses.

Dempster work a factor in store’s closing

In explaining why he was closing his costume/speciality store , 6010 Dempster St., after 35 years, Morton Grove native Randy Israel said the Dempster construction was a contributing factor to the closing along with the poor economy and competition from online outlets and more temporary Halloween-costume stores.

“For the longest time, the community was dealing with a Dempster Street that was very marginal in its condition and its appearance,” Said said. “More deterioration would cause disinvestment and lack of business growth. There is no one right answer to the question. If the Dempster work was not done, when would it be done?"

He added that “there are larger questions, but no simple answers out there."

Said concluded that answering businesses’ concerns was “part of the job. People like Randy know that. I’ve talked with Violet about that.”

For any further questions regarding local business issues, John Said can be reached at 847-663-3061. If Said cannot address a business concern directly, he will refer the query to the right village department or state agency.