The proposal by state Rep. Karen May (D-Highland Park), which comes in response to a Chicago Sun-Times “Watchdogs” investigation, would end free parking for all but a handful of the 700,000 people statewide who have disabled-parking placards and license plates that entitle them to the free-parking benefit.
The Sun-Times found that in Chicago — where meter rates have risen dramatically under former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s meter-privatization deal — the system is widely abused, with able-bodied people using relatives’ placards, fake placards and stolen placards to park for free.
City taxpayers pay for that: The private company that now runs Chicago’s parking-meter system has billed the city $13.5 million to reimburse it for the free disabled-parking spots the company provided in 2010.
May’s proposal would limit free disability parking to people with severe disabilities who are unable to do one or more of the following:
“Manage, manipulate or insert coins or obtain tickets or tokens in parking meters . . . due to the lack of fine motor control of both hands.
“Reach above his or her head to a height of 42 inches from the ground, due to a lack of finger, hand, or upper extremity strength or mobility;
“Approach a parking meter due to his or her use of a wheelchair or other device; and walk more than 20 feet due to an orthopedic, neurological, cardiovascular, or lung condition in which the degree of debilitation is so severe that it almost completely impedes the ability to walk.”
The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office would issue these people a “free parking sticker” after receiving a doctor’s confirmation of one or more of these disabilities.
Disabled-parking placard and plate holders would continue to be allowed to park in handicapped-only spots in parking lots but would not have the free-parking benefit in metered zones.
# http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/10826074-452/bill-aims-to-end-free-disability-parking-abuses.html
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