75th Street parking ban divides businesses, city over safety and survival
75th Street parking ban divides businesses, city over safety and survival
A temporary overnight parking ban stretching across several miles of 75th Street is pitting business owners worried about their survival against a city alderman who says the police-led strategy is helping keep guns off the street.
CHICAGO - A temporary overnight parking ban stretching across several miles of 75th Street is pitting business owners worried about their survival against a city alderman who says the police-led strategy is helping keep guns off the street.
The restrictions prohibit parking overnight along 75th Street from State Street to Cottage Grove Avenue, according to business owners interviewed by FOX 32 Chicago. The posted restrictions go into effect at 10 p.m., just as some restaurants, bars and other businesses along the corridor are entering some of their busiest hours.
Video obtained by FOX Chicago shows customers at 75th and St. Lawrence rushing outside to move their vehicles as enforcement begins.
"We try to get everyone a chance to move their cars," one business owner said.
Another person captured the frustration more bluntly: "How are you going to have a business if you can’t [expletive] park?"
Business owners say restrictions started around Memorial Day
While signs viewed by FOX Chicago show a July start date, several business owners say parking restrictions along the corridor began months earlier, around Memorial Day weekend.
One owner said restrictions actually began the week before the holiday, catching customers and businesses by surprise.
That owner said customers who arrived around 7 p.m. were inside businesses when enforcement began at 10 p.m., resulting in some vehicles being ticketed or towed.
"We had a multitude of customers to have their cars towed," Park Manor 75 co-owner Charlotte Stanton-Thomas said. "We are seeing women coming back in tears."
The restrictions continued throughout the summer and remain in place as Chicago approaches fall.
The temporary signs currently show an expiration date of Sept. 6, but it is unclear whether the restrictions will actually end then.
Alderman points to guns recovered during enforcement
Ald. William Hall (6th) says the restrictions are part of a broader police-led safety strategy aimed at addressing late-night crowds, guns, loud music and other problems along the corridor.
Hall provided FOX Chicago with an image from his ward showing several guns he says police recovered last week at 75th and St. Lawrence after a person was stopped during parking-ban enforcement.
Hall says recoveries like that demonstrate why he believes police should be allowed to determine how long the strategy is necessary.
"If I have to make a choice on keeping people safe so that we don’t have another massacre like we did on 75th Street, then I’m going to choose to follow the strategy of the police," Hall said.
Hall also said residents who have lived near the corridor for decades have complained about vehicles, loud music and people congregating late into the night.
Asked how long the temporary parking restrictions could remain after the posted Sept. 6 expiration date, Hall said: "How long the police need it to be. The police are leading the way."
Businesses say customers are disappearing
Business owners say they also want a safer 75th Street. Their argument is that the current solution is threatening the very businesses the city wants to protect.
Park Manor 75 stays open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Its owners say customers begin leaving when they announce around 10 p.m. that vehicles parked along 75th Street could be ticketed or towed.
"If you're parked on 75th Street, they're gonna ticket and tow cars," Stanton-Thomas said. "And then we have this massive exodus."
The owners say the financial consequences have been dramatic.
Park Manor 75 says it has reduced its staff by roughly 80%, going from about 14 to 16 workers to the owners themselves and, at times, just one or two additional employees.
Co-owner Jacare Stanton-Thomas estimates the business is losing "thousands per week."
"It’s not what I wanted," he said while discussing the effect on employees and the business.
The co-owner of Park Manor 75... a wine and cocktail bar also say the crime data in the area doesn't support the reason for the parking ban.
""So I pulled up the crime data for this particular corridor from 75th Street in State to 75th in Cottage Grove for the last four years. And what I found is that the data does not support the stint of this particular action. So it is then really a lie for me, but that's what we were told is for safety."
Another longtime business owner told FOX 32 his revenue is down 50% compared with the same period last year and said he is already dipping into money set aside for 2027 to avoid laying off members of his 2026 staff.
"I’m in my reserves for next year," he said.
At Rickette's World Famous, owner-operator Brandon Clemons says some customers simply go somewhere else when they discover they cannot park near the business.
"Once they figure out that they can’t park, or that they’ll be ticketed or towed, they choose to go elsewhere to order food," Clemons said.
Could empty streets create another safety problem?
Some business owners also question whether clearing vehicles and customers from 75th Street late at night could have an unintended consequence.
One business owner says she has experienced two break-ins in less than 30 days and believes fewer people along the corridor can give criminals more opportunity.
"There’s nobody out because no one can park on 75th Street," she said. "Now we’ve had two break-ins in less than 30 days and there’s nobody around."
Business owners also argue that other popular Chicago entertainment districts manage late-night crowds without similar sweeping parking restrictions.
Several compared 75th Street with Fulton Market and other thriving entertainment corridors, questioning why additional policing, security or parking alternatives cannot be used instead.
Hall says the comparison is not that simple. He points to Fulton Market's parking infrastructure, valet service, supplemental security and Special Service Area investments as resources 75th Street does not currently have at the same level.
Hall said potential solutions could include making better use of nearby parking lots and investing more in supplemental security through the area's Special Service Area.
What's next:
A Future 75 meeting is scheduled for Sept. 22, when Hall says residents and other stakeholders will continue discussing parking, safety and investment along the corridor.
For now, the debate on 75th Street comes down to two priorities that both sides insist do not have to compete: keeping the corridor safe and keeping its businesses alive.
The interviews support the central business concerns, including towing, the reported 80% staffing reduction and the claim that customers leave when the 10 p.m. restriction begins. Hall, meanwhile, argues police enforcement is producing safety gains and says police should determine how long the restriction is needed.
The Source: The information in this report came from interviews with business owners along 75th Street, Sixth Ward Ald. William Hall, video obtained by FOX 32 Chicago, and observations of temporary parking restriction signs posted along the corridor.