Wakelee Avenue Parking Rules Debated

Merchants debated a new parking prohibition along portions of Wakelee Avenue at the Board of Police Commissioner’s meeting last week. 

While Frank’s LLC owner, Frank Heusser, continued to question the new rules and the parking study that prompted them, two other business owners along the same street said they were happy with the new regulations.

I’m not in favor of it all, but I’m happy because at least the avenue is safe,” said Bob Barbieri, the co-owner of Chippy’s auto shop.

But Heusser said other businesses, such as a funeral home on the street, have parked cars in the no parking zones without getting ticketed.

I don’t have a problem with parking there, but you can’t have different rules for me,” Heusser said. 

Wakelee No Parking Graphic The Rules

The parking ban on Wakelee Avenue went into effect about six weeks ago, said police Chief Kevin Hale. View the document at left to see the no-parking areas along the street, indicated with red lines.

The new rules prohibit parking on both sides of the road between Division Street and Mary Street and from Franklin Street to the Seymour line. 

In between Mary Street and Franklin Avenue, parking is allowed on alternate sides of the road in some places, and on both sides of the road in others.

The Study

This time last year, the police department began studying traffic, parking and accidents on the road in response to complaints from merchants there. See the finished report at the end of this article.

For 10 days in July, the police department counted cars coming down Wakelee Avenue. During that time period, about 91,000 cars were counted, the report summary states. 

The average speed of those cars was 34 miles per hour, in a 30-miles-per-hour zone. About 5 percent of the cars were going more than 60 miles per hour, the study found.

The study also noted more than 120 accidents on Wakelee Avenue between 2005 and June 2009.

About 30 of those accidents dealt with parked cars, the study states.

Reaction

Barbieri and John Zaleski, the owner of Wakelee Memorial Funeral Home, spoke in favor of the parking rules during public comments Wednesday.

Barbieri said before the parking ban went into effect, there were lots of car accidents and fights about parking on the street. 

But Heusser said the rules only seem to be enforced when he parks on the street, and questioned how accurate the traffic and parking study was. 

According to data Heusser requested from the department, some of the cars were tracked going more than 90 miles per hour down the road. 

There has to be something wrong,” Heusser said. 

Both Barbieri and Zaleski said they have also received parking tickets along Wakelee Avenue when parked there. 

I’ll be the first one to say to you, I parked on that sidewalk too, and I got tickets just like you did,” Barbieri said, directing his comments briefly to Heusser during the public comments. And if you want copies of them, I got them.”

WakeleeAveStudy

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