Hosey: Making the most out of city’s parking plans

John Bays talked a big game when his tenant — the mayor — and the city council all but gave him the Scott Street parking deck as a gift.

“I will make the parking deck beautiful for you,” Bays said. “You’ll see. It’s going to be way better than any parking deck you’ve got.”

Just months later, Bays proved true to his word. The Scott Street deck at least looks better than any other parking deck owned by the city of Joliet, even though there’s just one other, over on Ottawa Street. Regardless, Bays’ parking deck on Scott has it all over that deck on Ottawa. There’s no doubt about it.

There’s a fresh coat of paint on Bays’ deck, the potholes have been smoothed over and it has been outfitted with an automated payment system.

All of that is great, but when the city sold the deck to Bays for just $151,000, it was supposedly because it was going to cost $1 million, maybe even more, to get it into some semblance of shape. The Scott Street deck might look a bit spiffier than it did a few months ago, but it doesn’t look $1 million spiffier. And even if it did, this automated payment system is a waste of money and a huge mistake.

Someone earned a living taking tickets from drivers, checking a clock and charging them for however long they were parked in the deck, and automating the payment system takes that job away.

Now, you might make the argument that with the way the federal government was throwing stimulus money around and not making anyone pay rent, it’s gotten hard to find anyone to work these days. But there are already plenty of men and women toiling away at jobs quite similar to that of a ticket taker at a parking deck. Just take a ride down South Larkin Avenue and odds are you’ll see one, or maybe even more than one, standing in the middle of the road and asking for money from motorists.

Just the other day, there was one at the corner of Larkin and McDonough and another at the intersection of Larkin and Jefferson, just beyond the miniature Statue of Liberty.

If these men and women are willing to stand in traffic to collect cash from drivers who may or may not even pay them, surely they would be open to the prospect of enjoying the comfort and safety of a booth while they accept a buck or two from each passing car.

If it’s too late to scrap the automated system at Bays’ deck to let the homeless take tickets and money, the Ottawa Street deck, the one the city hasn’t given away yet, is still a possibility.

It’s really the least the city could do in light of the special homeless task force the mayor made such a big deal about before failing to follow through on it, not to mention the Zoning Board of Appeals shooting down a plan to turn the Quality Inn into a homeless shelter.

The Quality Inn’s right there on South Larkin, where so many of the homeless go to work each day, and the idea made perfect sense. But the Zoning Board of Appeals must not have seen it that way.

With the Quality Inn no longer a possibility, perhaps the homeless parking attendants could stay at Bays’ deck, since it’s so nice there now. It wouldn’t even have to be for free. They could pay a modest amount out of their paychecks, and then they could be his tenants, just like the mayor.

• Joe Hosey is the editor of The Herald-News. You can reach him at 815-280-4094, at jhosey@shawmedia.com or on Twitter @JoeHosey.