Some day years from now the city may regret ticketing Mark Thomas’s car for violating a residents-only parking zone in Lakeview.
Thomas says he’s not inconsistent. Life, he argues, is a series of compromises; very rarely, almost never, do we do exactly what we want. In his case, Thomas, 40, was an idealistic and entrepreneurial hippie who developed three pricey north-side clothing stores from a funky little head shop he opened in Old Town more than 20 years ago. Along the way he married, had two children, and socked away enough money to contemplate a house in the suburbs with a big yard in the back and a pristine public school just down the street.
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“I could have opted for that suburban lifestyle–in some ways it would have been easier–but I didn’t want to have to make the commute to work,” says Thomas. “So what did I do? I compromised. I bought a house in the city. I spend $12,000 a year to send my kids to private school. I’m not complaining. I like my house, my kids love their school. But I had to make compromises. Who was it–Don Corleone in The Godfather?–who said, “This is the life we have chosen’?”
“The way the law works is if 50 percent of the people sign a petition requesting residential parking, they get it,” says Alderman Bernie Hansen, whose 44th Ward covers Lakeview. “I’d say at least 35 percent of Lakeview’s got some kind of permit parking. It’s 65 percent if you include the Cubs’ nighttime parking provisions. You even have the battle of the zones, where Zone 381 can’t park in 383 and vice versa. It gets crazy. But if most of the people want the permit restrictions, who am I to tell them no?”
Thomas says he’ll take his case all the way to the Supreme Court if he has to. “You know what I really need is a lawyer, because, let’s admit it, as nuts as I am I’m in over my head,” he says. “What I’m hoping for is to have some credible lawyer take me on. The way it works is I filed a class-action suit asking for the court to order refunds. There’s got to be a lawyer who will see all the potential refunds and take the case for 20 to 25 percent of the action. Yeah, I’m looking for at least one good lawyer; otherwise the city’s gonna kick my butt, even though they know I’m right.”
“We deliver 1,000 meals every night, we’ve never had a waiting list, no one’s ever been turned down–it’s kind of impressive,” says Lori Cannon, Open Hand’s pantry director. “It’s the volunteers that make us go, God bless them. If anyone wants to volunteer they can call 665-1000.”
