Eric Reiss knows the cars by heart, right down to the license plate numbers.
Where, he wonders, is the gold Toyota today?
“A wonderful little girl drives it,” says Reiss, who lives at the intersection of Monroe and Adelia streets, a stone’s throw from Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, which is both a blessing and a curse.
The school grounds are beautiful, and the students, Reiss says, unfailingly polite. He just wishes they wouldn’t use his street for a parking lot. And he isn’t alone.
Residents near the Catholic high school say they’re weary of SHG students parking on streets near campus, taking up spaces and occasionally blocking driveways.
“There are signs that say ‘no parking’ on this side (of the street), but they always do,” says Kristy Neuman, who lives a block away from Reiss on Park Street. “I’ve got the dean from SHG on speed dial.”
Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen also hears about it. He says that the staff in the city’s legal and traffic departments plan to speak with school officials.
“I know it’s an aggravation – I’ve handled many calls about it,” Theilen says. “I’m working on this. I don’t have any solution at this moment.”
Last Friday afternoon, 10 of the 19 cars parked on Park Avenue in the block between Governor and Monroe streets, where Neuman lives, had SHG placards attached to rearview mirrors. The parallel-parked cars effectively turned the street into a one-lane thoroughfare.
Meanwhile, a parking lot at the high school’s west campus, a short walk from classrooms at the main campus, had more than 100 empty spaces, with fencing materials and pallets stacked on some spaces at the perimeter that, judging from dirt and debris on the asphalt, had not been used in some time.
The situation was much the same Monday morning, when 21 cars jammed Park Avenue between Governor and Monroe streets, leaving just two open spaces. Seventy spots were open at the West Campus lot.
That a parking lot owned by SHG has open spaces while residential streets are packed with student cars is always mentioned by constituents who call Theilen, according to the alderman.
“I can’t get SHG to answer me, definitively, if those spaces are available to students,” Theilen says.
Sister Katherine O’Connor, president of Sacred Heart-Griffin, said that underclassmen are supposed to park on the West Campus lot. Seniors, however, are allowed to park on streets near the school.
“There’s just been a tradition that seniors don’t park down on West Campus,” O’Connor said. “Seniors have had the privilege of parking on the street. I’m sure we will revisit it.”
O’Connor and Theilen both pointed out that students are parking on public streets.
“Just because you live there doesn’t mean you own the street,” Theilen says.
Neuman and Reiss say that student cars block snowplows and sometimes driveways. When police respond, students, not tow trucks, are summoned, they say, and no citations are issued.
Deputy police chief Cliff Buscher says that officers have discretion on whether to have cars towed, and that’s the case throughout the city. It’s often faster to find the owner of a car than a tow truck, Buscher says, and Theilen agrees.
“We may as well try to find the kid,” Theilen says.
Theilen said he’s concerned about parking issues next fall, when SHG’s football team plays its first season at a new stadium at the school’s West Campus. The stadium has 3,900 bleacher seats and room for more fans on berms at the field’s perimeter.
“You’ve just described the nightmare I see coming,” Theilen said.
The city did not require additional parking facilities. Rather, construction permits were issued after Sacred Heart-Griffin submitted a plan that calls for fans to park at nearby lots owned by the Diocese of Springfield and St. Agnes Parish and School.
O’Connor said that SHG has at least 1,000 spaces reserved for the stadium and will hire police to help with parking during games. And there may be relief coming for residents on school days. The school has acquired land just east of the city’s former west branch library, she said.
“We’ve purchased property and, when we can afford it, we hope to build a parking lot,” O’Connor said. “These things cost money.”
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
Having gone to many a high school football game, basketball game or other sporting event, parking is always a problem.
Students on the other hand should be made to park in the school's parking lots or suffer the fines and tow fees any other citizen would be subject to for violations of parking on public streets.
Alderman Theilen is a bit wishy washy in his nonresponse to this problem of the students parking. He has made it his responsibility to have a stop sign on every corner in his ward around the schools. Speed traps and complete stops at his stop signs by city police are frequent - at his request.
Yet he lip service about the student parking is pathetic, coming from an elected official. Years ago I lived in that area and the student parking was a problem then (1980's).
This article will probably force the school to deal with parking for this fall. Hey problems exist around Lanphier in the fall also, so SHG just needs to deal with their problem now. So good work in raising the issue now. SHG needs to make sure the kids park in allowable spots. My money is on SHG for stay dealing with this matter NOW.
SHG does have it's share of "haters", so excuse us if we become sensitive. When we are successful people line up to take shots at us. When are kids have a bad season adults publicly celebrate our losses.
Recently in another local newspaper it was brought to public attention that SHG was under investigation by the IHSA for "playing catch" with Colt McCoy when he was in town. Mr. Sanders from Springfield 186 appears to have made a call to the IHSA to see if SHG committed some sort of haneous violation. For the love of you know who, Colt McCoy was in town for a FCA banquet and he came to SHG to see the facilty and "play catch". Oh and he came to share his faith.
In closing...
Jesus would park only in permissable locations.
Jesus would have probably played catch with Colt McCoy.
Jesus was the last perfect man!
Jesus loves you Bruce.
Keep up the good work Bruce. Free speach is beautiful.
What's up with the "Jesus" comment anyway Bruce?
Do you think Jesus controls the parking around Springfield High School? Southeast High School? Lanphier High School?
If this were a "reported" problem at Southeast High - would you wonder "What would a Spartan do"? or at Lanphier - "What would a Lion do"? or at Springfield High "What would a Senator do"? but of course we all know what a Senator would do don't we.
A Senator would write a new law allowing Senators to park anywhere they wish and the rest of the public? pay the fines!
Yes, I did write this headline. My reasoning was, and is, thus:
During the course of my reporting, I interviewed two neighbors. Another called and said that she would be happy to speak with me on the record about her concerns. Ald. Theilen said that he hears from a number of constituents who are not happy about the situation and that he is trying to get something done to address neighborhood concerns. Based on all of this, I think it's safe to say that this is a matter of legitimate public concern and, while news judgment is not an exact science, worth writing about. One of the neighbors brought up the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments and found irony in a Catholic institution that instills values telling students to park on neighborhood streets even though it upsets the people who live there when there is, apparently, an alternative--parking on school-owned property-- that would make for a more harmonious relationship between the institution and its neighbors. I thought that was an interesting point. We are all familiar, I think, with WWJD--to me, that means thinking about the best course of action in all things great and small that are encountered in everyday life. The headline is a play on that. It's appropriate, I think, for a Catholic (or Lutheran, or Baptist, or any other religion) school because it is part of the mission of these places, as I understand it, to instill Christian thought and beliefs in students and encourage them to have their actions reflect these values. It would not be appropriate for a nonsectarian institution such as a public school.
So, those are the thoughts behind the headline for which I take full responsibility.
Thanks for reading.
Bruce Rushton
For anyone who has lived there since before students filled the streets, I shed tears for you. Of course, anyone who lived there that long and found this to be a major problem moved on long ago. So what's the story again? Some sort of ham-handed judgment of 16-17 year old Catholic kids? Compelling idea you've got there.