CITY HALL — Need a temporary residential parking permit for a visiting friend or relative?
The days of having to make your way to a ward office to pick up the permits could be behind you.
City Clerk Susana Mendoza announced this week she is making daily residential parking permits available for purchase online. Previously, according to the City Clerk's Office, city residents have made 30,000 in-person visits to get the permits.
Now, however, the Clerk's Office has linked into an Illinois Secretary of State database to allow residents to use their driver's license, if up-to-date, to confirm residency and allow the purchase of permits from home or any computer.
"Essentially, we've created personal accounts for everyone who parks in a residential zone," Mendoza said. "If your driver's license information is up to date, you'll be able to buy Daily Residential Parking Permits for your friends and family while wearing pajamas in your living room.
“I promised to bring the Office of the City Clerk into the modern era, and we are keeping that promise," Mendoza said, adding that the system complements the new year-round process for annual auto city stickers.
The permits are available through the clerk's website, with 15 sold for $8.
According to the Clerk's Office, there are 170,000 registered drivers in the city's 2,000 residential parking zones. Mendoza emphasized that the online system is going up ahead of the holiday season, when residents typically need daily permits for parties and other events.
Those not in the Secretary of State's database can still buy the permits online by emailing copies of legitimate papers establishing residence, such as a utility bill.
Mendoza's office also emphasized that those who chronically abuse the online system can be disqualified from future permit purchases, in order to discourage fraud.
