8TH AND 19TH DISTRICT COUNCILS CALL ON CITY TO ADVANCE PARKING ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE PILOT

8TH AND 19TH DISTRICT COUNCILS CALL ON CITY TO ADVANCE PARKING ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE PILOT

CHICAGO, IL- The 8th and 19th District Councils are calling on city leadership to advance the Parking Alternative Response Team (PART) pilot, a community-developed proposal designed to divert thousands of non-emergency parking-related 911 calls from sworn police officers to civilian personnel.


The proposal embraces a simple idea: the right resource for the right call. By moving routine parking complaints to civilian staff, police officers can spend more time responding to emergencies, addressing violent crime, and engaging in proactive community policing.


Proposed in September 2025 by elected members of the 8th and 19th District Councils, the PART pilot would shift primary responsibility for parking-related 911 calls from sworn police officers to civilian personnel within the Department of Finance. The proposal includes both Parking Violation 1 (PV1) and Parking Violation 2 (PV2) calls. PV1 calls involve immediate safety access concerns, such as blocked fire hydrants, disabled parking spaces, or bike lanes. PV2 calls generally involve routine, non-hazardous complaints, including overtime parking and restricted parking violations. The pilot would operate daily from 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.


Chicago receives nearly 100,000 parking-related calls each year, with approximately two-thirds classified as PV1 calls. Available data shows that fewer than 0.05% of these calls involve potential for conflict requiring a police response. Meanwhile, Department of Finance personnel already routinely enforce many of the same parking violations by issuing citations throughout the city.

The proposal reflects recommendations outlined in the Federal Consent Decree, the People’s Plan for Community Safety, the Chicago Police Department’s Strategy for Organizational Excellence, and the Workforce Allocation Study, each of which calls for expanding alternative response models and ensuring sworn officers are deployed where they are needed most.


The City has proposed a significantly narrower pilot that would only operate between 7:00 A.M and 3:00 P.M., rely on third-party contractors, and exclude all PV1 calls. Because PV1 calls account for nearly two-thirds of all parking-related 911 calls, excluding them would dramatically limit the pilot’s ability to evaluate the true impact of alternative response on police workload and emergency dispatch.


“This is exactly why CCPSA’s District Councils were created: to give residents a direct voice in shaping public safety policy,” said Maurilio Garcia, 019 District Councilor. “We’ve spent two years working to advance this initiative. With all the recent studies, reports, and mandates calling for alternative response, it’s time for the City to take serious action.

"We simply want to shift the response to existing parking violations to a civilian workforce, not CPD. And we’re certainly not looking for new ways to ticket residents but rather encourage behavior change. We believe PART will serve as a strong, practical example of what alternative response can look like in Chicago.”


The 19th District Council will discuss the PART proposal, the City’s response, and the future of alternative response in Chicago at its monthly public meeting:


Wednesday, July 29, 2026

6:30 P.M.

Clarendon Park (4501 N. Clarendon Ave.)


Residents, community organizations, and members of the media are encouraged to attend to learn more about the proposal, hear the latest updates, and participate in the discussion.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

Sister Talk