Judge Smacks Down Condo Owners Who Filed NIMBY Divvy Lawsuit
By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 23, 2013 10:00PM
A Cook County Judge denied a temporary restraining order against the North side condominium association seeking the removal of a Divvy Bikes docking station outside their three-unit building.
According to Streetsblog Chicago’s Steven Vance, Judge Kathleen Kennedy denied the request by David Kolin and Jeannine Cordero to have the station removed because “they didn’t state a clearly ascertainable, protectable right and cannot sustain the merits of their complaint (if it went to trial, as they requested),” noting the city controls use of the streets. Kolin and Cordero claimed in their lawsuit filed Wednesday the Divvy station at Addison and Pine Grove would result in crowds, noise, parking and safety issues and devaluation of their condos.
Also worth reading is Vance’s article on the dispute. To say Vance isn't sympathetic for Kolin and Cordero is an understatement. Here is an excerpt.
The condo owners give the city amusing directions about where Divvy stations should be placed, arguing that they “should be installed in a higher trafficked area, near public transportation lines and not on a quiet, residential street seeking to retain some calm in an already busy area.” The residents must be unaware that they live on bustling Addison Street, which sees 10,000 cars and 150 buses each day and sits four blocks east of the Red Line’s Addison stop, not to mention Wrigley Field. Then there’s the fact that the whole point of bike-share is to connect residents to jobs, shopping, and other destinations. If you don’t put bike-share where people live, the system doesn’t work.--snip—
The lawsuit also claims that “already scarce parking” has been further diminished, but the station replaced only two parking spaces. That public space has become ultimately more productive, since it will enable dozens of people to use the bikes each day instead of simply warehousing a couple of cars.
The plaintiff’s request for redress is absurd. They ask for the removal of the station, allowing the condo association to dictate the new location, plus compensatory damages and reimbursement for legal fees. Oh, and they also demand a trial by jury. We may see more of this kind of Divvy NIMBYism in the near future, but once more people wrap their heads around how useful the system is, they’ll be begging to have docking stations installed in front of their homes. As a matter of fact, dozens of Craigslist apartment listings have already advertised proximity to Divvy as an asset.
First World problems, y’all!