Lockport Approves $75K Agreement For Valet Services

LOCKPORT, IL — The Lockport City Council has approved a $75,000 valet service agreement for its downtown for 2021. At its Wednesday meeting, the council approved the agreement with VIP Valet Services Inc., in an effort to help support downtown Lockport businesses.

According to council documents, the city's portion of video gaming revenue will fund the valet service. The gaming fund currently has over $650,000, with a projected growth of $230,000 annually.

The agreement with VIP Valet Services will offer two locations with times available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. VIP Valet Services also handles valet parking in downtown La Grange.

A test pilot of the program over a few recent weekends have been successful, council documents state.

"I just find it to be a creative, unique way to bring people downtown," Alderman Mark Lobes said, adding that he is happy with what he's seen so far.

The city council approved the agreement, with Alderwoman Catherine Perretta as the sole 'no' vote.

Perretta said that there are some positives to the valet agreement since parking signage has been put up in the downtown.

"So that is positive, because I think that's been one of the biggest things is just signage, letting people know where they can park, and also changing some of the signs then from 2-hour parking," she said. "Most people cannot eat dinner and get done in two hours. I think if the signs would say 3 or 4 hours in the evening or just telling people where they can park, we wouldn't have a parking problem, and we would have a lot of availability."

Perretta questioned using $75,000 for valet parking, and asked what would happen with parking if the service was taken away in a year or two.

"I think that's going to be a harder takeaway later for you, but that's why I'm voting no," she said.