CHICAGO (STNG) - Moms pushing baby carriages have grown accustomed to juggling purses, bottles and diaper bags and navigating elevators and revolving doors.

But what about being forced to use the service elevator at your own high-rise building?

That's what happened to Laura Moran, who juggles a pair of strollers for her kids, ages 5 and 22 months.

Moran was entering the elevator at her high-rise co-op at 1120 N. Lake Shore Dr. recently when she was confronted by the co-op president and told strollers were not allowed on the passenger elevator.

"I was absolutely appalled -- beside myself. A stroller is a child's wheelchair. I feel like they're discriminating against kids," said Moran, 44.

"The service elevator is the elevator they use to bring garbage down. It's got lead paint, asbestos and everything else coming down that elevator. There's people in our building who have walkers and golf clubs. They're not banned. The thinking was the stroller was damaging the elevator. It's absolutely ludicrous."

On Thursday, the City Council's most powerful alderman rallied to the side of Moran and other high-rise moms.

At a City Council meeting, Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) introduced an ordinance that would make it a crime -- punishable by a $500 fine -- for condominium associations and landlords to declare passenger elevators off-limits to people pushing strollers.

The proposed ordinance would also make it a crime to force people who use wheelchairs or other ambulatory devices to use service elevators or designated doorways, which is not a problem at Moran's building.

Burke swung into action after fielding a complaint from Moran's father, who lives out of town. The alderman's staff subsequently sampled regulations at other condo buildings and turned up some even more surprising rules.

Some buildings don't even let strollers inside. Others don't allow residents to eat in common areas.
"Potentially, you have a mother with a baby carriage -- or perhaps someone in a wheelchair -- riding up on a service elevator with a garbage dumpster," Burke said in a press release.

"All residents should be treated equally. None should be relegated to a second-class status.... Some condo associations are simply going overboard... People have the right to enjoy their property free of idiosyncratic restrictions."