Monthly Archives: July 2010
DIY Street Cleaning Signs
Reader Dana Kupper captured a photo of this handmade sign in the 4100 block of north Ashland reminding drivers to move their cars so they don’t get ticketed for street cleaning.
Seemingly, this sign hanging hobbyist must be frustrated with the lack of signage by CDOT on that block or perhaps hates seeing drivers getting ticketed so often.
“We need more citizen heroes like this!” Kupper says via e-mail. “Those permanent signs about (weekly) street cleaning on the bigger streets are tricky and hard to see. It would be great if it caught on, I know I have seen people be the victim of not looking up at the signs at 7am and running into a coffee shop or something and coming back to find a great big fat ticket.”…
City Clerk del Valle Brings Hands On Attitude To City Sticker Sales
Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle assists a women purhasing her 2010-2011 city sticker at City Hall
Most people in line don’t give the gentleman in the crisp pressed shirt and tie a second look.
He points, quickly reviews some paperwork a young women offers him before speaking to her for a few moments, then motions to the next person waiting in line.
These drivers standing in line, just trying to get their Chicago city sticker before the July 30th deadline, simply want to get in and out of City Hall as quickly as possible.
So it’s not a surprise most don’t recognize the soft-spoken man helping them out as Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle.
“Clerk del Valle is very hands on and has been in the hallway helping people during sticker season for four years, ever since taking office,” says City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “Many times people recognize him, but that isn’t the reason he is in the hallway. He wants to help people get their stickers as quickly as possible, as all of us do.”
City Settles City Sticker Ticket Lawsuit
It’s taken five years.
But finally, a few hundred drivers are getting some city sticker justice.
CBS 2 News’ Pamela Jones has the story on the 10 PM news about a class action lawsuit (Jeffrey Saltz vs. City of Chicago) filed in 2005 on behalf of over 400 drivers who were improperly ticketed for city sticker violations.
These drivers were ticketed while parked in private garage. At the time in question, between 2003 and 2005, there was not legal for cars to be ticketed for city sticker violations while parked in a private garage.
$1 Billion In Meter Money Down The Drain
That ear drum shattering sucking sound you hear is $1.16 billion dollars going down the drain.
According to a front page story in today’s Sun-Times, as of the end of 2009, only $180 million of the $1.16 billion Morgan Stanley paid for a 75 year lease to operate Chicago’s parking meter system.
When the lease deal was originally sold to the city council in December of 2008, the plan was to use approximately $300 million of the original amount to fill a deep budget hole in the 2009 budget. Of the remainder, $320 million was designated for a “rainy day” fund and $400 million was put into a long term reserve fund.
But it seems, in just one year after the lease deal was signed, $1 billion of the sale–90% of the total–has disappeared into Mayor Daley’s black hole of a budget deficit.
In retrospect, one sees the meter lease deal as the first easily understandable indicator that Mayor Daley has completely mishandled the city’s finances. During the mayor’s tenure, he had the good fortune of a robust economy and a booming housing market. With the downturn in the economy and the collapse of the housing market, revenues to the city have essentially slowed to a standstill.
But due to the Daley administration’s poor planning, only a few thousand dollars of rainy day money had been put aside for times like this. For this reason, when William Blair & Company brought this idea to the mayor with the promise of fast cash, he jumped at it. The mayor knew he had a big budget deficit looming and this was the only solution to the problem.
This is why back in December of 2008, speed was so important. The Daley administration gave the city council less than 72 hours to ponder this complex, billion dollar sale of a valuable city asset. With so little time, none of the important questions weren’t asked or were glossed over. In the city’s desperation to plug the budget hole, the lease deal got them their needed short term fix. But it was only a temporary solution to a much larger long term problem and created a slew of other issues.
With a $700 million budget deficit looming for 2011, no one expects that remaining $180 million to be around for very long.
And the meter lease deal continues to get worse and worse for Mayor Daley.
Poll: 80% Of Voters Still Hate Meter Lease Deal
Local news organizations over the past few days has been spending a lot of time hashing out the latest poll numbers on Mayor Daley.
The most recent Chicago Tribune poll shows an incumbent mayor with some pretty low numbers.
In fact, Mayor Daley’s weakest poll numbers ever.
One of the key issues that has put the Mayor’s favorability at odds with potential voters is the parking meter lease deal.
Ask The Parking Ticket Geek
Dear Geek,
I am a Fleet Manager and have just received two incorrect city stickers.
The license plate number on the stickers don’t match the actual plate on each car.
When I contact the City Clerk’s Data Services office I was told the plate numbers don’t matter. There should be a letter stating that non matching plates and city stickers are not a ticketable (her word not mine) offense.
Is this a city worker trying to get me off the phone or is it legit? I’ve been scouring the web and so far no information exists. It was my understanding that the plate numbers had to match on the sticker AND the vehicle. Any information you might have would be helpful.
Thanks,
Chris
Don’t sweat this one Chris…
ALERT!: Sunday Kicks Off 3 Days Of Cubs Night Games
It’s a triple-header!
The Cubs host three night games in a row starting Sunday night at 7:05 PM, starting with the Phillies this evening and the Houston Astros on Monday and Tuesday.
To drivers considering coming into the Lakeview/Wrigleyville area this means three evenings of Cubs night game parking restrictions.
In other words, if you don’t have the proper passes or pay for parking in a lot, you will probably be ticketed ($50) and towed (an additional $160). It makes for an expensive evening.
ALERT!: Multiple Crosswalk Stings Saturday
Be careful if you’re driving around the Southside on Saturday morning and early afternoon.
The Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Police Department will be doing crosswalk enforcement at three locations between 8 AM and approximately 2 PM.
This is where a cop posing as a pedestrian tries to cross the street at the crosswalk. If you don’t stop and let the fake pedestrian cross, you’ll get a ticket. Could run you $50-$500.
PLEASE! Slow down, drive carefully, watch out for and be respectful of pedestrians. Not just today but every day.
Not only do we not want you hit with an expensive ticket, but we don’t want you accidentally hitting a pedestrian.
Here’s the three locations.
Transformers Filming Chaos Continues This Weekend
N. Michigan Ave. Closed From Wacker To Ontario
Optimus Prime and that a-hole Megatron continue to tie up traffic in Chicago as they film Transformers 3 here.
But this weekend, they really screw things up downtown by closing down the Mag Mile from Wacker Drive to Ontario. The impact of these street closings will push traffic onto surrounding streets and generally will make driving in this area hellish and chaotic.
Lower Michigan Ave. will also be closed to traffic.
Drivers will be diverted at Ontario St. and detoured to Clark St. Ohio St. will be open to eastbound traffic at Michigan Avenue.
Acording to CDOT Michigan Avenue northbound traffic will be diverted at Randolph Street and detoured to Dearborn Street. Lake St. , Upper East North Water St. and City Front Plaza Dr. all will be open to local traffic only.
Happy %#@! Anniversary, First Parking Meter Installed 75 Years Ago Today
As you dig through your pockets for a quarter to pay for your parking spot today, you have an additional reason to curse your parking meter.
Today, for urban motorists everywhere, this day could be labeled an anniversary of evil.
Because this day in 1935, the very first parking meter was installed at the corner of First Street and Robinson Avenue, in downtown Oklahoma City, OK.
