The design for Chicago city stickers is changing to accomodate year-round sales.

This weeks Chicago City Council saw the passing of two ordinances that will affect the vehicle owners in Chicago.

Year-Round City Sticker Sales

City Clerk Susana Mendoza’s proposal to dramatically change Chicago city sticker sales from one month out of the year to year-round sales sailed through the City Council with overwhelming approval.

While city sticker sales will begin in mid-May, the transition to a year-round model similar to the state’s model for renewing license plate stickers will begin in 2014. City stickers will have to be renewed annually six months after the month a vehicle’s state license plate sticker expires.

“These changes will dramatically improve the customer service experience when residents interact with the City Clerk’s Office,” Clerk Mendoza said. “This is a smart policy that will result in shorter wait times and further reduce overtime costs. We’re making significant changes to a policy that was antiquated and inefficient.”

In order to prepare for the change to the year-round model, when renewing city stickers this year, drivers will have to bring in the vehicle identification numbers (VIN) for each vehicle in order to help the Clerk’s office determine which month a vehicle’s city sticker will expire.

City Parking Taxes Change To Flat Rate

The City Council also passed a restructuring of the way taxes on parking in parking lots and garages are levied on drivers.

The current parking tax structure is a tiered system where a flat fee of $5 is added to the cost of parking for any rates over $12.

The new parking tax will be a flat 20% on all parking transactions during the week and 18% on weekends. According to the Chicago Tribune, these rates are on-par with parking tax rates in other major American cities.

This means parkers who paid no tax before if the rate was under $12 will now pay tax. Some parkers will see a decrease in their tax to park. For example, someone paying around $12 will pay approximately half of the now $5 flat tax.

Drivers who pay premium parking rates–typically tourists patronizing downtown hotels–will now pay more.

A handful of alderman, including 42nd Ward Alderman Brandon Reilly, who’s ward includes most of downtown where so many hotels are located, opposed the tax change.

The Chicago Tribune has more in-depth coverage of the parking tax change, “Chicago parking tax changes pass despite opposition.”

Chicago's city sticker boasts a new look for 2013.

Say goodbye to standing in long lines to buy your City of Chicago vehicle sticker.

The annual tradition of a million-plus city car owners rushing to buy their city stickers over the course of several weeks in May and June is coming to an end.

Starting next year, the City Clerk’s Office will transition to a year-round sales process — one similar to how drivers renew their State of Illinois license plate stickers in the same month every year.

City sticker renewals will be required six months from when a vehicle’s state registration is renewed. For example, if your license plate is renewed in January, your city sticker must be renewed in July.

The summer 2013 city vehicle sticker will be the last time most residents receive a June-to-June sticker renewal, City Clerk Susana Mendoza said. The June-to-June renewal schedule will remain for people over 65 years old.

Read more at DNA Info Chicago.

Vice is a hipster jackass magazine that is read by cooler than thou twenty somethings who essentially think that, (beyond the few thousand people who actually read the publication) everyone else in the world is contemptibly and tragically uncool.

While snark tends to be the lifeblood of this publication, it’s humor can range from unfunny juvenile exploration of all things scatological to purile but hilarious, well written pieces which induce spasms of fall of the couch laughter.

Recently, a Chicago-based contributor to Vice named Fred Sasaki, for some unknown reason, puts the Chicago City Clerk’s office in his comedic crosshairs and engages someone in that office in a series of emails.

After receiving an email (along with a few thousand other Chicagoans) from the City Clerk’s office in an email blast, Sasaki, posing as someone with mental health issues and/or compromised cognitive abilities, tries to schedule a presentation of his ideas for a city sticker design at an upcoming City Council meeting.

Most of Sasaki’s proposed designs look like something out a 6th grade girl’s notebook if we still lived in 1979.

The seemingly befuddled City Clerk’s office employee goes back and forth with Sasaki until she finally, and abruptly ends the correspondence.

Mr. Sasaki,

There is no scheduled presentation, and this project is not moving forward. I have found absolutely no person on City staff who knows who you are or what you’re talking about, including representatives from Budget Director Holt’s office.

As such, please consider this my final correspondence on the matter. This conversation is over.

 

While this piece won’t have anyone doubled over with laughter, it is somewhat amusing and at least worth a read.

Here’s Vice’s entire email correspondence with the City Clerk’s office, “Fred Sasaki’s Sticker Proposal for the City of Chicago.”

In person lines for city stickers are often long, patience is tested and in some cases tempers flare.

But this once a year tradition of purchasing a city sticker looks like it might end soon–perhaps as early as next year.

Wednesday, during City Council budget hearings, Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza told City Council members her office was working toward going to a year round sales model similar to how the Illinois Secretary of State’s office handles license plate renewals.

“…Next year, we’re looking to go to year-round city sticker sales,” said Mendoza in her opening remarks. “This is an ambitious undertaking, but everything we’ve learned up to this point demonstrates that it’s not only achievable, but will be a more convenient customer experience
with a positive budget impact. We’re confident that with your support and feedback, we can make this happen.”

The idea of year round sales has been bouncing around the City Clerk’s office for at least four years, first coming up during Miguel Del Valle’s tenure as City Clerk.

“This is something the Clerk’s Office has been considering for a while,” says City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “But Clerk Mendoza is finally pulling the trigger on it.”

Williams says the transition to this year around sales model will make things easier for everyone. Lines will be shorter, if non existent, the $70,000 a year in overtime paid to City Clerk’s staff will disappear and the annual mad rush for vehicle owners to purchase their city stickers by July 15th will end.

The Clerk’s Office still needs to hammer out all the details of converting from the current sales model to a year around one according to Williams.

“It’s all being worked through right now and it’s a lot of work,” said Williams.

Going year round, the over 1.3 million city stickers would break down to about 100,000 sticker renewals per month according to Williams. Tentatively, a driver’s city sticker would have to be renewed six months after the month of their license plate renewal. Williams says this would spread out the financial strain of having to pay for a city sticker and license plate renewal at the same time. It would theoretically space out those same costs for households with multiple vehicles.

“Lots of people struggle to buy their city stickers,” says Williams. “It’s not an inexpensive tax so we’re looking at options to spread out the tax cost.”

According to Williams, in order to accomplish this goal City Clerk staff has been consulting with Jesse White’s office on the best way to transition to the year round model.

“We’re meeting with them on a regular basis and they’re giving us a lot of ideas,” said Williams. “We’re also looking to aldermen and the public for input. We know its good for Chicago drivers–it’s a win-win for everyone.”

The City Clerk’s enforcement division is reporting a healthy 58% increase in the total number of parking tickets it issued in the six week period following the end of city sticker sales.

One of the City Clerk’s responsibilities is to administer Chicago’s city vehicle sticker program–selling close to 1.3 million each year.

Even though the Chicago Police Department and city Parking Enforcement Aides write most of the city’s parking violations,  the Clerk’s office also has an enforcement arm.  This enforcement team consisting of six full time investigators with supplemental enforcement coming from five privately contracted enforcement staff, patrols the streets of Chicago focusing on catching scofflaws who haven’t purchased a city sticker for their vehicle.

The Clerk’s office announced their enforcement team has written 5,696 parking tickets from July 16 through August 24–the six week period immediately following the July 15th city sticker grace period. This compares to the 3,602 tickets issued over the same period last year–a more than 2000 ticket increase.

Mendoza has made the pursuit of city sticker scofflaws a priority for the department.

“We are facing some of the hardest economic times – not only for our residents, but also for the City,” Mendoza explained. “Going after the scofflaws – the ones who purposely avoid paying their fair share of the wheel tax – is a matter of equity. It’s simply not right to let some have a free ride while the rest of us pay for them to use our roads.”

But to make things even more painful for drivers doing the decal dodge, is a much more expensive fine for not displaying a city sticker. The fine for failure to display a city sticker was increased last year from $120 to a punishing $200 for most vehicles–a fine that can be levied every day until a city sticker is purchased and applied to the vehicle windshield. Trucks face fines as high as $500.

“People are not happy with the ticket price but most of them realize they didn’t buy their city sticker,” says City Clerks spokesperson Kristine Williams.

The City Clerk’s office calculates the substantial increase in ticketing volume along with the bump in the fine amount will result in an estimated windfall of $470,000 in additional revenue for the city.

“Our work is about fairness, not about tickets,” said Jose Flores, the City Clerk’s office Director of Enforcement. “Imagine going to a restaurant and
expecting the table next to you to pick up their tab and your tab just so you could enjoy a nice meal. That’s the same way you are impacted when people don’t buy their City Vehicle Stickers.”

Revenue from city vehicle sticker sales is allocated towards repairing and maintaining Chicago’s roadways.

CBS 2′s Jim Williams rides along with Chicago City Clerk enforcement crew looking for city sticker scofflaws.

It’s no surprise they write a lot of tickets on Monday.

Here’s CBS 2′s full story, “Crackdown Begins For Chicago Motorists Without City Stickers.”

The 15-day grace period for Chicago vehicle owners to purchase and display their 2012-2013 city sticker expired at midnight, Monday July 16th.

While Chicago Police officers, according to reports, began writing tickets for failure to display city vehicle stickers as soon as was legally possible, the bulk of the many thousands of violations began in earnest Monday morning when the first shift of city Parking Enforcement Aides hit the streets looking for violators.

It is no surprise, that the bulk of city sticker violations for the year are written in the weeks immediately following the July 15th deadline each year.

But this year will be the first post-city vehicle sticker grace period with the new and much higher fines.

Higher Fines Make It More Painful On Scofflaws

At the beginning of the year, the fines for a “failure to display city vehicle sticker,” rose from $120 to an even more painful $200. On top of that, the late fees have risen from $40 to $60. Both increases were supported by City Clerk Susana Mendoza, who’s office administrates the sale of city stickers.

“Clerk Mendoza proposed and helped City Council pass legislation that gave stiffer penalties to City Sticker scofflaws,” explained City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “She felt it was simply not fair to ask law-abiding Chicagoans to pay more for their stickers without first going after
those who purposely do not buy the sticker and pay the tax. City Vehicle Sticker fees help maintain and repair the more than 4,000 miles of Chicago roads. It is our hope that people who have not been in compliance before will come into compliance and pay their fair share to maintain our roads.”

What’s the total cost for getting caught without a 2012-2013 city sticker? When you add the $200 fine plus the $60 late fee on top of the $85 sticker, it totals $345. Larger vehicles and trucks will bump up your total cost even higher. It’s a big incentive to drivers who still haven’t purchased their vehicle sticker to get it sooner than later.

More Aggressive Enforcement Policies?

Earlier in the year, there was speculation that the city’s policies on having more than one city sticker on a vehicle windshield was going to change. Historically, some car owners keep several years of city stickers on their windshield. Sources within the Department of Finance Street Operations were hearing whispers of a more strict interpretation of the law that sees the presence of more than the current year’s city sticker as a violation.

However, this doesn’t seem to be the case according to Department of Finance spokesperson Holly Stutz.

“No new enforcement strategies are planned.” said Stutz when asked about this issue a week ago. “When enforcement begins next week, PEAs will be verifying if a current city sticker is displayed and whether the vehicle is registered in Chicago. Enforcement of multiple city stickers on a vehicle will not be the focus.”

The City Clerk’s office, which has their own small enforcement crew, will not be ticketing for multiple stickers either.

“The City Clerk’s enforcement division is focused on making sure that drivers have the current City Vehicle Sticker displayed, not on the number of city stickers on a motorist’s windshield,” said Williams. “However, the municipal code is very clear in defining the placement of the sticker as “the front windshield in the lower right-hand corner farthest removed from the driver’s position. We always encourage people to remove the previous year’s sticker to ensure proper placement of the current sticker and also to help with driver safety as multiple stickers may impede a driver’s ability to see out of the windshield.”

Open Season On Parking Garages, Lots

However, there has been one change to enforcement policies for PEAs that will make it easier to write more sticker violations.

PEAs can now patrol publicly accessible private garages and parking lots, including shopping centers, to write parking tickets.

Although the municipal code has allowed city sticker enforcement in public garages and lots since 2003, only Chicago police officers were allowed to write the violations. So despite the law on the books, many drivers essentially hid their vehicles from city sticker enforcement by housing their vehicles in private garages and rarely parking their vehicle on the public way where the chance for receiving a ticket are greater than parking in the Jewel or Target parking lot.

But a recent change in policy allows PEAs to write tickets in these same garages and lots, of course potential increasing the volume of city sticker violations which can be written.

“DOF will enforce city sticker violations in public garages as described in the
ordinance,” says Stutz. “Enforcement is equitable and PEAs are instructed to use discretion when enforcing any violation code.”

Every year during Chicago’s annual city vehicle sticker season, each of the city’s 50 aldermen, host a one-day sale to give their constituents the convenience of purchasing their sticker close to home.

“Our City Vehicle Sticker sales in each ward office are always very popular,” says City Clerk Susana Mendoza. “I’m proud to partner with each Alderman to offer this convenient service, Like last year, this year I will be going to each ward sale to see our operations first-hand and hear ideas from Chicago drivers on how we can improve our sticker sales and services to constituents.”

Ward office sales kicked off successfully Wednesday with over 300 city stickers purchased at the 48th Ward office of Alderman Harry Osterman located at 5533 N. Broadway.

And according to City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams, these local ward sales are open to anyone–not just residents of that ward.

City vehicle stickers expired on June 30th, but drivers have until July 15th to purchase the 2012-2013 sticker without a $60 late fee or fear of a $200 ticket.

Anyone who owns a car registered in Chicago (or primarily houses or parks their car within the city limits even if it’s registered elsewhere) must purchase a city vehicle sticker for that vehicle.

This year, city stickers are $85 for most passenger vehicles and $135 for larger SUV type vehicles. Senior citizens are eligible to receive one sticker at $30, while annual Residential Zone Parking is an extra $25 per car. Daily Residential Parking Permits are $8 for 15 permits.

Besides local ward sales, Chicago drivers can purchase their city stickers online, at City Clerk offices and Department of Revenue locations or at more than 400 Currency Exchanges city wide.

Here’s the full list of city sticker ward sales which run all the way through July 11th this year.

Traditionally, city sticker sales have started June 1st, a date which kicked off a month of sales, followed by another two week grace period ending July 15th. Drivers who had not purchased and displayed their new city sticker on the windshield of their vehicle risked an expensive parking ticket.

However, since adding an e-commerce option for city stickers purchases to its website, the Clerk’s office has been trying to promote web sales by giving drivers a head start on vehicle sticker purchases if they buy online.

Last year, online sales began May 20th, about a week and a half before in-person sales normally begins.

But this year, the City Clerk’s office is extending the city sticker sales season by nearly six weeks by beginning online sales today, with in-person sales starting May 1st.

The City Clerk’s website has had a top to bottom redesign including a re-boot of the webpage for online sales called EZBuy, which makes the process for purchasing city stickers and temporary parking permits for car owners who live in areas of the city with residential parking restrictions much easier and more navigable interface.

“We hope that people find it much more user-friendly, intuitive and see a cleaner design,” says William

Between May 2012 and March 2012, the City Clerk’s office reports about 232,000 Chicago motorists purchased vehicle stickers online or just under 20% of total city stickers sold.

In addition to extending the length of the time to purchase city stickers, Clerk Susanna Mendoza has made a strong commitment to reducing long wait times for in-person sales by pushing web sales and making it easier for drivers to get their stickers. This includes changes like a will call option that allows people who don’t have faith in the postal service, the choice to pick up their city sticker in person.

“We are hoping to once again increase sales and believe that by adding the new Will Call pick up option for Chicago drivers we will see even more people choose the convenience of buying their sticker online,” said City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams.

Chicagoans using the will call option can pickup their sticker in five business days at any of the three City Clerk offices they choose.

The Clerk is also trying to promote website sales by expanding the contest she debuted last year to include more prizes donated by local businesses as an incentive for drivers to buy online. People ordering stickers online at the end of the ordering process have the option to enter to win theater tickets, restaurant gift certificates, autographed sports memorabilia, tickets to sporting events and more.

According to Williams, early adopters of online city sticker sales could have their cars sporting their 2012-2013 Chicago city sticker by the end of this week.

“We will once again be working to process our online orders as quickly as possible,” said Williams. “Our goal is to have them processed and in the mail within a few days of the order, if not sooner. Drivers who order their sticker on Monday could see it in the mail and on their car by the end of the week.”

Hopefully, Chicago drivers won’t have sticker shock when they see this year’s prices.

Back in November, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council raised the cost of city stickers.

Passenger car stickers are now $85, a $10 increase while SUVs city stickers will now be $135 a $15 increase. Pickup trucks are now $200, a $20 increase and larger trucks are $450 a $30 bump.

In addition, city sticker scofflaws will now face a $200 fine for failure to purchase or display a 2012-2013 city sticker compared to $120 last year.Not only that, late fees are now $60, which is $20 more expensive.

Clerk Mendoza unveils the 2012-2013 Chicago City sticker at a press conrference Tuesday

During an afternoon press conference Tuesday, Chicago City Clerk unveiled a new, uncontroversial city sticker design and at the same time, debuted some major changes to how and when city stickers are sold.

Clerk Mendoza announced that both online and in-person sales for city stickers will start much earlier than in previous years.

Online sales for city stickers will start this coming Monday, April 23rd on a newly redesigned, easier to use city sticker sales website called EZBuy. That’s three weeks earlier than last year.

“No one better buy their sticker by using the mail or standing in line,” joked the Clerk after showing off some of the new website’s bells and whistles.

“The biggest change people will see (to the website) is how graphically easier it is to use,” says City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “Our staff has worked hard to really simplify the process.”

But perhaps the most significant change is that in-person sales will begin May 1st, a full month earlier than the traditional June 1st start date and is a move toward the eventual goal of having year round city sticker sales.

“Logistically, cramming 1.2 million city stickers in a six week period just doesn’t make sense,” explains City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “We are hoping by stretching out the city sticker season will make lines shorter, reduce overtime and mail orders will process faster. This is the year we take a step towards hopefully, eventually having year round sales.”

“We anticipate lines being significantly shorter this year,” said Mendoza.

Another improvement being rolled out by Mendoza is that Chicago motorists who are fearful of their city sticker being lost in the mail, have a will call pickup option at any of the City Clerk’s offices.

The Clerk tested out the the will call concept about halfway through last year’s season on a suggestion from a City Clerk employee and hearing from drivers while visiting ward offices during ward sales days.

“The most frequent response was that they didn’t trust their postal service,” said Mendoza. “While I cannot fix the postal office in Chicago, as clerk I can make the process easier for those constituents who order city stickers.”

By choosing the will call option, after five days, drivers can stop by whichever City Clerk office they specify and pickup their sticker at a window dedicated to will call pickup. Residents must bring in their receipt and an ID or they can opt to have a friend or spouse pick it up as long as they bring the purchaser’s ID and sticker receipt.

Ward sales for city stickers will start up May 16th and travel to all 50 wards. Some wards will be adding a second half day of sticker sales this year as well.

The Clerk is also rolling out a ward sale will call option where participating alderman allow residents to fill out paperwork an provide payment at the ward office at least five days in advance of the ward sale. Drivers can then drop by the ward the day of the sale, avoid the long line and just pickup their sticker.

Mendoza said she and her staff starting after last year’s sticker season, they worked to streamline the mail processing system in order to speed up how quickly drivers receive their city stickers in the mail.

There are also some significant changes to the city sticker itself.

The make and model of the vehicle will be listed on the city sticker, as well as a QR code being added to the back of the sticker. The QR code, when scanned, will bring smart phone users to a landing page that will help drivers look uip street cleaning schedules, help determine if you’re parked in a residential permit parking zone, report potholes, pay a parking ticket and more.

This year’s city sticker artwork was designed by the Clerk’s office in-house graphics department after the original winning design for the annual city sticker student design contest had to be scrapped due to accusations of it containing gang symbols.

The Clerk was asked about the heated controversy surrounding the original winning student design by Herbert Pulgar.

“It’s unfortunate but at the end of the day we’ve moved past that,” said Mendoza reiterating a list of advancements her office has made for city sticker sales. “That’s old news. These are the things Chicagoans are concerned about.”

She also explained while her office has tried to meet with Pulgar and his family, they’ve not yet met.

“We’ve reached out to this family but haven’t met with Herbie yet,” she said. “I’m pretty much done talking about that.”