Tag Archives: Chicago city stickers
NBC Target 5 On Parking Ticket Beat Tonight At 10
Lisa Parker leads a Target 5 investigation to aid a driver hit with an expensive parking ticket for a Chicago city sticker violation–even though he and his vehicle don’t reside in the city.
UPDATE: Just added video of Target 5 piece to the Geek Media page.
The piece airs at 10 PM tonight on NBC 5.
Sources at NBC tell us that annoying Parking Ticket Geek may make a cameo appearance in the story.
Drivers Ticketed For Too Many City Stickers
Most Chicago drivers know they can be issued a parking ticket for not having a current Chicago city vehicle sticker on their car’s windshield.
But it seems some Chicago police officers are writing tickets to drivers for having expired city stickers despite having purchased a 2011 city sticker.
According to reports from 33rd Ward Alderman Richard Mell’s office, there’s been a rash of expensive $120 parking tickets issued up in his Northside ward because drivers didn’t remove city stickers from previous years. According to some drivers, the tickets are not being issued by Parking Enforcement Aides but by the CPD.
“I’ve just read an e-mail from a constituent that informs me that tickets
are being issued in our ward (and other places in the city) for having old city stickers affixed to your windshield,” said Mell in an email to constituents. “This is something that even I was not aware of.”
Clerk Mendoza Talks City Sticker Fees On WTTW
Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza stopped by Channel 11′s Chicago Tonight Studios Thursday evening to explain her opposition to Mayor Emanuel’s proposed city sticker price increases and vehicle weight reclassification.
Enforcement Of City Sticker Heats Up This Week
70,000 Sticker Violation Tickets Expected In Next 6 Weeks
While Saturday was officially the first day of enforcement for city sticker violations, expect Monday to see enforcement for this violation to heat up for the next few weeks.
The city sticker sales season officially ended Friday, but weekend parking enforcement is typically lower on weekends than during the work week.
City sources are saying that Parking Enforcement Aides working through the Department of Revenue will be out in force Monday with instructions to be on the look out for city sticker violations.
The Procrastinator’s Guide To Last Minute City Sticker Purchases
Tips For Staying Out Of Long Lines For Friday’s Deadline
The Friday, June 15th deadline is looming and thousands of Chicago drivers still have not purchased their 2012 city sticker.
City drivers caught without a Chicago city sticker starting July 16th, risk a $120 ticket per day, in addition to a $40 late fee on top of the $75 fee for the sticker.
And don’t think your chances for being caught are low. Au contraire, mon frère!
According to the Department of Revenue, ticket writers wrote just under 70,000 tickets for failure to display a Chicago city sticker in the six weeks following the July 15th deadline in 2008, and just slightly less the following year with a total of 68,798 in 2009. That’s roughly 31% of all tickets for a city sticker violation in that six week period between July 15th and August 31st.
The trick now, with just days and hours before the city sticker deadline hits, is to avoid the long lines that come every year at this time.
Here are some tips for the procrastinating drivers still in need of their 2012 city sticker.
Better Get Moving! City Sticker Sales End Friday
Enforcement Begins Saturday With $120 Tickets
Lines for city sticker purhases at 2550 W. Addison
The Chicago City Sticker sales seasons enters its last and final week, with sales officially ending Friday at midnight.
City sticker season began this past June 1st and runs six weeks until July 15th to allow every driver with a car registered in Chicago to purchase the $75 vehicle sticker. Larger vehicles, over 4500 pounds pay $120.00.
City Clerk officials are bracing for long, long lines at City Hall and the Clerk’s two satellite offices, as well as Department of Revenue payment centers around the city. Procrastinators are encouraged to go sooner than later to avoid brutal lines at the end of the week.
“While we are slightly ahead of sales this year, we always anticipate long lines
as the deadline to purchase city stickers nears,” says City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “No matter how many options we provide for people to buy their sticker early and avoid the long lines, there will always be people who wait until the last minute.”
Internet City Sticker Sales Start Early
Website Opens 2 Weeks Ahead Of In-Person Sales
Go ahead.
Cut in line Chicago drivers.
The City Clerk’s website is officially open for online city sticker sales, nearly a week earlier than last year and nearly two weeks before in-person sales for city stickers begin June 1st.
“More than 1.3 million vehicle stickers are sold each year. I want to continue to work to make the process of buying your city sticker as easy as possible,” says newly minted Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza. “Purchasing it online is simply the most convenient way to buy your sticker – it only takes a few minutes and there is no additional fee to buy your sticker online.”
Online sales actually began quietly this past Monday to make sure the newly updated website was working properly. So far, over 2000 city stickers have been purchased via the City Clerk’s website.
New City Stickers Will Actually Stick This Year
One of the many 2010 city stickers peels off a windshield
When city sticker sales season begins in just a few weeks, Chicago drivers will be relieved to know their sticker will have enough adhesive to remain stuck to their windshield according to the City Clerk’s office.
The 2011 contract was awarded to Standard Register Company, after last year’s vendor lost their five year contract during the first year of the agreement due to quality control issues.
“The Clerk is very happy,” says Kristine Williams, spokesperson for the City Clerk’s office. “They’ve (Standard Register) worked with us for many years in the past and we always got a great product from them.”
Last year, the City Clerk’s office staff faced an embarrassing and stressful city sticker season when drivers discovered their $75 decals weren’t adhering to their windshield. It turned out tens of thousands of the city stickers produced by local decal manufacturer SecureMark were defective.
Chicago City Sticker Price Increase Proposed
Increases For Most Cars, Discount For Hybrids, Electric Cars
It may soon be getting even more expensive to own a car in Chicago if one alderman has his way according to the Huffington Post Chicago.
At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno introduced a proposal to increase the cost of city stickers for most vehicles by $20, from $75 to $95 per year–a 26.5% increase.
Larger, heavier vehicles weighing 4,500 lbs. or more currently pay $120 for a city sticker. These vehicles would pay an additional $35 or $155.
City Sticker Problem May Have Cost City Millions In Parking Ticket Revenue
Vendor Of Defective Stickers Has 4 Years Left On Contract
June is the start of Chicago’s annual city sticker sales season.
But almost as soon as sales had begun this year, the City Clerk’s office had discovered an embarrassing problem with the 2010-2011 city vehicle stickers.
They didn’t stick.
Many of the $75 city stickers were defective and began peeling off car windshields because they lacked enough adhesive to actually remain permanently affixed.
