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We already know we're under surveillance ... well, pretty much all the time. But it looks like the City may be adding some more robot overlords in the near future: City Hall is looking for companies to provide high-res cameras to be attached to street sweepers to photograph illegally parked cars. The cameras would capture a pic of your license plate, and you'd get a ticket in the mail. Most street sweeping tickets are $50.
Right now, street sweeping signs are posted the day before the streets get ... swept, and the signs are "predominantly made of paper," as our most favorite reporter in the city Fran Spielman puts it. (Not being facetious. We fucking love Fran Spielman. Call us!) Anyhow, the signs aren't particularly reliable, and Alderman Ed Smith (28th), Ricardo Munoz (22nd) and Helen Shiller (46th) think permanent signs are a better start. What about thered/green-light signs currently in the 1st Ward?
Photo from the 12th Ward's site.
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this is simply another scam by the city. they're not concerned with keeping the streets clean. this is more like entrapment! the city depends on the revenue generated by the tickets so the more restrictions & means to catch 'illegal' parkers the better for their income stream. too bad there aren't enough parking spaces in a lot of neighborhoods to sustain the amount needed.
so does this mean the cops that troll the streets ticketing 'street cleaning' parkers will have more time to look for actual criminals? man, i'm starting to sound like tom tunney, here.
jaysus, daley loves anything to generate the revenue, doesn't he? did he come up with this idea while bicycling through paris?
How is street sweeping a scam? The main purpose of street sweeping is to prevent debris from blocking storm drains. That said, the red/green light looks like an effective idea. I wonder how much manpower is used strapping those paper signs to trees.
Can't they just look at the pictures to see if the signs were in fact up and visible around the cars that didn't move? Is that too simple of a solution for these folks?
Or, just hire google to do your street cleaning with a streetview camera.
I'm a fan of a reasonably clean city, but it seems to me that street cleaning happens a bit more frequently than needed. I guess so-and-so's nephew needs a job, though.
But this 'take a photo, send a ticket' is total crap. If the goal was to actually clean the street, then just ticketing cars that are blocking the cleaning would clearly be unacceptable. You need to tow them out of the way.
While I'm ranting - the same thing goes for the rush hour parking bans on certain streets. There's always at least one parked car on every block, so you never really get a two lane flow of traffic, which is theoretically the whole point.
At least that weasel, Ed Burke was stupid enough to be honest about the red light cameras - they aren't for saving lives (any more than the rush hour parking restrictions are for traffic flow), they're for generating revenue. Bah!
If the goal was to actually clean the street, then just ticketing cars that are blocking the cleaning would clearly be unacceptable. You need to tow them out of the way.
I think the problem there is that it's even less feasible to tow all of the offending cars out of the way than it is to reliably clean the entire street every time out.
If this system replaces the cops issuing tickets, it could be a good thing. I've been walking to the train in the morning at 8:30a or even 8:15a and seen the cops issuing tickets when the signs clearly say 9am-3pm. But then, I don't own a car, so my concern is only minimal on the whole subject.
At least this way there wouldn't be tickets unless the sweeper actually showed up.
I've gotten tickets twice when the lazy (or deliberate) people putting up the signs only placed them at the far opposite end of my block. According to the judge it's my fault for not walking or circling the block every evening to make sure there aren't a couple signs 30 buildings south of me.
People are complaining about their own laziness and refusal to move their cars - even when directed to by posted signs?
The blameless society continues. Put 20 cameras on every street sweeper - if you aren't breaking the law, you'll never get a ticket.
Dopes.
if the city put up signs with enough warning and visibility, there wouldn't be half as many tickets. it's gotta work both ways. but it won't, since street sweeping's just another revenue generator.
Exactly Shannon,
Why would anyone want a $50 ticket and not move their car if they saw the signs properly posted.
Ole TonyB's got a personal grudge that's clouding his already murky mind.
I agree that this is just another way for the city to raise revenue. That being said, I think the easy solution is to make sure you remember to move your car on street cleaning day!
This is crazy. Have you ever forgotten to move your car and NOT gotten a ticket? It seems like we've got the system down pretty well already.
A few months back I noticed the Dept. of Revenue cans with a giant camera mounted on each side rolling down the street. I always wondered what they do with that video and how long they keep it. The past week I noticed one of the vans and instead of two giant camera horns sticking out, it had discreet little dome cameras on each side. I wonder if too many people were asking questions?
My service works great for those of you who have posted street sweeping or other "no parking" signs! Check it out. www.metermaidalert.com
I recently got a parking ticket for street sweeping. I am not lazy and would gladly move my vehicle, to allow the streets to be swept. However, I strongly object to the manner in which the City gives notice. What if your out of town the day or two before the City ties a few paper signs on the trees? What if your sick and there are not any trees or street lights visible from your front door that would hold the sign.
If the City's primary concern was getting the streets cleaned with fewer vehicles to sweep around. They would post a list of streets with the dates they will be swept each year, on there website or mail it out to the residents. The number of streets in Chicago does not change that radically each year, they know there production rates, and they know the frequency. But I am afraid our corrupt city goverment is more concerned about collecting revenue from the parking tickets than keeping the streets cleaned.
I have lived in Chicago for about 10 years and plan on leaving as soon as the residental real estate market turns around. I am tired of all the B.S.
Its awesome that you got a ticket and were pissed off enough to find a 1.5 year old topic on Chicagoist and post about it. bravo!