Do they keep citations in their spokes?

By Roland Lara on Sep 22, 2005 1:56PM

Aurora is sending some of its city inspectors on the job on bike. Hell yeah.

The Aurora mayor, Tom Weisner, has said that he thinks it’s a good idea so that the employees will be better connected to the communities they serve. Another official, with the impressive title of past president of the American Association of Code Enforcement, also thought that the employees would be better connected by being in better contact with the residents.

Yeah, that’s great and all, but the five inspectors in this pilot program have their eyes on the ball. Jeff Chestnut: “I’m saving gas and getting rid of a little belly. I feel more energetic.” Mr. Chestnut is a property maintenance compliance officer, and also he showed off the new nicotine patch he was sporting on his chest. Looks like if he’s going to be on the bike, he’s going healthy whole hog.

The bikes are even equipped to hold an inspector’s stuff: flashlights, forms, clipboards, and, coming soon: laptops.
And biking inspector Chet Donelson is even tricking his bike out a bit. He added leather tassels to the handlebars. He also noted the well-designed bike seat and “amply padded bike shorts.”

Leather tassels.

Amply padded bike shorts.

Moving on ...

Chicagoist is behind this. Cutting down on gas, getting city workers in better contact with the communities they’re charged with, and getting city workers in shape in this age of obesity are all good things. And let’s be honest here: that last one is particularly great. Chicagoist’s day job is in the Loop. When we ourselves are not munching on a Krispy Kreme, we see five others who are. Mayor Daley is kind of a bike nut as it is; maybe he should make this program mandatory.