Sidenote: This has always been the case in Chicago. However in an era of revenue deficiencies - the DOR will be enforcing this and many other policies in the years to come.
BY FRAN SPIELMAN
City Hall Reporter
fspielman@suntimes.com
Last Modified: Oct 27, 2011 02:11AM
Chicagoans who neglect to shovel their
snow-covered sidewalks this winter could be in for a big surprise — a warning
notice, followed by a ticket — if an influential alderman has his way.
After watching the Department of Streets and
Sanitation showcase its “mobile electronic ticketing,” Ald. Tom Tunney (44th),
chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology
Development, suggested Wednesday that the Blackberry technology be used to crack
down on a chronic winter violation that endangers and infuriates pedestrians.
“One thing I know is not being written is people
who don’t shovel their snow. I’m assuming that this technology is there to take
a picture of the snow not being shoveled [and say], ‘Property owner, here’s your
$100 ticket.’ Is that correct?” Tunney asked a Streets and San employee doing
the demonstration.
“That’s correct,” the employee said.
Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne
added, “You can go that way. We haven’t gotten there yet. The sky’s the limit on
it. We can do almost anything with it.”
Homeowners and businesses are required by law to
shovel the sidewalks in front of their property, but the ordinance is rarely
enforced. Tickets range from $50 to $100.
Tunney said he’s dead serious about cracking down
on snow shoveling neglect, but only after giving property owners “one or two”
warnings.
“The complaint we have when we go to community
meetings is, ‘Who owns that property? We’re trying to walk down the street, and
everybody seems to be doing a good job except one or two property owners.’ A
ticket here or there [and], all the sudden, the snow will be removed on a timely
basis,” he said.
“We need to use some street smarts before we go up
and down the block trying to ticket. That’s not necessarily good for business.
It’s not good for residents. It’s not good for politics. But at a point, we need
people to abide by the municipal code.”
Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) said any crackdown
should target businesses — not homeowners.
“I don’t think we need to be patrolling citizens
who do not shovel their sidewalks. Some of them may not be able to,” she said.
In the past, Chicago’s 50 ward superintendents
hand- wrote tickets for an array of violations using a paper driven system and
hand-held cameras.
Pictures of the violation were stapled together
with the ticket and the court complaint, then shipped off to the Law Department
for a title search to determine who owns the property. The file was then sent to
the Department of Administrative hearings.
Now that all 50 ward superintendents have
Blackberries, the system has gone paperless.
If a ward superintendent sees a vacant lot with
high weeds, he or she snaps a picture of it with the Blackberry, types in an
electronic ticket and e-mails the electronic file to the Law Department, where
the ticket is cleared and sent to Administrative Hearings.
“We’re not doing title searches anymore. We’re not
doing any type of real documentation on a lot. The GPS coordinates tell you the
true coordinate, which saves a whole lot of time,” Byrne said.
The proposal to get tough on Chicagoans who fail
to shovel their sidewalks comes at a time when crackdowns are also pending
against disabled parking fraud, owners of unlicensed dogs and motorists who
speed down residential streets near schools and parks.
