Irving Park Speed Camera Becomes Operational On Sunday

And ... the other shoe drops.

The city has announced that the speed camera "for the children" located at 1142 W Irving Park Road will begin issuing tickets beginning this Sunday.

It joins the two on the 4400 block of Broadway, which have been issuing tickets for a couple weeks now.

What is particularly egregious about the Irving Park camera is that it purportedly "protects" children walking to Challenger Park, which is accessible at that point only through a narrow, two-block-long parking lot that the Cubs lease from the city.  Seems to us that if protecting children were the real priority, a better place to start would be eliminating a park entrance that requires kids to walk through a parking lot that either has vehicles exiting/ entering, or is poorly lit and deserted, depending on the season.

Vehicles traveling 6-10mph over the posted speed limit will get dinged with a $35 fine, and going 11mph or more over the speed limit will cost you $100.  The cameras will start out targeting only those going 10mph or more over the speed limit, and gradually become more strict as time goes on.

Well, the best we can do is to warn residents not to exceed 30mph in that stretch of Irving.  But we have no doubt that the Irving Park speed camera will be a cash cow for the city, with all those Cubs fans traveling in and out of the neighborhood.  Remember to stay at 30mph or below, and let the other folks pay into the city coffers.

For what it's worth, all three of Uptown's aldermen voted no on the issue of speed cameras, but it passed the City Council 33-14.

For more on the Broadway speed cameras and a map, click here.