Get used to this common site in Uptown. We think you'll be seeing overloaded trucks in Uptown even more now that City Clerk Miguel del Valle eliminated the $30 special parking permit fee for parking trucks in Chicago. Residents with "junk trucks" will simply go to the Alderman's office to pick up their free permit. For clarification, truck owners must still display Chicago city stickers. We also heard rumor of Alderman Tunney proposing an amendment to allow "B-Plate" trucks in his ward starting in May. There seems to be more than enough "junk trucks" in our ward to share with his.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Y'All Ready For This?
Get used to this common site in Uptown. We think you'll be seeing overloaded trucks in Uptown even more now that City Clerk Miguel del Valle eliminated the $30 special parking permit fee for parking trucks in Chicago. Residents with "junk trucks" will simply go to the Alderman's office to pick up their free permit. For clarification, truck owners must still display Chicago city stickers. We also heard rumor of Alderman Tunney proposing an amendment to allow "B-Plate" trucks in his ward starting in May. There seems to be more than enough "junk trucks" in our ward to share with his.
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Every time I see one of those driving around, it takes about two days to get the "Sanford and Son" theme song out of my head.
ReplyDeleteThe only good thing is they take alot of crap out of the alleys. Growing up on the southwest side of Chicago we could put any household item, old stove, sink, mattress, in the alley and it was gone in a day. We were fortunate that the trucks weren't left on the street all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe Junk trucks are really serving a useful recycling purpose, since the City of Chicago is so poor with it's own recylcing plan. (Are BlueBags even still used!?) That being said, I also hate them being parked in front of my house.
ReplyDeletehey democrats - another special group gets a freebie - why do I have to pay $78 for a vehical sticker? I want mine free - It would be different if all wards in the city were treated equally and fairly - I want these trucks to park in the 41st ward and the 8th ward and see what happens
ReplyDeleteHow do those trucks pass the state inspection for safety and emissions?
ReplyDeleteHe did it for the Hispanic vote. I think the average junk truck drive is Hispanic from what I've seen living in Chicago for 30 yrs. Good questiong about the emissions test too.
ReplyDeleteHey Wingnut - After skimming the attached link it sure looks like the $30 'truck parking' fee is required IN ADDITION to the $78 fee for a vehicle sticker. I thought you wingnuts were always against any fees or taxes. You should be excited.
ReplyDeletei resent paying the $78 and watch, this amount will go up - since you think I am a wingnut will you pay it for me. democrats love to give other peoples money away jag face
ReplyDeletethis could just reveal me as a southern illinois transplant, but:
ReplyDeleteare you saying that you can't park pickup trucks on the street, here?
Of course everyone is happy to see a $30 tax removed. The issue is that all central control over the B parking permits has been lost. The only record of residential parking permits issued will now be keep at the discretion of each alderman. There will no longer be a photo record of which vehicle the sticker belongs to or an independent check of the residency qualifications of the person getting the sticker.
ReplyDeleteWhat's to stop Shiller, for instance, from handing developer Peter Holsten a handful of stickers for all his contracters? What's to stop her from handing Jesus People USA another handful for all the pickups belonging to their porch construction subsidiaries?
What's to stop Tunney from "fixing" a pickup owner's parking ticket by backdating a permit to the date before the ticket was issued for the owner to bring to court?
There is no control left over our street parking. It's been turned into pure patronage.
Pickup and Junk Truck Parking Laws
ReplyDeleteThe Law Ordinance 9-64-170
Pickups generally cannot park on residential streets except while loading, except in wards that allow them to park at the curb adjacent to the pickup owner’s own home. (These ward include the 46th, , 49th, , 50th and soon the 44th Ward, but not the 48th Ward) However, the pickup owner cannot have any outstanding violations, must display a valid city vehicle tax sticker, must display a residential parking zone permit if required for that street, and must display that special pickup truck “B parking permit” (that the alderman will now hand out for free).
Private use pickup trucks can always park on commercial streets in every ward. Commercial trucks can never park on commercial streets in any ward. Junk trucks are commercial vehicles, per 9-64-170(e). Thus, junk trucks can never park on commercial streets, except while loading or unloading, even with their B plate permit.
Once a ward allows B permit pickup parking, the enforcement problem lies in distinguishing which pickups parked in the neighborhood are private use and which are commercial junk haulers. Junk peddlers properly licensed by the Dept of Business Affairs must have their name and license number in 2 inch letters on the side of their junk trucks and must carry their City junk peddler ID card at all times, which includes their drivers license, vehicle license, and insurance policy numbers. The real problem is that no one enforces junk peddler business license requirements in 4-216-010 so junk trucks park all over wards that allow pickups
ReplyDeleteAll I know the guy junk truck that parks in front of my building and sometimes in front of the parking driveway is a jerk.
ReplyDeleteThinks he owns the street.
I am going to flatten his tires the next time. I call 911 but they either don't come to ticket or he is gone by the time they do.
I stopped to talk to a police officer sitting in her car across from only of these truck parked illegally on Lawrence. She misquoted the law and told me that the police can only enforce the parking ordinance if the can see the owner loading the truck. That is the opposite of what the law says because that is the only time a junk truck can legally park on Lawrence.
ReplyDeleteDon't bother with the police. They are worthless. Take a picture of him loaded, take a picture of the side of his truck with no license information displayed, get his vehicle license number and forward it all to the Dept of Business Affairs for a license violation.
ReplyDeleteI support these guys making a living pulling recyclables, but it doesn't mean they don't have to follow the law like everyone else. The main reason to make sure they comply is to protect everyone else who is poor in this neighborhood. We have to make sure they have insurance and are driving safe so that they don't drop a refrigerator on some kid's head as they drive by our schools.
Oops. I just checked again. Lawrence is a residential, not commercial, street east of Sheridan. One can tell if a street is residential or commercial by going to www.cityofchicago.org, selecting City Departments at the top, & selecting "Dept of Zoning" from the list.
ReplyDeleteThen, click on the Zoning Map icon on the right, type in the address as prompted and view the map. Click on the word "Zoning" in the upper right corner of the zoning map page to see what the map colors mean or refer to the zoning code (such as RM-5) for that area.
I'd like to understand how the city justifies taking police functions that are awarded by the U.S. Constitution to the State and then delegated to the city from the police agencies and sending them off the the city legislative body members.
ReplyDeleteAren't the city administrative agencies and police the ones who enforce law? Since when do aldermen get to interject themselves and take over both the legislative, administrative, and enforcement processes? What next? Will they vote themselves to be judges too?
They do the same thing with aldermen creating their own tow zones. Tunney and Shiller have stacks of Tow Zones signs that they hand out to anyone who to their office and requests one. These tow zones never go through the Streets and San database or processes. The signs are supposed to be posted 24 hours in advance but alot of people just stick them up at or after the tow period begins. Then they call the police and have every poor sucker parked on the street ticketed and towed.
ReplyDeleteThe police are aware of this and know that the people parked there are not getting the proper notice not to park there. But they ticket and tow anyway because they say the aldermen and Lieutenants want it done. You can contest the ticket, but the administrative judges won't care either.
In the end, the Aldermen get the patronage from the tow zone handout and the poor suckers parked on the street get a $150 ticket and tow. And the city loves the revenue.
North Side suckers are what we are.
I like junk trucks. They're keeping all that junk out of landfills and recycling it instead. Big deal if they look junky.
ReplyDeleteI do think the junk trucks are doing a service...however I am afraid to drive in back of these guys. I can't believe no one has been hurt from junk falling out and landing on a car.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing mutually exclusive about having the junk trucks keep recyclables out of the landfills and having them operate with appropriate licenses and vehicle inspections. '
ReplyDeleteI don't think people on this blog have been complaining about the way these trucks look. Saying that mischaracterizes and trivializes their concerns. It is about safety, aldermen potentially abusing the permit process, complying with licensing requirements, and the difference between how laws are enforced in one neighborhood versus another.
Only 30 licensed junk peddlers licensed in Chicago since 2/2006!!!
ReplyDeleteHell, there's that many parking between Marine, Lawrence, Clark and Irving!!! (None are licensed in Uptown, of course.)
Can you say Sanctuary City ???? Jan Schakowsky must be proud.
Source: http://chicago.everyblock.com/business-licenses/by-license/882/
The appearance of lots of unlicensed junk trucks = "Sanctuary City?" Rush Limbaugh must be proud.
ReplyDeleteWell, Chicago is a sanctuary city.
ReplyDeleteChicago is also the 'city of big shoulders' and Frank Sinatra's kind of town. What does waiving the $30 truck parking fee have to do with immigration? While it's a fair assumption that a majority of metal scavengers are Hispanic, that's a bit of a non sequitur.
ReplyDeleteB-plate parking permits open communities up to pickup parking. They used to cost $30 and now costs $0 for the wards that allow them. No cost is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, because no one in city licensing or the city clerks office (or the aldermen or police) is enforcing the junk peddler licensing and junk truck permit ordinances, pickup trucks that are really commercial junk trucks are parking with B plates in these these communities. Get it?