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Drivers Hit With Street-Sweeping Tickets on Wrong Day, Residents Say

By Alisa Hauser | April 15, 2015 7:36pm | Updated on April 16, 2015 4:20pm
 Parking tickets issued for street sweeping in West Town.
Parking Tickets for Street Sweeping in West Town
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WEST TOWN — Signs in West Town say street cleaning is the second Wednesday of the month. But nearly two dozen West Town drivers are infuriated after they were ticketed for street-sweeping violations Wednesday — the third Wednesday of April.

More than 20 drivers who parked on a West Town block Wednesday found street-sweeping violation tickets on their cars.

Kristin Hetrovicz, who lives near the intersection of Hermitage Avenue and Walton Street, said her fiance received a ticket for parking on the south side of Walton on Wednesday. Signs prohibit parking on that side of the street from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month from April 1-Nov. 30, as part of street-sweeping season.

Hetrovicz took to a private neighborhood Facebook page to warn her neighbors. Wednesday was actually the third Wednesday in April and not the second, which is when the south side of the 1600-1700 blocks of Walton Street, along with a dozen other nearby blocks, are cleaned, according to an interactive map of street sweeping schedules.

Belia Portillo, a spokeswoman for Ald. Joe Moreno (1st), said around 4 p.m. Wednesday that the alderman's office had not heard any complaints from residents pertaining to the error.

Once a ticket is issued, even if in error, it cannot be rescinded, Portillo said.

"Those tickets can be contested. Residents need to mail in the ticket with proof or appear in court," Portillo said.

A spokeswoman for the city's Finance Department, which collects parking ticket fines, confirmed on Thursday that the tickets issued for street cleaning violations on April 15 were "issued in error."

Though a ticket writer cannot cancel a ticket once it is written, the Department of Finance can withdraw tickets issued in error. However, because the tickets were issued by the Chicago Police Department, the Finance Department has to wait until it receives the tickets.

"Once they have been forwarded to finance, the tickets will be withdrawn.   However, motorists who received street cleaning tickets on April 15 may choose to be proactive and contest a street cleaning ticket if they believe it was written in error," the spokeswoman said.

The tickets on Walton Street were issued between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., according to the times listed on the tickets.

Kelly Parten, a nanny who works for a West Town family, was getting into her car around 3:30 p.m. to head home when she noticed most of the cars around hers were sporting orange violation tickets carrying a $60 fine.

Parten, though, was lucky: She arrived to work at 10 a.m., apparently arrived after the ticket writer  — a Chicago Police officer in the Near West District — had left the area.

"That's messed up, but it's Chicago," said Parten, a resident of suburban South Holland.

As for providing proof that her fiance's ticket was issued in error, Hetrovicz said she plans to print out a calendar and circle April 15, along with a photo of the sign indicating no parking on the second Wednesday.

Portillo said the current street-cleaning schedule is good until the ward maps switch over in May.

"Then they'll be servicing the 'new ward' and I'll update all of that info," Portillo said.

Moreno's office does send out street-sweeping alerts to notify residents of when streets sweepers are on their blocks.

Signs for second Wednesday and tickets issued on April 15, the third Wednesday of April 2015. (DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser)

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