WEST TOWN — Rob Long had a rough Thursday morning he didn't expect to end with a movie shoot — but his outrage over seeing about 20 cars on a two-block stretch bearing street cleaning violation tickets prompted him to film a video and upload it to Facebook.
"I don't normally argue tickets when I get them in the city, but this one I'm fighting," Long said.
Long lives in the 1700 block of West Ohio Street. He says tickets "were handed out to people parked on the north side of Ohio on both the east side and west side of Paulina.”
He does not own a car, but borrows his girlfriend's car to get to and from work.
"Typically I pay attention to when cleaning day is because they have signs well posted on trees or on the streets. Today, I went outside and the car had a ticket on it. I assumed maybe I was parked too far from the curb or maybe parked where I shouldn't have," Long emailed DNAinfo.
"Then I notice that about 20 cars all the way down the block also have tickets. When I looked at the ticket, it was due to 'street cleaning,'" I decided to walk because I was shocked I missed the sign explaining it happening on Thursdays.
He said he counted a total of four signs between Ashland and Wood street, two between Ashland and Paulina and two between Ashland and Wood, each about 350 feet apart.
Watch Long's video and try to find the No Parking for Street Cleaning signs:
Long said that "the same issue happened on the bordering street for the exact same reason, lack of signage," adding, "I think it's pretty shady and should be exposed."
Rob said his girlfriend will join him in contesting the ticket, and his neighbors can too.
"I really feel this is the city purposely trying to take advantage of a way to make revenue. Each ticket was $60, and there were at least 20 cars on this street that got ticketed," Long said.
Anne Sheahan, an interim spokeswoman from the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation, was sent photos of the ticketed cars and video, and issued the following statement.
"The Department of Finance is reviewing the matter to determine whether the ticket should be sustained. We expect to be able to share our findings with you early next week," Sheahan said.
Tickets can be contested in person and by mail. For more information on how to contest a ticket, check out the city's website.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here.
