WICKER PARK — A trash can weighed down with plywood bearing a nonofficial sign declaring no parking (along an unzoned street just steps from the busy North, Milwaukee and Damen avenue intersection) due to a dumpster permit smacked of "dibs."
As it turns out — after some research — the owners of a two-flat apartment building, who got city permits on Dec. 10 to convert their century-old property into a single-family home, have a legit dumpster permit that takes up two parking spots.
The home at 1553 N. Hoyne Ave. is owned by Cindy Sobel, a lawyer, and Matthew Greiner, according to county records.
Greiner, a comedy writer and co-author of "Trump's America: The Complete Loser's Guide," said the "no parking sign" was news to him and that he and Sobel did not create it.
"We are not intimately involved [in the construction]. The contractor made the sign. We saw it for the first time yesterday," Greiner said.
According to the DIY sign declaring "No Parking" in bold red letters, a dumpster permit has been issued for the period from Dec. 16, 2016 to July 16, 2017.
A spokesman from Lincoln Square-based Pryor Construction said Monday that his workers made the sign because a full dumpster had been removed last Thursday and during that time, a car had parked there.
"[My worker] went to go empty [the dumpster] and in the meantime somebody parked a car there, so he made the sign. Today, there is a new dumpster there," the spokesman said.
Residents can apply for dumpster permits, issued through the Chicago Department of Transportation.
An online tutorial on the city's website shows building owners how to apply for a dumpster permit.
A CDOT spokeswoman said Monday that National Waste Service, Inc. has a permit for a dumpster, from Dec. 19 through Jan. 17, 2017, at 1553 N. Hoyne Ave.
That permit, which cost $100, was issued just before 12 p.m. Monday and a request for "No Parking" signs was not included in the permit application, the CDOT spokeswoman said.
"The notion of dibs is not any part of the CDOT rules and [regulations]," the spokeswoman added.
The dumpster permits are renewable every month. The Pryor Construction spokesman said the project is scheduled to be completed in mid-July, which is why his worker wrote that on the handmade sign.
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