Cars block sidewalks - no tickets

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
December 12, 2012

FirstElectricNewspaper.com covered last night's Village of Lake in the Hills Board Meeting and reported on comments by residents during the public comment period. It seems that a few residents are upset about getting tickets for parking their cars across sidewalks. Read all about it right here.

What does this have to do with Woodstock?

The same problem exists in Woodstock. You can drive all over town and see cars blocking sidewalks.

If this happened occasionally, it wouldn't be a big problem. It's when the same cars are parked every night and, often, every day to block sidewalks that it becomes a problem.

Why do drivers park cars across sidewalks?

The 2:00AM-6:00AM street parking ban is one of the reasons.

Another reason is that the garage is full of boxes, garbage, junk, bicycles, trash cans; you name it.

Another reason is that the driver is too lazy to open the garage door and pull in. A garage on South Madison Street is empty; yet two cars regularly are pulled up to the closed garage door and left across the sidewalk. Every day.

Another reason is too many cars at one residence.

Enforcement is sporadic, so drivers and residents learn they can "get away" with leaving the car across the sidewalk.

Because Woodstock has been lax for years in enforcement, it would be fair for an officer to make one pleasant, courtesy stop and apprise the resident of the law. It happens to be a State law, not "just" a local ordinance.

If the courtesy call doesn't correct the problem, start writing tickets. And write them every time the violation is observed. A resident should have to call and report violations at the same address time after time. Writing one tonight and then not again for 6-8 months just lets the residents know that it's cheaper to pay the $10 (or whatever the fine is) and forget it. Ten dollars a night would be a different story.

And there is no reason for the fines to escalate for repeated violations. Each one should stand alone. Each one is a separate violation. Any application of an escalating fine structure is wrong.

Anyone know some locations where blocking sidewalks is a problem?