Coming soon to Arlington Heights: The Denver boot
One downtown Arlington Heights driver must have a near-daily ritual when starting his or her car: First, put the key in the ignition. Second, toss out the parking ticket.
Since July 26, 2005, this driver - whom the police department won't identify - has racked up 510 parking tickets and $28,711 in fines.
"This vehicle owner openly commits parking violations almost every day without paying any fines," said Cmdr. William Newman in a memo to the Arlington Heights village board, "perhaps because he knows the village will take no action against him except for having Armor Systems make collections attempts by mail or telephone."
Newman said he has never met the person, but heard that he or she works in downtown Arlington Heights.
And that driver isn't the sole habitual ticket violator, Newman said.
"Well, that person is in the top 10 that's for sure, but there are probably four or five other people who have more than that," he said.
Well, that's about to change.
Arlington Heights police have been given the green light by the village board to employ the so-called "Denver boot," the bright yellow device that locks the wheel of a vehicle so it cannot be driven.
The village will buy five boots. They can cost up to $1,500 apiece, although cheaper units are on the market, too. Under the new directive, a driver can be booted if he or she racks up five or more unpaid tickets.
Police haven't yet set a date for using the boot. Village officials are looking into how to pay for the boots and the $40,000 hardware and software system that will go along with it, said Village Manager Bill Dixon.
According to Newman, Arlington Heights police wrote more than 17,600 tickets in 2008, with about 5,000 of those written for violating parking time limits. Other tickets include overnight parking on residential streets and parking in fire lanes or handicapped spots. Between 10 percent and 15 percent of all these tickets are still unpaid, Newman said.
The village will also now ask the state to suspend the license of a driver with 10 or more unpaid parking tickets.
"People seem to think it's OK to ignore (parking) signs or to move their car two feet every two hours," said Trustee Helen Jensen. "That's against our ordinance."
Downtown business owners have complained that the same drivers are taking up parking spots in front of their shops, said Village President Arlene Mulder.
"Sometimes the same car is parking outside a store all day long," she said. "Sometimes that car has a parking ticket on it. Sometimes it has two."
Other suburbs that boot cars include Des Plaines, Evanston, Mount Prospect, Schaumburg, Hanover Park and Lombard, according to Newman's memo.