Chicago clerk pushing year-round vehicle stickers

Chicago's city clerk has decided to have year-round sales of vehicle stickers, an action that will eliminate an annual sticker design contest.

The contest became embroiled in controversy last year when a student's artwork was chosen and later rejected because of alleged street gang symbolism. The work included Chicago's skyline inside a heart, with hands pointing toward a police hat, firefighter helmet and paramedic symbol. Officials said Herbie Pulgar's heart and hands design might be “misconstrued as containing gang symbols.”

Pulgar tearfully denied he was in a gang or that the design was anything other than artistic expression.

Clerk Susana Mendoza says the contest's elimination has nothing to do with that controversy. She says year-round stickers require a no-nonsense design, adding the stickers will have different months of expiration.