Chicago

Retiree Challenges Elgin's 44-Year Ice Cream Truck Freeze

After a 44-year ban on ice cream trucks, the city of Elgin might overturn the prohibition due to a local man’s good humor.

"I dispense joy and happiness everywhere I go. They should let that happen in Elgin," ice cream advocate Jim Cremeens told the Daily Herald.

The newspaper reports that Cremeens approached the city over the summer about repealing the freeze on ice cream trucks.

Mayor David Kaptain told the newspaper he has no problem with overturning the ban and thinks others on the city council would support bringing the sweet treat trucks back too.

Kaptain and Community Development Director Marc Mylott told the Herald the ban might have originated from concerns over children being hit by the trucks. It was passed in 1973.

A 1990 New York Times report does reference the death of a child in neighboring Carpentersville after being run over by an ice-cream truck.

The 69-year-old Cremeens was unaware of the Elgin ban until he began driving an ice cream truck in May after retiring from his sales job, he told the Herald.

On Memorial Day weekend, with lines of up to 30 people, officers informed Cremeens of the ban and let him go without any further penalty, the newspaper says.

He has since taken his truck to other towns where his business is welcome and works for a Glendale Heights company that instructs drivers to always prioritize safety.

“It's all about the kids," he told the paper.

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