Drivers displaying more than one city sticker risk getting a hefty fine.
Ald. Dick Mell (33rd) this week warned his constituents after he heard from a resident who received a ticket for leaving a previous year's city sticker next to the new one.
"I’ve just read an e-mail from a constituent that informs me that tickets are being issued in our ward (and other places in the city) for having old city stickers affixed to your windshield," said Mell in an email to residents. "This is something that even I was not aware of."
City law says drivers must place the sticker on the lower right side of the windshield, and directions on the back of the sticker instruct users to scrape off those from previous years.
The fine for not doing so is $120.
"It's kind of ridiculous don't you think?" said driver Hector Ortiz. "We already pay too much in taxes. City stickers are expensive. What's next, fines for jay walking?"
"If it's there, it's there," said driver Jose Fejerang. "If they want to take it off, it should be up to them. It's paid for."
Jamie Rodriguez-Hudson, who has three stickers on her car, said she hasn't removed them because it's tough to remove them.
"I haven't removed them because I don't have the little knife that pulls it off easily," Rodriguez-Hudson said. "When you try to pull it off, it comes off in pieces. Now that I know, I think I'll take it off right away!"
But City Clerk Susana Mendoza said the city needs to do what it can to avoid hiking the price of stickers.
"I believe we need to exhaust all of our options with those who aren't obeying the law, before those who are," Mendoza said.
The city of Chicago issued 200,000 tickets last year to people who either did not have a sticker or didn't properly display it. This year there were more than 134,000 tickets issued through the end of August.
