Russ Carpel’s Monday morning didn’t go as planned.
He was supposed to get up and drive to work. Instead, he found himself taking a taxi to the auto pound where his car had been towed.
“It’s a nightmare,” said Carpel, 22, standing outside auto pound No. 6 at 701 N. Sacramento Ave. “I’m upset more about the time that’s wasted than the fee.
“I guess you learn the hard way.”
A total of 223 Chicago residents had a rude awakening Monday when their cars were ticketed and towed for violating the city’s winter overnight parking ban. The ban prohibits parking on about a dozen of the city’s arterial streets from 3 to 7 a.m. between Dec. 1 and April 1, even if there’s no snow on the street.
Signs are posted on the streets year-round informing motorists of the ban, which affects about 107 miles of city streets.
But most people waiting to bail out their cars at the auto pound Monday morning complained either that they didn’t see the signs or that they had forgotten the ban started Monday.
Brian Givot, 25, said he was so used to seeing the “Snow Route/No Parking” signs that he didn’t pay much attention to them when he parked his car on Milwaukee Avenue near Elston Avenue.
“I don’t understand why there necessarily needs to be a snow route when there’s no snow,” Givot said.
Givot said he took the day off from work because he knew it would be a while before he could retrieve his car.
Taxi after taxi dropped off people at auto pound No. 6 Monday morning. Dozens of people lined up inside the small building waiting to claim their cars.
Carpel said he waited more than hour. “They don’t have enough people working in there,” he said.
The city “should make people more aware of the ban over the weekend, but I guess it’s a big moneymaker,” Carpel said.
No matter how much the city publicizes the ban, Smith said, some people don’t listen.
“There is a learning curve to this,” Smith said. “Even though we have bombarded the public through the media and the signage is permanent, it takes people a couple of days until they realize that we’re serious.”
