Illegal dumping of trash recently became more expensive in North Chicago, with offenders subject to fines of between $1,000 and $2,000, as well as the impounding of their vehicle.<\/p>\n
North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham said the problem of mattresses, tires, furniture and other debris south of 10th Street, where North Chicago and Waukegan meet, as well as the area around Dugdale Road and Argonne Drive, became more noticeable in the past year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey leave mattresses, furniture and bags with leaves,\u201d Rockingham said. \u201cIf they do it now in North Chicago, they\u2019re going to pay a high price.\u201d<\/p>\n
The North Chicago City Council unanimously approved an ordinance on July 6 at City Hall imposing fines of up to $2,000 and vehicle impoundment for illegal dumping in an effort to stop people from leaving illegal trash in the middle of the street or other places where it does not belong.<\/p>\n
Should people dump garbage, trash, substances that can contain disease, become unhealthful or any miscellaneous waste, they will be subject to fines starting at $1,000, impounding of their vehicle and remediation costs incurred by the city, according to the language of the ordinance.<\/p>\n
Greg Jackson, the city\u2019s chief of staff, said the dumping problem continues to grow, prompting the need for a law with stiff penalties. He hopes the tough penalties will deter people from dumping garbage on the streets or on someone else\u2019s property.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s happening daily with us,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cThere are a lot of mattresses and tires. People are disposing of them, and we have to remove them from our streets. We know when it\u2019s happening, and the police will be out looking for it. You can\u2019t dump in North Chicago without consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a first offense, the fine is $1,000; $1,500 for the second violation, and no less than $2,000 for the third and subsequent offenses, according to the ordinance. The offender\u2019s vehicle will be impounded and towed.<\/p>\n
Jackson said the offender will have to pay a $500 administrative fee plus towing costs to reclaim their vehicle. Towing will cost $50 per day for storage and between $150 and $250 for towing, depending on the distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they dump their trash, they\u2019ve committed a violation,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cOnce they commit the violation, they are fleeing and the car can be impounded. Once they pay a large fine and you take somebody\u2019s car, we hope that will stop them from dumping.\u201d<\/p>\n
North Chicago Ald. Michael Jackson, 1st Ward, said he hopes the ordinance will help. He believes the violators may be local. Signs on the roadway have not deterred offenders; perhaps the fines and impounding will.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople see signs on both sides of 10th Street which say \u2018No dumping.\u2019 They just keep dumping,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cSomething needed to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the north side of 10th Street in Waukegan, there has been increased dumping as well. David Motley, the city\u2019s public relations director, said there are fines for the dumping. There is a lot on Market Street and Pershing Road east of Sheridan Road, as well as the grassy median along 8th Street near Lincoln Avenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police are aware of it,\u201d Motley said. \u201cIt\u2019s a chronic problem. The police are using license plate readers and cameras.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fines in Waukegan are not as stiff as the ones North Chicago now imposes. Each violation in Waukegan can cost between $200 and $750 per violation, according to city code. The violator can also be required to perform as much as 48 hours of community service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Illegal dumping of trash recently became more expensive in North Chicago, with offenders subject to fines of between…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":932572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,46124,1818,106782],"class_list":["post-932571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-il","tag-illegal-dumping","tag-illinois","tag-north-chicago"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116914210037934615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}