New law to crack down on disability parking abuse
By CHRIS FUSCO Sun-Times Media July 23, 2012 8:05PM
Disabled-parking cheating "is just plain wrong," Gov. Pat Quinn said during a news conference Monday.
Article Extras
Updated: August 25, 2012 6:16AM
Come 2014, able-bodied drivers will have a tougher time using disabled-parking placards to cheat meters and park free. They’ll also face stiffer penalties for cheating, under legislation Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law Monday.
Among those flanking the governor as he signed the new law was state Rep. Karen May (D-Highland Park), who drafted the measure in response to the Chicago Sun-Times’ “Meter Cheaters” investigation last year.
The Sun-Times found that, within Chicago, the disability-parking system is widely abused, with able-bodied drivers using relatives’ placards, fake placards and even stolen placards to park for free in metered spots.
“I read this, and it kind of made my blood boil,” May said of the newspaper’s reports. The law May sponsored ends the “full parking meter fee exemption” for some 600,000 Illinoisans who have handicapped placards and another 82,000 who have disability license plates or disability veterans’ plates.
People with existing placards will be allowed to park in handicapped-only spots in shopping malls and other parking lots — but not in metered zones. The new law sets Jan. 1, 2014, for implementation because 2014 is the expiration year for most of the disabled-parking placards in circulation statewide. The measure also increases the initial fine for unauthorized use of a disabled-parking placard from $500 to $600 and increases other fines.
So far, the meter company has submitted $35.5 million in bills for two years of free parking that people with disabled-parking placards or disabled-parking license plates have gotten. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is fighting that bill, arguing the formula used to compute it is flawed. The new law is designed to allow only wheelchair users and others who have severe disabilities to park for free in metered spots.
