BY Chris Fusco
A 73-year-old woman has her placard confiscated by the Illinois secretary of state’s office because a relative was ticketed for using it illegally. The same woman gets a new placard — and somebody else is again seen using it illegally.
These are among 82 cases in which the Chicago Sun-Times documented seemingly able-bodied people using handicapped-parking placards or handicapped license plates to park for free throughout the South Loop, around the Cook County Criminal Courts Building and at other spots in Chicago.
In September and October, the newspaper worked with retired Chicago police Lt. Robert Angone — whose 19-year-old daughter lost her left leg to cancer when she was 6 months old — to document the growing number of people using handicapped-parking placards and plates to park for free as parking-meter rates in Chicago increase.
Illinois law allows disabled people to park all day for free in metered spots, but with one such placard in circulation for every 13 passenger vehicles in Cook County, the system is rife with abuse, the investigation found.
Angone and the newspaper observed dozens of cases in which apparently able-bodied people used placards or plates to park for free on the street, where they otherwise would have to pay. Also, in a few cases, Angone documented drivers using placards to park at handicapped-only spots in parking lots.
Several of those cases — including one in which a woman was parking for free using a stolen placard — were highlighted Sunday and Monday in the Sun-Times. Those cases represent a fraction of the way that placards are being used to cheat meters. Here are some other examples. In each case, the parties involved either didn’t want to talk with a reporter or couldn’t be reached for comment:
Aug. 30, 2 p.m. — A man who appears to be in his 50s uses a placard that belongs to a 48-year-old woman to park in a handicapped-only spot at Southgate Market in the South Loop. After parking, the man is observed working out at an LA Fitness center.
Sept. 9, 10:35 a.m. — A man who appears to be in his mid-30s parks for free in a metered spot in the 1100 block of South Jefferson Street using a placard registered to a 66-year-old woman from Hillside.
Sept. 14, 8:40 a.m. — A woman in her 40s parks her Infiniti Q45 along Jefferson Street near Vernon Park and doesn’t feed the $3-per-hour meter box. The handicapped placard she posts is registered to a 73-year-old woman who has the same last name as the person to whom the Infiniti is registered. But the older woman to whom the placard is registered isn’t present, which makes it illegal to use it to park for free.
Secretary of state’s office records show that another placard that belonged to the same 73-year-old woman was confiscated because a relative had been using it. The 73-year-old has since gotten a new placard — and that appears to be what happened again.
Sept. 16, 4 p.m. — A man who looks to be in his late 20s parks a Ford Escort station wagon in a handicapped-only spot at the Showplace Icon movie theaters, 150 W. Roosevelt Road. Because he takes the spot, someone else who is obviously disabled drives past and is forced to park “a distance away,” Angone observes. The placard in the man’s car is registered to Florence Chill, a Gold Coast woman who died in May at 92, records show. She doesn’t appear to be related to the driver of the Ford, which is registered to a couple in Little Village.
Oct. 6, 8:55 a.m. — A man in his late 50s parks his Nissan in a metered spot in the 2700 block of South California Avenue, near the Criminal Courts Building. But the placard he displays is registered to a 59-year-old woman from Galena.
Oct. 6, 9 a.m. — A man in his 30s parks for free in a metered spot in the 2600 block of South California Avenue, using a placard belonging to a 68-year-old Chicago woman. He then walks to the courts building.
# http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/8831895-452/case-after-case-people-are-spotted-using-others-handicap-parking-placards.html
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REPORTING ABUSE
Handicap-parking complaints can be filed with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office online at cyberdriveillinois.com. Click on “Parking Program for Persons with Disabilities Abuse Complaint Form.”
PENALTIES
†People caught using handicap placards or handicap license plates without the placard- or plate-holder present face a fine of at least $500 and a 30-day driver’s license suspension. The police also can confiscate illegally used placards.
†Doctors who make false statements to help someone obtain a handicap plate or placard face fines of up to $1,000.
†People caught altering placards; manufacturing fakes; using fake, lost or stolen placards; or selling real or fake placards could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by jail time, fines of up to $2,500 and a one-year driver’s license suspension
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