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Drivers who park in the path of Chicago's 118 street sweepers may soon find themselves in the same boat as those who run red lights: caught in the act by surveillance cameras.Three years after Mayor Daley first raised the idea, City Hall has issued a "request for qualifications" from companies interested in providing "high-resolution digital cameras" for street sweepers. Aldermen reacted coolly to the city's latest plunge into the brave new world of surveillance cameras. They argued that it's unfair to hammer motorists for street-sweeping violations when the signs that warn them are predominantly made of paper.Last year, the city issued 345,206 tickets-carrying $50 fines-to drivers who ignore "No Parking" signs posted on days when street sweeping is scheduled."The signs just disappear, and motorists don't see them," said Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd)."The sign hanger goes out, and kids take 'em all down. Then the guy who parks gets a ticket the next day. It's not fair," said Ald. Ed Smith (28th). "We can't put up a notice the night before and expect somebody whose car is there for two days to move it. That's the problem. We don't give enough notice," said Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd).Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) said drivers in her congested lakefront ward used to get "zillions" of street-sweeping tickets before she demanded permanent street sweeping signs to replace the paper ones that routinely blew away.The same thing should happen across the city before sweeper cameras are installed, she said."By doing this, we're just guaranteeing more revenue without necessarily ensuring that we're going to get the streets" cleared for sweepers, Shiller said.A posting on the city's Web site states that every street sweeper would be equipped with a pair of cameras-one to capture the image of "the illegally parked vehicle and its surroundings," the other to take a picture of the license plate.Video evidence would be forwarded to the city's Department of Revenue daily, then mailed to motorists along with the $50 ticket. Contractors would be paid an unidentified fee "for each enforceable citation."The sweeper crackdown comes at a time when Daley's $293 million tax package counts on raising $8.7 million through higher fines for 32 categories of parking violations. Fortunately for motorists captured on camera, parking in the path of a street sweeper is not one of them.As in the days of Noah....
