City of Rockford should inform residents about what ordinances are being enforced

6 comments August 26th, 2008

I talked by phone this morning to a woman with a complaint that illustrates perfectly the City of Rockford’s often arrogant treatment of its residents.

This was a mom whose son drives an over-the-road tractor trailer rig. The son, who’s in his late 20s, is on the road constantly and only  home 2 to 3 days a month.

He’d come home after weeks of hauling freight, and was tired. He parked his tractor (not the trailer) in the driveway, close to the house so that it wouldn’t be a nuisance.

At 1:20 a.,m., a “276-to 6′er” (Rockford police officer) wrote out a $200 ticket and attached it to the truck. When the mom called City Hall, she was told that she was supposed to know that an ordinance prevents people from parking big trucks on their residential property.

How, she wondered, are people supposed to know that? Indeed, how were the people with the non-compliant driveways supposed to know they were in violation of a 50-year old ordinance THAT HAD NEVER BEEN ENFORCED!!!!!!!?????????

Now the man has to pay the fine.

If anybody at City Hall reads this, please tell us what else is in your ordinance book that you might decide to enforce? And how are we supposed to know about it?

You might try using your vast public relations infrastructure to inform the public by news release, remarks at City Council meetings,  and redesigning your Web site so that information on ordinances is grouped by topic.. And, you could have one of your lawyers re-write some of the gobbledygook language so that average people can understand it.

Oh, and make sure all departments don’t contradict each other when they give residents information.

Can you hear me now?