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Chicago City Clerk Scraps Sticker Design Amid Gang Concerns

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:10:00 GMT

JOHN BYRNE AND JEREMY GORNER, CHICAGO TRIBUNE | LINK TO ARTICLE

A 15-year-old boy will lose the honor of seeing his city sticker design adorn Chicago windshields amid questions about whether the artwork contains gang symbols, City Clerk Susana Mendoza said this afternoon.

At a City Hall news conference, Mendoza said she made the decision to change the design.

The boy's artwork shows four hands reaching upward toward symbols of Chicago police, firefighters and paramedics. But Mendoza said the position of the hands "could be misinterpreted" as gang signs.

The city instead will use a design by Caitlin Henehan, a senior at Resurrection High School and the first runner-up in the city's contest. It depicts a firefighter, police officer and paramedic as super heroes.

Mendoza said it would not have been fair to allow the boy to redesign his sticker art to change the position of the hands because other entrants would not have gotten the same chance. She said no decision has been made on whether the 15-year-old boy will be asked to return the $1,000 bond he won.

Hours earlier, the boy's mother fought back tears as she denied the allegations. Since they became public Tuesday, the boy has suffered anxiety attacks and couldn't sleep last night, according to his mother and their lawyer.

"I am very upset. I feel very upset that something so positive could be so negative," Jessica Loor told reporters crammed inside a classroom at Lawrence Hall Youth Services, where the boy attends school. "I feel there's a lot of haters. They can make anything out of anything."

After a popular police blog raised questions about the artwork, the city clerk's office decided to consult with gang experts to see whether the city should stick with the winning entry. The office prints the city stickers and sponsors a contest among students to draw the winning design.

Attorney Blake Horwitz, who is representing the family, demanded an apology from Jody Weis, the former Chicago police superintendent and now president of the Chicago Crime Commission, who said Tuesday that the hands in the drawing seemed consistent with gang signs.

"Now this is a bunch of nonsense being blown way out of proportion," said Horwitz, describing the boy as a "special needs" child who is on the honor roll.

The boy won the annual contest, in which hundreds of Chicago high school students submit drawing to become the basis of the stickers that get displayed for a year on more than one million auto windshields in Chicago.

Weis, a former police superintendent who is now president of the Chicago Crime Commission that puts out a handbook on city gangs, said he initially saw the imagery on a Blackberry and didn't think it looked like a gang sign. But a short time later, when he blew up the picture on an iPad, he could see it much clearer and he changed his mind.

On Wednesday, Weis said the configuration of the hands, the heart and the placing of the hands atop the heart are all consistent with symbols of a particular gang. "If you look at all of that, you're fighting a battle of perception, not intent, because we'll never know what was in this young man's heart," he said.

The new city sticker was picked after a round of judging and another round of voting. In the first round, judges invited by the clerk’s office crowd into City Council chambers and rank their favorites from among hundreds of designs submitted by high school students.

The top 10 then were posted at suntimes.com, and Mendoza said more than 18,000 votes were cast. The winning design was announced last week at a news conference.

The teen said his mother and his school, Lawrence Hall Youth Services, were helping him improve his academic performance. He said he was honoring firefighters because they rescued him when he was 4 and had lit his clothes on fire with a candle.

LINK TO ARTICLE

ABC: Claims Surface That City Sticker Has Gang Symbols

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:24:00 GMT

JESSICA D'ONOFRIO, ABC 7 NEWS | LINK TO ARTICLE

Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza faces an unusual task Wednesday morning. She's checking out allegations that the new vehicle sticker may contain gang symbols.

Mendoza said she was shocked by the allegations and, most of all, she hopes they're not true.

Mendoza is investigating whether the next city vehicle sticker depicts gang signs.

The sticker was designed by a 15-year-old boy who attends a school for troubled youth.

The clerk's office started getting phone calls Tuesday after an internet blogger identified the hands drawn on the sticker as symbols flashed by members of a street gang.

The stickers were about to be printed but that is now on hold.

Around 18,000 Chicagoans voted for the boy's design late last year in a contest.

When the boy won last month, he praised first responders, saying they have done a lot for him and his family.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the boy's facebook page shows him wearing a gang color and has photos of other young people flashing gang signs. ABC7 has not heard from the boy's family. "

'You can imagine my surprise when these allegations surfaced today, but none the less, they have to be taken very seriously," Mendoza said. "We're doing our best to look into all the facts that surround this little controversy and hopefully put it to rest by making a decision that are based on the facts."

The Chicago Police Department has also been notified about the controversy.

LINK TO ARTICLE

FOX: Gang Signs Seen in City Sticker Design, Clerk Investigating

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:24:00 GMT

FOX NEWS CHICAGO | LINK TO ARTICLE

City Clerk Susana Mendoza is investigating whether gang signs are in the artwork of the new Chicago city sticker just days before the sticker is set to be printed.

The sticker was picked as the winner in a city-wide contest and was designed by a 15-year-old boy who attends a school for troubled youth.

The theme of the contest was to honor city firefighters and police officers. The freshman said his design honored first responders, as he was saved from a fire when he was 4 years old.

On Tuesday, the city clerk’s office began getting calls after a blogger said the hands in the artwork may be showing the symbol of a notorious gang. Reportedly, both the heart and the shape of the hands in the image are evocative of gang symbols.

Former police superintendent Jody Weis told the Chicago Tribune he didn’t see it at first, but after looking at it larger he thinks it looks "too close to be a coincidence."

Mendoza said she is looking into the issue and hopes it isn’t true, especially since she said she grew up in a neighborhood plagued by gangs. She tweeted Tuesday night that she was "gathering the facts on this before determining an appropriate course of action."

The sticker, available for purchase in June 2012, will be the first to feature the names of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mendoza.

About 1.2 million stickers a year are sold to Chicago vehicle owners.

LINK TO ARTICLE

City Sticker Artwork Shows Gang Signs?

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:23:00 GMT

HAL DARDICK AND JOHN BRYNE, CHICAGO TRIBUNE | LINK TO ARTICLE

City Clerk Susana Mendoza said Tuesday she’s investigating whether gang signs are part of the winning design for Chicago’s next city sticker, just days before the decals are scheduled to be printed.

The sticker, meant to honor city firefighters, paramedics and police, was designed by a 15-year-old boy who attends a school for troubled youth.

The artwork shows four hands lifted skyward toward symbols of the three professions — above a heart containing a carefully rendered city skyline against the city flag.

A blogger who writes about police issues identified the position of those hands as symbols often flashed by members of a notorious Chicago street gang. Concerned citizens began calling the clerk’s office Tuesday after those allegations hit the web, the clerk’s office said.

“Every artist has a back story and oftentimes artwork is controversial,” Mendoza said in a statement. “However, the artwork on Chicago’s city stickers should not be controversial.

“In a design that is meant to honor the city’s first responders, I am very sensitive to this issue. I grew up in a neighborhood filled with crime and gang violence and I come from a law-enforcement family,” Mendoza added.

Exactly what’s on the city stickers is a touchy subject, in part because they will be the first to carry the names of Mendoza and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Jody Weis, a former police superintendent who is now president of the Chicago Crime Commission that puts out a handbook on city gangs, said he initially saw the imagery on a Blackberry and didn't think it looked like a gang sign.

But a short time later, when he blew up the picture on an iPad, he could see it much clearer and he changed his mind.

“It’s very, very close to a gang sign,’’ Weis told the Tribune when reached by phone Tuesday night. “It’s not exactly, but it’s very close,’’ Weis said. “It’s too close to be a coincidence.’’

Weis explained that the left and right hands shown in the artwork are the same.

“Every finger configuration is identical,’’ he said.

Weis said he believes authorities should take a closer look at the artwork. “I don’t know what was in the boy’s heart, but somebody needs to find that out,’’ Weis said.

"For a city sticker, it would spark controversy,’’ Weis said. “You don’t want that kind of controversy on a city sticker.’’

The new city sticker was picked after a round of judging and another round of voting. In the first round, judges invited by the clerk’s office crowd into City Council chambers and rank their favorites from among hundreds of designs submitted by high school students.

The top 10 then were posted at suntimes.com, and Mendoza said more than 18,000 votes were cast.

The winning design was announced last week at a news conference. The teen said his mother and his school, Lawrence Hall Youth Services, were helping him improve his academic performance. He said he was honoring firefighters because they rescued him when he was 4 and had lit his clothes on fire with a candle.

LINK TO ARTICLE

Mendoza's Chicago

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:36:00 GMT

LISA DONOVAN, ILLINOIS ISSUES | LINK TO ARTICLE

The city has a new clerk, and she’s not a ‘go-along, get-along’ politician

Before they were sworn in to their respective offices last year, newly elected Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza showed up with gifts to a meeting with Rahm Emanuel, prompting the empty-handed mayor-elect to say, ‘I feel like such an a--hole I didn’t get you anything; I feel terrible.’”

The way Mendoza remembers it, she told him not to worry about it as he opened the packages. First, a paperweight in the shape of the United States with a star etched over Chicago. Then a bottle of Midol — a not-so-subtle reference to his days as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff and reports that he once told a male staffer: “Take your f------ tampon out and tell me what you have to say.”

Emanuel grinned widely, Mendoza says, as she told him: “In case you start cramping or need to use this, please keep this handy. I got you a whole bottle.”

Talk to those who have worked with and admire the 39-year-old Mendoza, who after a decade as a state representative was elected in 2011 as Chicago’s first female city clerk, and they’ll talk about how her sense of humor — and respect — balances her unyielding candor.

The one-time star soccer player — whose Bolingbrook High School coach once called her the Michael Jordan of the team in a Chicago Sun-Times piece — has been equally nimble in her political career. She calls fellow Democrats Ed Burke, a Chicago alderman, and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan political mentors while drawing support from the likes of U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, a conservative Republican from Peoria who struck up a friendship with Mendoza when the two served in the Statehouse.

“She stood out as someone who had friends on both sides of the aisle,” Schock said. “When she ran for [clerk], she had a dozen or more Republicans actually contribute to her city election,” including $10,000 from Schock. “That doesn’t happen a lot in politics,” he says.

She’s definitely not go-along, get-along, says Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown. He acknowledges that although Madigan is her mentor, the speaker has been irritated with her political maneuvers from time to time. Brown declined to elaborate.

But others say her public support for Schock’s congressional bid “rattled some cages” of downstate Democrats. And she has drawn eye rolls from the Hispanic caucus for not playing ball, including party operative who called her a “snob.”

That includes her backing then-boyfriend Proco “Joe” Moreno over incumbent state Sen. William Delgado, a Chicago Democrat, in the run-up to the 2008 primary election. “That was a no-brainer,” Mendoza says. “We were dating, but even if we hadn’t been, he was — by leaps and bounds — a better elected official than Willie Delgado.”

Delgado did not return a message for comment.

Critics have accused Mendoza of being a double-dipper, since she held a post in the City of Chicago's planning department while serving in the legislature. She told Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin last year that she wasn't paid by the city on the days she was working in the legislature.

“My paperwork is clear on that,” Mendoza told Marin.

Mendoza, along with state Rep. Antonia “Toni” Berrios, a Chicago Democrat, and Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, all Latina, referred to themselves as the “Bonita caucus.”

“I don't know who dubbed it, but it was kind of fun because we were always together,” Berrios says, adding that Mendoza was a sight to see as she worked the legislative floor on issues she cared about, including a new registry to purchase corrosive acid cleaner, prompted by a vicious attack with the chemical that left a woman in her district disfigured. “She was such a hard worker, you’d see her running around the House floor — because if she just sat in her chair, she knew she wasn't going to get anything done.”

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Mendoza was born and spent her early years growing up in a house that straddled the Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods — communities that have drawn Mexican migrants since World War II.

But gang violence and, ultimately, a shooting death next door, pushed her father, Joaquin, and her mother, also named Susana, to pack up their three young children and worldly possessions and move to the suburbs, first Woodridge, then Bolingbrook.

“After that shooting, my dad rented a truck and literally, we moved out the next day,” says Mendoza, who was 7 at the time. “I felt like we were run out, and I couldn’t figure it out — I mean, why do we have to leave? We’re not the bad guys.”

But the tug of the city was so strong that the family returned each weekend to pick up the Mexican grocery staples difficult to find in suburbia circa 1979.

“We were like the only Mexican family in Woodridge back then — we couldn’t get tortillas or jalapenos or beans,” Mendoza says. She hasn’t lost touch with many of the shopkeepers over the years, she adds.

The pull was ultimately so strong, though, that by 1994, newly minted college graduate Mendoza and her parents were back living in Little Village, sharing the second floor of a two-flat and enjoying the convenience of living close to their city jobs — Mendoza at a downtown Marriott and her father as a superintendent at the now-closed Brach’s candy factory.

That’s not to say she wasn’t molded by 1980s suburbia, where she went to elementary school and high school. And that’s where she traded in her dresses, tutus and her big dreams of becoming a ballerina for her “first love”: soccer.

She would play in boys’ leagues before she organized the girls’ Bolingbrook High School soccer team and played as offensive center midfielder. Top grades along with her soccer skills would underwrite her schooling at Northeast Missouri State University, now Truman State University.

After college, Mendoza set her sights on an advertising job in Chicago. At Marriott, she was able to do various jobs, from working the reception desk to helping with marketing, offering a chance to build a professional advertising portfolio.

“I knew it was just a matter of time before I got into an ad firm,” Mendoza says.

A young and driven Mendoza recalls the night in 1995 when her father picked her up at work, an evening that would prove pivotal. As they were heading home, he stopped off at a Jewel-Osco for some groceries and handed her the pile of mail to read through so she wouldn’t be bored while he ran in.

There, she opened up a political mailer for a candidate running in the city’s 12th Ward — representing stretches of Pilsen, Little Village and other heavily Hispanic neighborhoods on Chicago’s southwest side. She couldn’t believe what a mess it was.

“It was a big one — like six pages long. I look at it, and it’s all misspelled in Spanish. I would have gotten an F in my class if I would have turned that in,” Mendoza says. “It was like spelling ‘what’ without a W. There were 11 mistakes in Spanish. The English was fine; the Spanish was all jacked up.”

She makes no bones about it: She didn’t know what an alderman was, what they did. She didn’t know much about politics. But she knew something about communications.

“I’m thinking, ‘Look, I don’t know who these people are, but if this guy can’t take five minutes to proofread his work, and he’s coming out to me, and he’s asking me for my vote now, and he’s not even in office — what can I expect from him afterward, especially from a professional standpoint?’”

When her dad returned to the car, she showed him. He suggested his daughter call the candidate’s competition — a state representative named Rafael “Ray” Frias, who was the target of the criticism in the literature.

When she declared the idea “brilliant” her father said, ‘Honey, I was just kidding with you’ — concerned that some Chicago politician wouldn’t take the call of a 22-year-old college graduate.

When they arrived home, she dialed 411 and asked for Frias’ state representative office in Chicago. It was 9 p.m. A staffer picked up the phone. Mendoza identified herself as a concerned citizen who would like to talk with Frias. To her surprise, she got him on the phone, and she began going over his competition’s campaign literature.

“He got defensive, said none of it was true,” she recalls with a laugh. “And I said: ‘I wasn’t calling to beat you up. I actually was calling because I think I can help.’”

She offered to write a rebuttal piece, and if he used it, he could provide a reference for her — hoping she would have something high-profile to put in her portfolio.

Frias asked to meet her the next day. She pulled an all-nighter, preparing the rebuttal, putting it together at Kinko’s and even driving with her father past Frias’ district office so they knew where it was and could be prompt for the appointment.

Father and daughter showed up for the interview. Frias sat down with them, telling her he was ahead in the polls and wouldn’t need her help but that her enthusiasm impressed him and he had to meet her. He had some connections to an ad firm and would be glad to make some calls.

She wouldn’t get the call for another three weeks, but by then, her world had been turned upside down. Her father suffered a fatal heart attack. In the haze of grief, she initially turned down the offer from Hernandez & Garcia LLC advertising firm — feeling that she should stay with Marriott, since the company was good enough to hire her older brother after their father died and finances were tight.

She would eventually take the advertising job and by the fall of 1995, Frias hired her as his political career was about to take a hit.

“I became his press secretary a week before the feds walked into his office,” she says.

She was referring to Frias getting caught up in the federal investigation known as Operation Silver Shovel, in which a federal mole paid more than $200,000 in bribes to various officials to set up illegal dumping grounds.

Frias was indicted in 1997. A jury later acquitted him of accepting a bribe and lying to the FBI.

“When Ray got in trouble — I didn’t even hesitate to help immediately because I just felt he’s a really good man [and] I don’t believe anything they say about him,” she says, explaining that in the days and weeks after her father died, Frias volunteered to help her brother apply for a legislative scholarship so he wouldn’t have to drop out of college. “This was going to test my loyalties and my thankfulness and all the core values my dad taught me. And sometimes, the government gets it wrong. My gut instinct about him was right.”

At the same time, she learned an early lesson about keeping her nose clean and steering clear of even the appearance of impropriety — a feat in the world of Chicago politics where backroom dealing with special interests is an art form.

“Knowing what I would never ever want to do myself, to allow myself to be in a position where people could criticize me or think that I did something bad — those were all life lessons I learned through that experience.”

When Mendoza was 25 years old, Frias encouraged her to run for his old First District state House seat representing the southwest side of Chicago and Cicero. Her first reaction was “no,” because she figured voters wouldn’t take someone so young seriously.”

She recalls Frias saying, “Well, I would vote for you, and so would Ed Burke.” That was tantamount to an anointing, since the district included the ward of Burke, the powerful alderman who heads the Chicago City Council’s finance committee.

But it wasn’t enough. Mendoza would lose by 30 votes, but she was hooked on the “thousands of people who voted for a 25-year- old.” The next time around, she won.

She was still living with her mother, and now her brother Joaquin — a Chicago police officer who went on to become a homicide detective — in the same second-story flat she had moved to after college. But when Mendoza started talking loudly about pushing out the gangs and drugs that plagued her district, the threats started pouring in.

Mendoza and her brothers decided it was best and safest for their mother to move in to a 55-and-older community in the southwest suburbs, where she remains today.

Mendoza is proud of her accomplishments, including her election as one of the youngest members ever in the state House.

So it’s puzzling why she moved from the Statehouse to an office best known for issuing dog licenses and 1.3 million city stickers that Chicago residents are required to purchase each year.

“As a state rep, you’re building alliances of 100,000 in a district; now she’ll have the chance to build a citywide constituency,” says Brown, echoing Mendoza’s sentiments.

If the clerk’s job is a stepping stone to a more high-profile office in politics, Mendoza and her pals aren’t talking about it, though many speculate she’s eyeing a bid for Congress or even Chicago mayor.

Right now, her plate is full. She not only ran an election and started her new job as clerk, but in December, she married marketing and communications firm owner David Szostak, an old high school friend who turned out to be “Mr. Right.” The latter meant a move to the north side of Chicago — specifically the Ravenswood neighborhood that is also home to the mayor.

“I’m still a [White] Sox fan, can’t lose that,” says a usually smiling Mendoza, whose loud, scratchy voice and mile-a-minute cadence help make her a big presence, despite her slight 5’3, 120-pound stature.

In between, she’s been out talking up the clerk’s office and seems to recognize that some might see it as a yawner, even if it is the most visited city office. At a recent City Club of Chicago luncheon, she volunteered, “This office is anything but a sleepy office.”

In fact, it’s the official record keeper of the Chicago City Council meetings, including legislation that is introduced and passed. Her predecessor, Miguel Del Valle, brought the office into the 21st century — and arguably to a larger audience — by streaming City Council meetings live on the Web and creating an online system for the public to keep an eye on the status of legislation. Now, she’s trying to upgrade the system to make it easier to navigate.

“That legislation impacts every single one of us in this room, whether it’s the legislation that privatized Chicago meters … or the recent ban on talking or texting on cell phones while riding a bike,” she told the City Club, pointing to the controversial deal to privatize Chicago’s parking meters that critics say former Mayor Richard M. Daley shoved through and provided little time for aldermen to review.

She’s a politician for the tech age, using the clerk’s website and social media to share — almost instantaneously — developments in the governmental and political landscape. That includes putting proposals for remapping the city’s wards online immediately.

With the mayor’s and clerk’s offices intimately linked, insiders are watching how the two get along.

When then-mayoral candidate Emanuel announced on the campaign trail that the city could generate money by putting advertisements on the city stickers, Mendoza — who had already floated something similar — quickly put out a press release: “I was pleased to read ... that Rahm Emanuel is backing my plan to put ads on the back of city stickers.”

And when Emanuel delivered his first spending plan as mayor, Mendoza balked, knowing full well she’d have to wear the jacket for his proposal to steeply hike city sticker fees. When it was over, the hikes were in place, though they were more modest than originally planned.

And like every modern-day politician, she’ll take to Facebook and Twitter to talk about everything from her recent wedding to complaining about cockroaches in the clerk’s basement offices at City Hall, which turned into a national news story.

The mayor vowed to fix the problem — by moving clerk’s staff out of the City Hall basement – but it’s still a work in progress.

“The mayor said he’s going to do it, and I believe him,” Mendoza said in January. “Otherwise I’ll remind him.”

Lisa Donovan covers county government for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Illinois Issues, February 2012

LINK TO ARTICLE

Emanuel Tweaks Budget

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:45:00 GMT

DAN MIHALOPOULOS, CHICAGO NEWS COOPERATIVE | LINK TO ARTICLE

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday announced that he would tweak his budget proposal for 2012 in response to public and City Council concern, amending his original plan to cut funding for libraries and increase some vehicle sticker fees.

The changes followed a letter that a council majority of 28 aldermen sent to his office earlier this week detailing their qualms. The mayor held up the moves as an example of how he was fulfilling his promise to forge a collaborative relationship with aldermen.

But Emanuel said the “core direction” of his fiscal vision remained intact and that he believed the most significant aspects of his $6 billion budget retained the support of aldermen and average Chicagoans.

Indeed, the total impact of the amendments announced Friday will only be $4.3 million in the city’s day-to-day operating budget of about $3 billion.

Still, the change in his sticker fee plan will impact the pockets of far more Chicagoans than the original proposal would have. And City Clerk Susana Mendoza, who has led the opposition to the fee hike, quickly replied that she remained opposed to the mayor’s fee increases, even as amended.

Currently, owners of smaller cars pay $75 a year for stickers and heavier vehicle owners are charged $125. At first, Emanuel had proposed lowering the weight threshold for heavier passenger vehicle stickers from 4,500 pounds to 4,000 pounds and raising the fees for big car owners to $135 from $120.

Many vehicles that had been in the category of lighter cars would have seen an increase of $60 as they were reclassified into the same weight class as larger sports-utility vehicles.

But on Friday, Emanuel said the 4,500-pound dividing line between heavy and lighter vehicles would remain intact. Vehicles weighing more than 4,500 will still face an increase of $10, but now owners of lighter passenger vehicles also will have to pay more — $85 instead of $75. They had originally faced no prospect of a fee hike.

There are more than 1.2 million cars in the light passenger class, with only about 90,000 heavier vehicles, according to the clerk’s office.

For the changes to be revenue neutral, Emanuel said he will follow Mendoza’s suggestion of increasing fines for sticker scofflaws (to $200 from $120) and raising the late fees (to $60 from $40).

Yet, Mendoza was not placated, her spokeswoman said. The clerk has criticized the mayor’s plan since virtually the moment he presented his budget on Oct. 12.

“Clerk Mendoza’s position remains the same from the beginning,” the spokeswoman, Kristine Williams, said in an email. “She is not in favor of a fee increase at all.”

Public opinion and political pressure also appeared to sway Emanuel on the issue of library cuts, which had generated loud protests. Rather than reducing branch library hours on Monday and Friday mornings all year, as he originally wanted to, Emanuel said shorter library hours will be in effect only during the school year and not in the summer.

The mayor said he had considered closing eight library branches but decided he did not want to do so.

About 100 library employees who were to be laid off as part of the plan now will keep their jobs, Emanuel said.

Also Friday, Emanuel said he would extend the discount on water fees for non-profit organizations with less than $250 million in assets. Now they will get a break of 60 percent in 2012, 40 percent in 2013 and 20 percent in 2014 and beyond.

The amendments announced Friday also will restore $1 million for cleaning lots, cutting weeds and removing graffiti.

During the news conference, Emanuel was flanked by three council members: Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin (34th Ward), committee Vice Chairman Brendan Reilly (42nd) and Ray Suarez (31st).

“This has been a very different process,” Reilly said, contrasting Emanuel’s reaction to aldermanic complaints with former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s approach.

Under Daley, the council was largely viewed as a “rubber stamp” for whatever the mayor proposed. And until the final years of his long tenure, Daley often enjoyed unanimous votes in favor of his budget plans.

That tack, combined with the recession, led to massive budget deficits. Emanuel’s budget plan promises to close a $635 million gap in 2012.

LINK TO ARTICLE

Sticker Shock

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

EDITORIAL, CHICAGO TRIBUNE | LINK TO ARTICLE

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants the owners of SUVs and minivans to pay a greater share of the cost of filling Chicago's potholes, but he can't lay his hands on the data that show bigger cars cause more damage.

There's another group that's not paying its share, though. That would be the residents who don't bother to get the required city sticker, casually exempting themselves from the "wheel tax" that pays to maintain side streets.

City Clerk Susana Mendoza thinks identifying those scofflaws — and slapping them with hefty fines — might generate enough money to avoid the fee increase outlined in the mayor's 2012 budget.

"Why just pick on the soccer mom?" she said when she learned of the mayor's proposed hikes.

Emanuel's plan is to raise the cost of stickers for heavier passenger vehicles by $15, to $135. But he also wants to lower the weight limit, bumping roughly 184,000 minivans, SUVs and larger sedans into that group. Those drivers would see their fee jump by $60. Owners of vehicles weighing less than 4,000 pounds would continue to pay $75.

Trouble is, there's no evidence that larger passenger vehicles are harder on roads than smaller ones, as the mayor suggests. The author of a study he cited to support that claim said his research didn't support it. Most of the damage is caused by heavy commercial trucks and buses.

The "wheel tax" is one of those civic burdens that make law-abiding citizens feel like chumps. Every year when the renewal notice arrives in the mail, Gallant coughs up the fee, scrapes off the old sticker and applies the new one while Goofus looks on in amusement. Goofus has never bought a sticker, and nobody has ever come after him.

But Mendoza is on his case. By cross-checking the secretary of state's vehicle registration database against her office's records, the clerk can spot cars whose owners haven't bought the required city stickers. That's typically done as the office prepares to send out renewal notices — once a year, in other words.

More frequent data sharing, more aggressive enforcement and bigger fines would shepherd the stragglers into compliance. The office also plans to send "welcome kits" to new residents, letting them know they're supposed to buy stickers. The cost is pro-rated for residents who move to the city or buy a new car mid-year. But cheaters have to pay full price, plus a $40 late fee. They're also subject to a $120 ticket.

The clerk's office doesn't know how many scofflaws are out there, but about 200,000 tickets were issued for sticker violations last year. Most tickets are written after an officer from the police or revenue department or the clerk's enforcement team spots a vehicle on the street and runs a computer search of the tag number to see if it's registered in the city. It's hit or miss, and it's not fair.

It reminds us of that other chump tax, the city dog license. The overwhelming majority of dog owners have figured out that in Chicago, licensing your pet is optional. If you do the right thing, it costs you $5. If you don't, it costs you nothing.

The Anti-Cruelty Society estimates there are 583,000 dogs in the city. The clerk's office, which sells the tags, says 27,918 of them are registered.

So we were delighted to learn that Mendoza wants to do something about that, too. She's working with the Animal Care and Control Commission on a plan to boost compliance. Education first, followed by systematic enforcement and fines of $30 to $200.

Pet licensing promotes public health: Owners can't get a tag unless the dog is vaccinated against rabies, and they pay a premium if it isn't spayed or neutered. None of that matters, of course, if pet owners don't bother with the license and the city doesn't bother with enforcement.

A few years ago, city aldermen considered requiring dog owners to microchip their pets — or pay fines of $50 to $200. That would have amounted to yet another tax on residents who obey the law, and a free pass for those who don't. Enough of that, already.

But back to those potholes. The mayor's plan would raise $14.8 million, which would fill 160,000 of them. We're pretty sure we've bounced through half that many just this week. But we think Mendoza has an excellent point: Instead of raising the cost of the sticker on that law-abiding mom-mobile, let's go after the cars that don't have stickers at all.

LINK TO ARTICLE

Bolingbrook Grad Now First Female City Clerk of Chicago

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:19:00 GMT

BRIAN FELDT, BOLINGBROOK PATCH | LINK TO ARTICLE

Susana Mendoza was in grade school when her family left Chicago for the Bolingbrook-area. More than 30 years later, she's back in the city fighting the violence that once forced her family out.

It’s funny how life can sometimes can come around full-circle.

In 1979, the Mendoza family moved from their Pillsen inner-city Chicago neighborhood to the city’s suburbs in efforts to avoid gang violence and the devastating results that compromise the families involved.

Now, more than 30 years later, the young daughter of that family—Susana Mendoza, a Bolingbrook High School graduate and now Chicago City Clerk—has moved back to the city and leading a charge against the same violence that drove her family away three decades ago.

A Solid Foundation

"Its a common story," Mendoza said. "There was a fear that my two older brothers would be recruited (by gangs) and they got us out overnight. My parents were amazing."

Mendoza was 7 years old when her family settled into a rental property in Woodridge—just a year before she fell in love with soccer. A self-proclaimed "total tomboy,”

It was soccer that would give her the ability to build character that would not only help her succeed on the field, but in life.

Over the course of the next three years the family settled into a comfortable life, saving steadily towards the purchase a modest home in Bolingbrook.

Eye of the Tiger

"I’ve been led by example,” Mendoza said. “I started 7th grade at Jane Addams (Middle School) when we moved to (Bolingbrook) … what a great place to grow up!"

Bolingbrook would prove to play a pivotal role in the determination of the woman she would become. Here, she was exposed to a wide range of adults who continually modeled positive behaviors.

Mendoza’s competitive spirit emerged and became interwoven into other areas of her life—the energy displayed on the field was channeled directly into the classroom, which translated into excellent grades.

Persistence Pays Off

"My parents told me I can achieve anything I wanted," she said. "I’ve always had a can-do attitude, whatever it is I do my best."

Mendoza entered her freshman year at Bolingbrook High School, which did not have a girls team, and landed a spot on the boys team.

Throughout her high school career, she campaigned for a girls squad, an effort which was rewarded her sophomore year with the birth of the first Lady Raiders soccer team.

Along the way she earned the respect and admiration of adults and peers alike.

"There is nothing phony about Susana. She is one of my all time favorites," says Larry Bernard, a retired Bolingbrook athletic director. "How she was in high school is how she is now. Her coach, Jim Paskiewicz, passed away but I know if he was alive, he would say that same things.

"When I see her on occasion, she still has that energy, that spark. She is this person who wants to help people and make it better. Truth be told, if we could clone her and put them in charge of government all our problems would go away."

Mendoza would go on to capture varsity soccer all-state and all-midwest honors. She also earned bragging rights as the first female and tenth person in BHS history to earn a coveted spot on the athletic wall of fame.

"Winning the election (for Chicago City Clerk) hasn’t come as a surprise to anyone who really knew her," said Jeanette Ginocchio, a former secretary at the high school. "Susana was an aide in our office all four years and her work ethic, even as a young girl was just great."

The accolades continued to roll in as Mendoza attended Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) on a soccer and academic scholarship, where she again snagged some hardware—this time all-Midwest honors in soccer.

Mendoza graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and upon leaving college, packed up her belongings and headed back home with intentions to make a positive impact in the city her family fled years before—Chicago.

Back to Where She Started

"I felt I was run out of the neighborhood and when I was old enough, I came back wanting to make a difference," Mendoza said. "Leading by example is really important. I had a choice and my choice was to try and make things right."

Mendoza landed a job with Marriott in the hopes of building a portfolio that would help her to make a giant leap into a public relations position for a major advertising firm.

Within weeks, Mendoza volunteered her communication services on a political campaign.

"My parents grew up in Mexico and there was this apathy because nobody trusted politicians there," Mendoza said. "That all changed when Alderman William Frias and Alderman Ed Burke took me under their wing."

A Political Career Launched

"At 25, (Frias) approached me to run for elected office. I was just happy helping out and I’d never even remotely considered wanting to run for public office," Mendoza said. "He said… and it has stuck with me, ‘You love it so much and you would be awesome at it.’"

Unhappy with the job her state representative were doing, Mendoza decided to delve into public service to champion long-term solutions.

Mendoza’s first run for public office ended in a 30-point loss.

Down but not out, Mendoza pragmatically accessed her campaign strategy. Committed to run again, she announced her candidacy the next day.

"I credit the discipline I learned playing soccer," she said. "In every loss there is a lesson to be learned. When I ran again for the state rep’s office two years later I won."

In 2000, at the age of 28, Mendoza was elected as the youngest member of the 92nd Illinois General Assembly.

Compiling a Record of Service

"While serving in the Illinois House, Susana and I worked together with a common goal of improving public safety," said Emily McAsey, state represenitive for Bolingbrook. "As a former criminal prosecutor, I was impressed at her determined effort to strengthen laws that require DNA collection from sex offenders. Thanks in large part to her work, Illinois law enforcement is now better equipped to catch and prosecute sex offenders."

An unintentional maverick, Mendoza now understands the power of her presence.

"I look back and realize I had the strongest record of any state representative in taking on gangs and violent felons and fighting crime,” she said. “I’m super proud about that."

Turbulence to Smooth Sailing

In 2008, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich blamed Mendoza, along with nine other Chicago democrats, for lawmakers rejecting his capital bill.

Not one to back down from a fight Mendoza responded.

Other lawmakers came to her aid as well.

"I’ve known Susana for 10 years. She has always stood for what was right," comments State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVilla, Aurora. “Susana is phenomenal, relentless in protecting her constituency. It’s not about having her name known or getting to a higher office."

Time and public record would prove Mendoza’s assessment of Blagojevich correct. She was a leading sponsor of HR 1650, which created the panel to impeach former Governor Blagojevich and served as an active alternate member of the impeachment committee.

Regardless, Mendoza kept her nose to the grindstone, continuing to do the job she was elected for. As an Illinois state representative, Mendoza has been publicly recognized for her leadership and legislation on social services, education, law enforcement and job creation.

Most recently, Mendoza was highlighted in Crain’s May 2011 issue as a "Woman to Watch."

Blazing a Trail Into the Future

When Mayor Daley announced his retirement, Mendoza was embarking on her sixth term as a state lawmaker. Almost immediately Miguel Delvalle, who at the time was Chicago City Clerk, entered the mayoral race. Because he could not run for both seats, the city clerk position became open.

Rising to the occasion, Mendoza and a host of volunteer supporters collected nearly 30,000 signatures. She later staged an effective campaign and won the election.

On February 22 of this year, Mendoza was inaugurated as the first female City Clerk of Chicago.

"Obviously it is night and day difference,” she said. “I thought I was busy as a state rep… there is no comparison. I manage this large office and oversee about 100 employees. My job is to determine how we will create the greatest efficiencies, save money and be technologically savvy. It’s about streamlining and bringing the office into the modern age and taking it into the future."

No one knows what the future holds for certain, but Mendoza’s choices continue to lead her in a direction famously encapsulated in a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

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Aldermen Turn Attention To Vehicle Sticker Fees At Budget Hearings

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

CRAIG DELLIMORE, CBS CHICAGO | LINK TO ARTICLE

In a second day of city budget hearings at City Hall, aldermen turned their focus to the Emanuel administration’s proposal to increase fees for city vehicle stickers, as City Clerk Susana Mendoza urged them to go after sticker scofflaws instead.

As WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, Mendoza has opposed the mayor’s plans to raise fees for vehicle stickers for larger passenger vehicles and to make more cars qualify for the higher fee.

Mendoza told aldermen she doesn’t favor the mayor’s plan, because studies show they don’t have much more impact on roads than more average sized cars.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore Reports

The Emanuel administration has suggested lowering the threshold for “larger passenger vehicles” from 4,500 pounds to 4,000 pounds. Critics have said that would include such cars as the Ford Taurus, as opposed to just large SUVs and vans. The mayor also wants to increase the sticker fee for those vehicles from $120 to $135.

But it would mean a jump of $60 for motorists whose vehicles would now qualify as larger passenger vehicles. Officials have estimated nearly 200,000 more vehicles in Chicago would qualify as larger vehicles under the mayor’s proposal

Mendoza also pointed out the city already has different classes of city stickers for various types of vehicles.

“I’m opposed to bringing in additional … close to 200,000 people who currently drive, what in many cases are just regular vehicles,” Mendoza said.

She said she’d prefer to go after scofflaws who don’t buy city stickers with higher fines and stricter enforcement. She has suggested increasing the fine for failure to purchase a vehicle sticker from $120 to $200.

“From an issue of fairness, we’re already asking people to pay their fair share and many people do. I think we should focus on those folks who are not paying their fair share at all,” Mendoza said.

Several aldermen have sided with Mendoza, but Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said the city sticker fee is an impact fee and would be fair.

“This vehicle sticker increase would generate about $15 million and the lion’s share of that money would be directly invested in improving our roads and infrastructure,” Reilly said.

But he also said that going after scofflaws is a good idea.

LINK TO ARTICLE

New Crackdown on City Sticker Scofflaws

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

RICK PEARSON, CHICAGO TRIBUNE | LINK TO ARTICLE

Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza said Monday that her office has begun cross-checking Illinois secretary of state car registration information to crack down on city sticker scofflaws.

"I think that's just such low-hanging fruit, that's common sense. With technology, there's no reason why we shouldn't be feeding into each other's databases," Mendoza said at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. "We are in the process of trying to work out all of the kinks so that our data does talk to each other. But the will to do that is there, which was never even entertained before."

Mendoza, a former state legislator who was sworn in May 16, has criticized Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to increase sticker fees on heavier vehicles. She favors higher fines and stronger enforcement efforts for those who don't buy stickers, and said she has asked for a formal meeting with the mayor.
Emanuel wants to reclassify more vehicles in the heavier weight category, arguing that they cause more damage to city streets. The move could cost owners $60 more for a sticker next year. Mendoza prefers raising the fine for failing to buy a sticker to $200 from $120.

"We are stepping up our enforcement very, very heavily," she said. "Before I'm ready to ask any law-abiding citizen in the city of Chicago, or anywhere else for that matter, to pay more, we should be going after those individuals who have made an active choice not to pay."

Accessing the state's vehicle database would involve more than just trying to round up vehicle owners who don't pay the city wheel tax, Mendoza said. The information also could allow her office to inform new city residents of vehicle-registration and parking rules as a "welcome kit of sorts," rather than having them learn of the city's sticker rules by getting a ticket, she said.

Mendoza also said her office is still studying the possibility of seeking an advertiser or sponsor for the back of city stickers. Instead of just getting a logo, a sponsor could use new technology that allows smartphone users to photograph a digital grid and be connected to an ever-changing ad site, she said.

LINK TO ARTICLE

City Cross-checking Sticker Scofflaws with State Database

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

RICK PEARSON, CHICAGO TRIBUNE | LINK TO ARTICLE

Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza said Monday her office has begun cross-checking Illinois secretary of state car registration information to crackdown on city sticker scofflaws.

“I think that’s just such low hanging fruit, that’s common sense. With technology, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be feeding into each other’s databases,” Mendoza said at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. “We are in the process of trying to work out all of the kinks so that our data does talk to each other. But the will to do that is there, which was never even entertained before.”

Mendoza, a former state legislator who was sworn in May 16, has criticized Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to increase sticker fees on heavier vehicles. She favors higher fines and stronger enforcement efforts for those who don’t buy stickers, and said she has asked for a formal meeting with the mayor.

Emanuel wants to reclassify more vehicles in the heavier weight category, arguing they cause more damage to city streets. The move could cost owners $60 more for a sticker next year. Mendoza prefers raising the fine for failing to purchase a sticker to $200 from $120.

“We are stepping up our enforcement very, very heavily,” she said. “Before I’m ready to ask any law abiding citizen in the city of Chicago, or anywhere else for that matter, to pay more, we should be going after those individuals who have made an active choice not to pay.”

Mendoza said accessing the state’s vehicle database would involve more than just trying to round up vehicle owners who don’t pay the city wheel tax. She said the information also could allow her office to contact new city residents and inform them of vehicle registration and parking rules as a “welcome kit of sorts,” rather than having them learn of the city’s sticker rules by getting a ticket.

Mendoza also said her office is continuing to examine the possibility of seeking an advertiser or sponsor for the back of city stickers. She said instead of just getting a logo, a sponsor could use new technology that allows smartphone users to take a picture of a digital grid and be connected to an ever changing ad site.

LINK TO ARTICLE

WTTW: City Clerk Susana Mendoza's Thoughts on a City Sticker Hike

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:06:00 GMT

YASMIN ROMMOHAN, CHICAGO TONIGHT | LINK TO VIDEO

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed budget contains a number of controversial ideas, but there's one proposal that has the City Clerk fired up. And depending on the kind of vehicle you drive, you may not like it either. City Clerk Susana Mendoza is here to tell us why.

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NBC: City Clerk to Fight Proposed City Sticker Hike

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

LISA BALDE, NBC WARD ROOM | LINK TO ARTICLE

The woman who swore in Rahm Emanuel is swearing at part of the mayor's first budget.
City Clerk Susana Mendoza said Wednesday she opposes a budget line that calls for higher city sticker fees for larger vehicles, including SUVs. And she's prepared to fight it.
Stickers for heavy cars and trucks would be increased from $120 to $135 to help pay for damage to city streets that Emanuel said these cars help create. The move would create about $14.8 million in revenue, Emanuel said.

But Mendoza argues SUVs already pay more than other vehicles and hiking the price in the current economy isn't fair.

"I just found out about the city sticker proposal today," Mendoza said Wednesday. "Frankly I am in strong opposition. I think that maybe had they reached out to us earlier we could have provided them with a couple other alternatives."

She did offer up an alternative last month in response to Emanuel's call for ideas. To avoid fee hikes, she tossed out a plan to generate money through advertisements on the back of vehicle registration stickers.

And on Wednesday she offered another. "Before I ask [drivers] to pay any more, before any of us asks them to pay any more, maybe we should be going after the people who are not even in compliance with the law and have not purchased their city sticker."

Increase the fine from $120 to $200, she said, for drivers caught without a sticker.
Mendoza said she addressed Emanuel right after his speech about the increase and said she'll speak with him again.

"It's OK, this is how things start.," she said. "This new administration will learn by going through some obtacles and bumps along the way. But what I can say is I feel very comfortable being able to sit down with the mayor and find better alternatives to increasing the city sticker price."

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CBS: Pushback Begins Over Mayor’s Proposed Tax And Fee Hikes

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

JAY LEVINE, CBS CHICAGO | LINK TO VIDEO

Outrage surfaced Thursday, a day after Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed charging a “congestion premium” at parking garages, hiking vehicle sticker fees for many motorists and raising the city’s hotel tax rate.

It’s a clear sign that the battle of the mayor’s budget has started, CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports.

Think gas prices are high? How about paying more than $1,000 a year in city parking fees? That’s gotten drivers’ blood boiling faster than rush hour on the Ike.

And the garage owners are trying to take advantage of it.

Interpark owns or operates 20 garages downtown. On Thursday morning, notices were plastered outside every elevator in their structures, telling customers about the proposed $2-a-day congestion fee and urging them to contact their alderman to protest.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Emil Standfield of Joliet said. “How could we be paying more? It’s $28 for an hour. How much more do you need?”

Interpark CEO J. Marshall Peck warned of other consequences.

“It could change behavior — not just driving behavior, but change decisions to do business in the Loop,” he said.

According to the mayor’s proposal, the city tax for monthly parkers could be $1,200 a year.

Another price hike, for vehicle stickers, is also under an attack. City Clerk Susana Mendoza discovered something Emanuel didn’t reveal Wednesday, which will nearly double vehicle sticker fees for hundreds of thousands. That’s because the Emanuel administration would lower the standard by which automobiles are considered “heavy” vehicles.

“Let’s say you’re driving a Ford Taurus today. That’s a little bit over 4,000 pounds,” she said. “Under the classification that I think they’re looking at, you’d be looking at that car today paying $75 and next year paying $135.

But Mendoza says she doesn’t consider a Taurus to be a large passenger vehicle.

A spokesperson for the mayor admitted Clerk Mendoza was correct. Cars were reclassified, and people will have to pay a lot more. But she denied the mayor was trying to pull a fast one.

Then there are the city’s hotel operators, who are fighting the proposed 1 percent hotel tax hike. In a memo, Convention and Tourism CEO Don Welsh complains that “those of us in the industry were caught off guard by the mayor’s proposal.”

Welsh says he hopes the city would turn over a portion of the new revenue, if approved, for marketing purposes.

LINK TO VIDEO

City Clerk Mendoza To Fight Mayor’s Proposed City Sticker Fee Hikes

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

PARKING TICKET GEEK, THE EXPIRED METER | LINK TO ARTICLE

Plan Increases Sticker Fee For 355,000 Vehicle Owners

Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza doesn’t want to see an increase in the fees for Chicago city vehicle stickers.

She even campaigned against raising city sticker costs.

So it wasn’t a surprise when Mendoza, minutes after Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave his budget speech to the Chicago City Council calling for, among other things, an increase in city sticker fees for larger vehicles or SUVs and trucks, she voiced strong opposition to the measure

“I am adamantly opposed to raising any city vehicle sticker fees and this is the first I have heard of any such increase,” said Clerk Mendoza, who seemed blindsided by Mayor Emanuel’s proposal. “The large passenger sticker fee was last increased in 2007 by $30. The proposed $15 sticker price increase would amount to a 12.5% price hike in only 5 years, which is unacceptable at a time when people’s pocketbooks are stretched to the maximum already.”

Mayor Emanuel’s proposal calls for increasing the fee on larger vehicles $15 from $120 to $135, raise pickup truck city stickers $20 from $180 to $200 and increase the city sticker fee for larger trucks (over 16,000 pounds) $30 from $420 to $450.

The city hopes to raise an additional $14.8 million to be used for improving street infrastructure, repairs, maintenance and to fill an additional 160,000 potholes in 2012–a 40% increase according to Department of Budget spokesperson Kathleen Strand.

Poof! Plan Transforms 200,000 Cars Into SUVs

But a huge portion of the projected $14.8 million will come from a weight reclassification of what’s considered a larger passenger vehicle, changing the definition of 200,000 Chicago vehicles from passenger vehicle to SUV.

Currently, any vehicle over 4,500 pounds must pay the higher fee. But the Emanuel administration is proposing lowering that weight standard to just 4000 pounds–a standard which will allow for a few hundred thousand vehicles to be taxed at the higher rate.

Owners of vehicles like the the Toyota Sienna, Nissan Pathfinder, Honda Pilot, Ford Explorer, BMW X3, Jeep Cherokee, Kia Sedona and Kia Sorento will see the $75 city sticker fee they paid this year nearly double to $135 in 2012.

In 2011, the City Clerk’s office says 90,000 vehicles fit the SUV classification. This proposed weight reclassification will move an estimated 200,000 vehicles from the standard city sticker rate of $75 to the higher fee–a $60 jump.

With 290,000 motor vehicles being classified as larger passenger vehicles and another 65,000 vehicles classified as trucks (both A & B plate), an estimated 355,000 of the 1.26 million total motor vehicles which purchase city stickers every year would see an increase in their sticker price.

“75% of Chicagoans will see no effect,” explains Strand who says bigger vehicles take a greater toll on city streets. “Those who drive heavier vehicles are being asked to pay a little more. We’re asking vehicle owners to pay a fair share for increasing damage they do to our roadways.”

While the Clerk and her office agree with the Mayor’s premise that heavier vehicles have a more costly impact on city streets, the Clerk’s office feels the already $120 fee is a fair one.

“I understand the city is facing a tough, unprecedented financial situation. That is why I have proposed alternative ways to raise new revenue for the city without raising sticker fees,” reinforced Clerk Mendoza. “I am currently working to secure sponsorship opportunities for the city vehicle sticker in hopes of holding the line on sticker fees.”

But the Clerk’s office is proposing other ways of raising revenue for the city.

The Clerk’s office is getting behind an increase in the fine for “failure to display” a Chicago city sticker from the current $120 to $200 to bring in revenue and convince more people to buy their stickers.

“Clerk Mendoza’s big point is why don’t we look at scofflaws,” explains City Clerk spokesperson Kristine Williams. “Why not go after the scofflaws first before you go after the law abiding citizens who buy their city sticker every year. Those are the people we should be hit with tougher penalties, not the people standing in line and buying their city stickers.”

The Clerk’s office says they were surprised by the Mayor’s plan to increase vehicle sticker prices and that no one in the Mayor’s office had reached out to their office–the city agency that administers the city sticker program–to discuss these ideas before Emanuel’s speech on Wednesday.

“This was the first we heard of it,” said Williams of the proposed hikes.

“I can’t speak to that,” said Strand when asked why the Mayor had not shared his ideas with the City Clerk. “I can’t tell you if there’s any truth to that or not. This is just the start of a process.”

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