Wednesday, July 25, 2012

"I'll just be a minute"

What do you suppose people think about, when they stop in a crosswalk, in a Fire lane, and right under a No Parking sign? Or don't they?

The driver of this vehicle dropped by the Woodstock Jewel-Osco on Tuesday night about 8:00PM and parked, leaving someone in the passenger seat and the engine running, to keep the passenger cool no doubt. Her "minute" was more than ten.

If there had been a fire call last night, would the first engine have just bumped up against the rear bumper and pushed the car forward? Or if there had been a police-response emergency and 2-3 police cars had arrived, would this car have been in the way?

Many communities have Vehicular Control Agreements with shopping centers to allow police to enforce traffic laws on the shopping center's private property. And, in fact, Woodstock has a few of the Agreements. There was even one at the old Jewel store, before it moved a couple of blocks north and to the east side of the street to its current location.

But the City has refused to complete one on the new property on the northeast corner of Route 47 and Country Club Road, now home to Jewel-Osco, Hallmark, Golden Eagle Community Bank, Papa Murphy's Pizza, other small stores and, soon, the new Panera Bread.

Not sure what the reluctance is. Probably just that I reminded them that there is no Agreement there.

Maybe I should encourage the City not to enter into such Agreement. Then it would probably be struck within 30 days.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why didnt you make a citizen's arrest? Doh.

Gus said...

Well, just a few reasons, aside from the fact that, in Illinois, there is no "citizen's arrest".

The first is that I would have to call Woodstock P.D. Then, they'd have to dispatch a cop. If I call, they'd dispatch the farthest one.

Then if the violator is gone, even if I have photos, the cop will, reluctantly, write out a report, because I'll insist that he give me a Report Number. He may or may not issue a ticket. Then I'll have to go to court as the witness whereas, if the cop got there in time, he could be the witness and write the ticket.

Oh, those stop signs? You might as well forget them, as do most drivers. They are meaningless, without a Vehicle Control Agreement with the shopping center management.

Anonymous said...

Ah, well you shouldn't have to worry about court... yur in the courthouse enough? Doh1.

And the one thing that really gets on TMB's nerves is the folks that flick their cigarette butt out their window... usually hitting my rustbucket's windshield! How do ya think they'd feel if I was in front of them and I tossed one of my empty beer cans out my driver's window??? DOH2!!!