City licensing: one week later

After 9 calls to a myriad of Chicago departments, I have finally learned that I must attend court. There is no mail in option for failure to display a city dog license. Here are the different organizations I had to go through to get this simple answer. 311-two times Administraticve hearings-2 times Animal Care and Control-1 time 24th district Chicago Police-1 time Chicago Department of Revenue-1 time City Clerk-1 time I was informed that it takes approximately two weeks for the ticket to enter into the system. Once that has happened, I can come to the court and have my hearing at a time conveniant for me. Out of morbid curiousity, I looked up some of the violations that do allow mail in of fines. CTA ordinance violations Drinking in public Biking on the Sidewalk Skateboards, Rollerblades or pushcarts on a roadway Placing advertising matter on vehicles Solicitation or selling on a public way without a license Glass containers in public parks, beaches and playlots Lack of charitable solicitation permit Violation of park district codes Violation of operation restrcitions of marine vessels including dangerous or reckless operation. Creating wakes within 150 ft of shoreline, bouys or swimming areas Now I don't want to be a pain and I believe licensing is important. But is failing to display your city dog license more serious than some of the infractions above? Do you mean I can be operating a boat in such a way that is dangerous to life and limb and get out of my court date and a dog owner who has failed to purchase a license must appear in court? What's wrong with this picture? In the meantime, my check to the city has still not been cashed.

Does anybody really know what fine it is? Does anyone really care?

Fine? There's a fine? Who told you there's a fine? It's not my fine? I don't know nuthtin about no fine Miss Margot!! City license crackdown: Day 2 Blogging is such a magical way to vent your woes and come out a cleaner, saner person. I wonder why it took me so long to start? You just release your troubles out into the blogosphere, sleep a deep untroubled sleep and wake up to find a quarter under your pillow, a fixed disposal, the grass greener on your side of the fence and overseas bank employees wanting to share unclaimed wealth with you; confidentially of course! Today, I woke up and realized I don't need to fight city hall. With no tangible evidence, I have a better likelihood of someone clean and attractive sitting next to me on the el than getting out of this fine. That being sorted, I proceeded to determine how much I owed the city and wash my hands of the whole thing. The ticket directs you to call 311 with questions regarding your ticket. I called 311 to request information on the fine. The operator had no idea and transferred me to the Department of Administrative Hearings. Once again the operator had no clue but was kind enough to transfer me to Animal Care and Control. For those who don't know, Animal Care and Control is responsible for enforcing all animal related municipal code ordinances. The young lady who answered the phone, listened to me for less than 5 seconds before she went into a tirade. "What do you want me to do about it? I can't get you out of no ticket! You just have to pay yo fine!" For the first time in my life, I had to ask and operator to please shut up and let me finish! Once I was successful in quieting her, I explained that I had every intention of paying the fine if someone would simply tell me how much it was. Her response was "Now how am I supposed to know that?!" rather than "Can you hold please while I see if I can get that information for you?" I thanked her, rather sarcastically, for her time and hung up. Once again I call 311. I explain to the operator that I have been channeled between 311, Administrative Hearings and Animal Care and Control to no avail. She also says she has no idea what the fine is. I told her that I simply want to pay my ticket, as good citizens do. I cannot take time off to appear in court, yet if my fine is not post dated within seven days of the citation, I must appear in court. Finally I reminded her that 311 is a helpline and I need her help. She then asked if I had called the Police Department. I told her no and she transferred me to the 24th district office. Officer Jamie answered the phone. I explained my dilemma and he asked if I could hold. When he asked if I needed to know the fine for my dog, I said "I need to know the fine for my dogszzz(emphasizing plurality.) After a long stretch of time, he returned to the line and said he heard it was $25. Now I don't know about you, but the answer wasn't emphatic enough to gain my confidence. I asked for his name and badge number and there was a long pause. Before he could respond, I added that I wanted to make sure I had every i dotted and t crossed. If I was mailing in a fine, that could potentially be inaccurate, I wanted to add a letter explaining the hoops I had to go through to get the information and where the final figure came from. He gave me his name and badge number. Once again, Chicago puts the cart before the horse. Ticketing citizens without any thought to fines, or for that matter, better use of it's men in blue.

Chicago dog owners be warned: get your city license immediately

I posted last week that the Chicago Police bike officers were threatening to ticket dog owners without a license in our parks. As of today, they have branched out onto our streets. No more than 30 minutes ago, I was walking up Morse Avenue, between Glenwood and Greenview, with my dogs Macy, Bailey, Sydney and my client's dog Siris. Siris's dad is in Isreal and he is staying with me for a month. Three Chicago police officers, on bikes, asked me to stop. They asked me if I was a dog walker and I explained to them that three of the dogs were mine and one belonged to a friend, who was out of town. I knew where they were going with this, so I informed them that the dogs had been very recently vaccinated for rabies. I explained that I had sent in the paperwork for their city tags, but to date had not gotten the tags. The officers wrote a citation and told me that I could present my receipt to the court and escape the fine. Well there is one small problem. When I went the vet for the dog's vaccinations, I was not automatically given the applications...I had to request them. I was given the exact same application I have recieved in years past. Guess what...No receipt! Ony this years updated application has a tear off receipt. Even if there was a receipt, I mailed the form in with my check for $60. So who would fill out the receipt, besides me? So we're back at square one. Do you trust my word or do you want to take me to court? Clearly, the latter was the preferred method. So, I either have to anti up the fine or inconveniance my clients and loose wages by making a 2:30 p.m. hearing downtown on August 2nd to contest the charges. Not a possibility!!!! Even if I did appear in court, I have no physical evidence to prove I mailed my applications prior to issuance of the citation. Oh and one more thing: violation of municiple code 7-12-14 does not have penalties listed on the ticket, so I have no inkling as to what I owe in fines. Nor can I decipher whether I can mail in my payment, which I only have 7 days to do, or whether I must appear in court. Siris, by the way, got off without a citation. Now to avoid further violations I must contact his owner in Isreal, have his vet fax his rabies certification and go to city hall to get a tag for this dog as well. All this and Tom is moving to Tennesse in another month or so. GRRRRR!!! Immediately after receiving the citation, I stopped at Morse Market to pick up some food. I was examining the ticket in the parking lot to see if I could find the fine amount. A patron walked out of the store and asked me what I had been ticketed for. When I told her, her response was "you've got to be kidding!" She asked me where I received the ticket. I told her we were just a bit north of Soo's liquors. The woman couldn't believe that three bike officers would be more concerned with me and four restrained, calm animals than they would be over the normal group that hangs out in front of Soo's. I must agree!!!! Don't waste another second...get your city license!!!!

Dog licensing the Chicago way: City officials dog on the job

In the latest example of dumb and dumber do politics, here is a classic blunder in the city's attempt to addresss dog licensing. The Chicago Sun Times reports:

Dog owners have been thumbing their noses at the city’s mandatory dog license for decades. Chicago has roughly 500,000 dogs. It sells only 20,072 licenses despite years of threatened crackdowns.

Did it ever occur to the city that the majority of dog owners merely forget to send in the application? That enabling them to pay the fee and get the tag when their dogs get their shots might be the answer?

Why, then, did the Daley administration quietly impose a five-fold increase in the annual license fee for dogs not spayed or neutered — from $10 to $50?

Good question and why are we not concerned about cats?

“What we want to do is . . . make sure we make every effort to get our animals neutered and spayed so that we don’t have an over-population of dogs. This is a good way to do that,” said License Committee Chairman Eugene Schulter (47th).

Don't cats overpopulate as well? What is preventing pet owners from lying about their pets status to pay the cheaper fee?

Three years ago, then-City Clerk James Laski finally got around to tightening the regulatory leash for unlicensed dogs — by using a computer program to cross-check the city’s short list of licensed dogs against Cook County’s 100,000-plus list of Chicago dogs with rabies shots. Laski mailed 3,130 warning letters. One-third of the dog owners who got them promptly bought licenses — even before fines were levied. But, there was a problem. It takes 10 minutes to process and engrave each metal license. “There weren’t enough people to process the applications. They mailed only a few thousand letters. But, when too many came back, they couldn’t keep up with the volume and the warning letters stopped,” said Jay Rowell, deputy director of the clerk’s office.

Now why are we hand engraving city licenses? They don't have any personal information on the dog. Seems they could be mass produced, couldn't they? If they needed several categories, such as dangerous dog, neutered or non neutered, couldn't they still be mass produced? Did Toddy's budget cuts affect the number of engravers? Are the engravers city employees or is this contract licensed out? Do the engravers make a living wage?

Now, City Clerk Miguel del Valle has introduced an ordinance that would pave the way for dog licenses to be sold on the Internet and for the city to issue a three-year license, in addition to the annual one.

What part of this are you having a hard time with Miguel? Veterinarians should be collecting fees and issueing tags!!!

Rowell said the clerk is also exploring the possibility of shifting to either a sticker to be placed on the back of the rabies tag or to a plastic license. And he’s forming a task force of dog lovers to explore ways to “add value” to the dog license by providing owners with information on dog laws, dog-friendly areas and how to access them.

What is the likelyhood that an adhesive sticker will withstand beach sand, rolling and dog play? Go back to the drawing board!

Kent is promising a licensing crackdown, even before new revenue comes rolling in. She has authority to hire a new inspector to add to her team of three.

So each inspector will be responsible for 125,000 dogs. They'll be as effective as our city's elevator inspectors. The whole embarrassing story here.

Do you have your city license?

Starting today, cops along our lakefront parks will be issueing tickets to dog owners who do not have a city of chicago dog license. Applications can be obtained through your local vet. Dogs must be licensed on a yearly basis. The cost for licensing with the city is $5 for a spayed or neutered animal and $50 for a non neutered animal. The increase in cost for non neutered animals just went into effect, in the hopes of encouraging owners to spay or neuter their pets.