Daily Archives: February 14, 2007

City of Peoria

Snow removal shows marked improvement

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Snow PlowThe city did a very good job of plowing the snow the last couple of days. Everything seemed very organized. My alley was plowed before noon yesterday, and plowed again last night. The residential streets have had at least one pass, and I expect will be cleared curb-to-curb by tomorrow. The main roads are in excellent condition.

Perhaps the most impressive thing I saw was all the Cat end loaders and city trucks downtown last night actually removing the snow from the streets. I also saw little Bobcat-size tractors clearing the sidewalks. It was a sight to behold.

Congratulations to the Public Works Department on a job well done.

City of Peoria, Crime

Is your bicycle registered?

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In the category of “little-known and never-enforced Peoria ordinances,” did you know that your bicycle is supposed to be registered and licensed?

Yup. I didn’t believe it either, but Gary Sandberg told me it was in the municipal code. Sure enough, here’s the chapter and verse (emphasis mine):

Sec. 28-489. Registration, etc., required; exemptions.
(a) No person shall ride or propel a bicycle upon any street or public way in the city, or upon any part thereof, unless such bicycle has been registered and provided with the proper license tags as provided for in this article.
(b) Sidewalk bikes, scooter bikes, junior bikes or any other type of bicycle with a tire of 20 inches or less shall be exempt from license or registration.
(Code 1957, § 19-147)

Sec. 28-490. Application for license; fee.
Application for a license to own and operate a bicycle shall be made to the superintendent of police, upon a form to be provided by the superintendent of police. The application shall be accompanied by a fee of $0.50 to be paid in advance at the time of issuance of the license.
(Code 1957, § 19-148)

Sec. 28-491. License tag.
(a) Upon submission of the application referred to in section 28-490 in proper form, the superintendent of police shall provide duplicate tags, one to be permanently attached to the frame of the bicycle, the duplicate to be attached in such a manner as to permit the removal of the same by the owner while the bicycle is not in operation. The removal of any permanent tag, except by proper authority, shall be a violation of this article. It shall be a violation of this article for any person to operate any bicycle upon any street of the city, unless such bicycle is equipped with and displays thereon the proper license tags.
(b) Duplicate license tags for bicycles will be issued by the superintendent of police to the owner of a bicycle, when such tags are lost or stolen, only upon written application, which shall state what disposition was made of the original tag, whether the same was lost or stolen.
(Code 1957, § 19-149)

There’s actually more, but I don’t want to bore you further. There’s a provision for transferring ownership (fee: 10¢) and for violating the ordinance (fee: $10).

On that last point, I think we’ve found a great way to raise some money for the city: this spring and summer, station an officer at the beginning of the Rock Island Trail and start handing out citations to bicyclists with unregistered bicycles. Trail proponents say there are 82,000 users of the Rock Island Trail. If just a quarter of those (20,500) are bicyclists (and I bet they’re all unregistered), that would bring in over $200,000!