City says to move it or lose it

Chicago's Streets and Sans Department sent out a warning yesterday: Get rid of the lawn chairs or we'll toss 'em.

"The snowstorm we had is history," Matt Smith, department spokesman, said in a Chicago Tribune article. "It's time to start pulling that [stuff] in."

After a nearly 7-inch snowfall on Dec. 8, the city at first tolerated hard-working shovelers who dug out their cars and saved their spots with anything from chairs to brooms, Smith said. But now it's time to clean up.

"The first couple of days after the storm we have other things to take care of," Smith said. "But we've had a couple of thaws and had our crews out clearing the streets. There's really not a reason to have these out."

Items will first be pulled off the streets by city workers and placed in the parkway. Eventually, unclaimed items will be thrown away.

It's hard to take these threats seriously. This is the same city department that's supposed to tow away parked cars on the city's snow routes. I took these pictures yesterday on Clark Street, which, as you can see by the signs, is a snow route (click on the images to enlarge). Ten days after the snowstorm, at least four cars are still parked on a half-mile stretch of the street, never having been moved. If I were to take a wild guess, the lawn chairs and brooms will be on the streets until the spring thaw. If I were to take another wild guess, I'd say that at least one of these cars has a dead body in the trunk.