Neighbor News
It's safe to disregard the disabled.
In Bridgeview, people illegally park in handicapped parking spots, and nothing is done about it.
Take a look at the pictures. The owner of this car is parked illegally in a handicap spot not once, but twice within a month’s time. If you look in the window of the vehicle, you will NOT see a handicap parking placard. This is because she is not disabled. She is more than capable of walking a little further, to get into the building, but her choosing not to shows her disregard for the welfare and rights of other people, especially the 4 people in building with disabilities.
She reflects that one neighbor most decent people pray they do not get. We have dealt with the type of neighbors that have parties well into the night, yelling expletives all the time, smoking cannabis in the hallways, and throwing cigarette butts onto the ground when it is not difficult to use a wastebasket. Neighbors like these not only have respect for their neighbor, but for the law as well (noise ordinances, littering, etc).
On both occasions, Bridgeview police were called, and on both occasions, she did not face consequences for their actions. The first time, 3/6/2025, the excuse was that the responding officer did not see clear signs of handicap parking. Seriously? All he needed to do was look at the sign on the wall that said “handicap parking”, as well as the handicap icon and the diagonal lines on the space in question. It is not rocket science to understand that this was a handicap spot. Take another look at the last picture to see what I mean. Who knows why they did not ticket her the second time, on 4/9/2025, but if she would have been given a ticket the first time, a $200 fine, perhaps there would not have been a second time.
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What is very important to remember is that a law is only as effective as its enforcement. Just laws are meant to protect people, but when just laws are not enforced, the vulnerable needlessly suffer. By not upholding the law, the Police Department not only slaps every disabled person, who have had to wait months to receive their placards, but it assures the driver that the law does not apply to her. When a non-disabled person parks in a handicapped spot, that person not only violates village ordinances but also state law and even federal laws under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. By not penalizing such parties, those with the authority are discriminating against every disabled person of the jurisdiction. Perhaps the Illinois Bureau of Disability Rights should be made aware of this.
Unfortunately, this type of phenomenon is everywhere and not just Bridgeview. People who are in a hurry or are merely lazy would rather deprive a disabled person of a parking spot than to walk an extra yard. More than that, people disregard red lights, not even trying to stop, but dashing forwards, not understanding, or caring, about the consequences of such recklessness. Perhaps this is why there are so many collisions on Harlem between 71st Street and 87th Street, not to mention 79th Street and Roberts Road. Then the police come when it is too late, when at least one vehicle is totaled and at least one person is seriously injured or dead. Does one of the 4 people in the building mentioned need to become seriously injured before the Police Department obtains the epiphany that perhaps they should actually enforce laws meant to protect the disabled? God forbid that should happen, because if it does, some of the responsibility for it must fall on the Village of Bridgeview. If the injured party should sue for damages, the Village of Bridgeview would rightly be named as a defendant in any lawsuit. It does not need to come to that; it can all be prevented if the Police Department demonstrates to this neighbor and to all other guilty parties that it is NOT safe to disregard the disabled in Bridgeview.
