Aldermen Want Hearings On Excessive Bus Idling
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Two Chicago Aldermen on Wednesday called for hearings into why the city has not been enforcing an environmental ordinance designed to limit the time buses and trucks sit idling.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Craig Dellimore Reports
Podcast
For more than a year, Chicago has had an ordinance on the books prohibiting big diesel powered vehicles — like buses — from idling for more than three minutes under normal conditions. Idling vehicles cause more pollution.
But, Ald. Virginia Rugai (19th), who chairs the City Council's Energy and Environment Committee, said there's been very little enforcement.
When it was approved in October 2009, the measure was hailed as a green initiative that would conserve fuel while also limiting pollution.
The ordinance prohibits large diesel powered vehicles from idling for more than three minutes except during very hot or very cold weather conditions.
But Rugai and Ald. Edward Burke (14th), the powerful chairman of the council's Finance Committee, said the ordinance is hardly being enforced and they want to know why.
They've called for City Council hearings to hear from officials at the Department of Revenue and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, which are charged with enforcing the law.
