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(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall install or maintain any telephone booth, mounted telephone, or other form of pay telephone not enclosed within the interior of a building unless it is located on the public way and in accordance with Section 10-28-265 of this Code. Any outdoor pay telephone located on property other than the public way in violation of this section shall be removed by its owner, any person with control over the payphone, or the owner of real estate on which the payphone is located, within 30 days after the effective date of this section.
(b) Any person who violates any provision of subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to a fine of not less than $50.00 and not more than $200.00 for each offense. If an outdoor pay telephone is installed in violation of this section at substantially the same location where a telephone was previously removed pursuant to this section, any person participating in the violation shall be fined not less than $200.00 and not more than $500.00. Each day that a violation of subsection (a) continues shall constitute a separate offense. However, for the period ending six months after the effective date of this amendatory ordinance, no fine shall be imposed with respect to a telephone unless a removal notice has been posted on the telephone pursuant to this section.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection may issue a revocable certificate of registration jointly authorizing the owner of real property on which a telephone is to be located and a telecommunications company that will operate the telephone, subject to the conditions of this section, the installation or maintenance of a telephone booth, mounted telephone, or other form of pay telephone not enclosed within the interior of a building and not on the public way, but permitted by this subsection (c). The certification of registration shall create no legal rights or entitlements, and shall not be deemed to create any type of vested interest. The application for the certificate of registration shall designate a registered agent for receiving notices under this section. Applications shall be maintained by the city as confidential business records. The certification shall be issued no later than 30 days after a complete application for an eligible location is received. No certificate of registration shall authorize installation of a telephone at a location that the commissioner determines will not be in the public interest or may have a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood. The commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection may issue a certificate of registration pursuant to this section for no more than two telephones on any zoning lot of property; provided that the number of telephones authorized under this section for any parking lot with 200 or more parking spaces, or for any property on which there are facilities designed for public assembly and having a capacity for more than 10,000 persons, shall not exceed a number determined by the commissioner by rule as necessary for public convenience. No certificate of registration shall authorize a telephone situated: (i) on vacant property; (ii) on property on which there is situated an abandoned building; (iii) on property on which there is situated an establishment that has or requires a tavern license, or that is kept, used, maintained, advertised and held out to the public as a place that primarily sells alcoholic liquor at retail; or (iv) on property on which there is a building that is used primarily for residential purposes. Certificates of registration shall be issued for particular locations identified in the application therefor. The commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection by rule may establish and impose an application fee or an annual registration fee, or both, for certificates of registration issued under this section. The total amount of the fees may not exceed an amount sufficient for the city to recover its costs in administering this section, exclusive of costs directly related to preliminary or final hearings. A copy of each application for a certificate of registration shall be sent to the alderman for the ward in which the proposed telephone is to be located not less than five days after the application is received.
(d) Whenever the commissioner of business affairs and consumer protection determines that it is not in the public interest for the telephone to remain on private property, or that the telephone may have a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood, the commissioner shall initiate procedures to revoke the certificate of registration for that telephone. A certification by the alderman of the ward in which the telephone is or is to be located setting forth facts establishing that it is not in the public interest for the telephone to remain on private property, or that the telephone has a deleterious impact on the surrounding neighborhood, shall be prima facie evidence that the certificate of registration is subject to revocation or should not be issued under this section. Whenever the commissioner makes such a determination with respect to a telephone for which a certificate of registration has been issued, the commissioner shall attempt to notify the registrant of the determination by mailing a notice to the registered agent or the registrant, and a representative of the City of Chicago may enter upon any private property and may place upon the telephone a notice stating that the certificate of registration is subject to revocation and that the registrant has a right to request a preliminary hearing at which the registrant will be given an opportunity to be heard in opposition to the revocation within seven days of the notice. The preliminary hearing shall be informal and shall provide the registrant with an opportunity to address the reasons for the commissioner's preliminary determination. If no preliminary hearing is requested or if the commissioner determines that there is probable cause for revocation of the certificate of registration after the preliminary hearing, the commissioner shall issue an order requiring the telephone and its appurtenances to be removed within seven days after the order is issued pending a final determination. Telephones that are not timely removed may be removed by a representative of the City of Chicago. No certificate of registration may be issued for a telephone at a zoning lot with respect to which a previous certificate has been revoked for a period of one year after revocation.
(e) Outdoor pay telephones not lawfully installed or maintained pursuant to this Code are hereby declared to be public nuisances subject to summary abatement upon due notice. A representative of the City of Chicago may enter upon any private property within the City of Chicago that he or she has reason to believe contains an outdoor pay telephone in violation of this section, and may place upon the telephone a notice that the telephone must be removed within seven days. Such notice shall also provide that if the telephone is not removed within seven days, a representative of the City of Chicago may remove the telephone and charge the costs of removal jointly and severally to its owner, operator, and the person who owns or controls the real property on which the pay telephone is located. If such telephone has not been removed within seven days, a representative of the City of Chicago may remove the telephone.
(f) If the costs to the City of Chicago of removing telephones and their appurtenances pursuant to this section are not paid within 30 days, the telephone shall be deemed abandoned and may be sold or destroyed. The costs of removing outdoor pay telephones shall be a debt to the City of Chicago jointly and severally owed by the telephone's owner and operator, and any person who owns or controls the real property on which the telephone was located.
(Added Coun. J. 10-5-94, p. 57792; Amend Coun. J. 7-10-96, p. 24982; Amend Coun. J. 11-12-97, p. 56814; Amend Coun. J. 4-29-98, p. 66564; Amend Coun. J. 7-27-05, p. 53211, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 11-19-08, p. 47220, Art. V, § 5; Amend Coun. J. 11-16-11, p. 13798, Art. I, § 6)
It is unlawful for any person to make use of any portable entertainment appliance, radio, used exclusively for entertainment, or musical instrument (and other sound-emitting devices), which are audible to others, in any streetcar, elevated train or subway and in any other public conveyance having a capacity of more than seven passengers operating within the city limits of the City of Chicago. Any person violating this section shall be fined not less than $50.00 nor more than $300.00 for each offense.
(Prior code § 193-7.11)
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Burglar alarm system" means any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, designed to signal the occurrence of an illegal entry or attempted illegal entry of the premises protected by the system. However, "burglar alarm system" shall not include any system installed to protect any premises used primarily for residential, educational, religious or charitable purposes or used primarily by a unit of government or school district.
(2) "Burglar alarm user" means the person or entity that owns, leases or subscribes to a burglar system, but does not include a private alarm company. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a person who owns or occupies any premises on which a burglar alarm system has been installed is the user of that system.
(3) "False alarm" means a burglar alarm system activated in the absence of an emergency whether wilfully or by inadvertence, negligence or unintentional act, including any mechanical or electrical malfunction of the alarm system, to which the department of police is alerted for a response. A false alarm shall not include an alarm activated by a temporary surge or loss of electrical power or loss of telephone service to the burglar alarm user; the testing or repairing of telephone or electrical lines or equipment outside the premises if prior notice of the testing or repair is given to the department of police; unusually violent conditions of nature; an illegal entry, theft or robbery, or an attempt thereof; or an observable act of vandalism; where evidence of such activity exists.
(b) No burglar alarm user shall use a burglar alarm system that emits a false alarm. Any burglar alarm user accused of violating this section may raise as an affirmative defense that the burglar alarm user has taken all reasonable measures to eliminate false alarms. Those reasonable measures must include all of the following:
(1) Using a burglar alarm system that is installed and maintained by a properly licensed private alarm contractor.
(2) Having documentary evidence that the alarm system was installed, inspected or tested by a properly licensed private alarm contractor within the previous 12 months.
(3) Making every reasonable effort to have a responsible person arrive at the protected premises within 45 minutes if requested by the Department of Police or Office of Emergency Management and Communications, in order to:
(i) deactivate the alarm system;
(ii) provide access to the alarm location; or
(iii) provide alternative security for the alarm location.
(c) Any person who violates this section shall be subject to a fine of $100 for each false alarm. A notice of violation of this section and a notice of hearing may be served on the burglar alarm user in the manner provided in Section 2-14-074 of this Code, or by affixing the notice to the door or other prominent location on the premises.
(Added Coun. J. 11-19-08, p. 47220, Art. III, § 1)
(a) Whenever used in this section, the word "scanner" means a radio set or apparatus (1) capable of receiving, transmitting, or both receiving and transmitting radio messages or signals within the wavelength or channel now or hereafter assigned by the Federal Communications Commission or its successor for use by law enforcement agencies; or (2) that may intercept or interfere with the transmission or reception of radio messages or signals by the department of police.
(b) No person shall use a scanner in such a way as to interfere with messages transmitted or received by the department of police. No person shall use a scanner to aid or abet the performance of any act in violation of any law or ordinance. The use of a scanner to aid or abet any illegal act shall be an offense separate and distinct from such illegal act.
(c) Any person who violates this section shall be subject to a fine of not less than $200.00 and not more than $500.00.
(Added Coun. J. 7-14-93, p. 35538)
It shall be unlawful for any person to commit vandalism. A person commits vandalism when such person, without proper authorization, engages in the willful or malicious destruction, injury, disfigurement or defacement of any public or private property. Vandalism includes, but is not limited to, any act of cutting, tearing, breaking, marking, drawing, painting or etching when such act is intended to damage property or has the effect of causing damage to property.
Any person who violates this section, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,500.00 nor more than $2.500.00 for each offense, plus the actual costs incurred by the property owner or the city to abate, remediate, repair or remove the effects of the vandalism. To the extent permitted by law, such costs shall be payable to the person who incurred the costs. In addition to such fine and costs, any such offense may also be punished as a misdemeanor by incarceration in a penal institution other than a penitentiary for a term of up to 30 days, or by a requirement to perform up to 1,500 hours of community service, under the procedures set forth in Section 1-2-1.1 of the Illinois Municipal Code, as amended, and in the Illinois Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963, as amended. All actions seeking the imposition of fines only shall be filed as quasi-criminal actions subject to the provisions of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, as amended.
(Prior code § 193-1.5; Amend Coun. J. 10-6-86, p. 34526; Amend Coun. J. 5-16-90, p. 15806; Amend Coun. J. 6-12-91, p. 1718; Amend Coun. J. 5-19-93, p. 32392; Amend Coun. J. 5-20-98, p. 69305; Amend Coun. J. 5-11-05, p. 48079, § 3; Amend Coun. J. 7-30-14, p. 85776, § 1)
In all instances in which the fine set forth in Section 8-4-060 of the code is imposed by the city's department of administrative hearings for destruction, injury, disfigurement or other defacement of Chicago Transit Authority property, one-half of any such fine imposed and collected shall be made available to the Chicago Transit Authority for use in removing graffiti and other defacement of Chicago Transit Authority property.
(Added Coun. J. 7-29-98, p. 74138)
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