Ask MRN: Questions answered about school zone speed limit on 24th Street and illegally parking in handicapped spots

Dear MRN, 

Since you posted an article about the stoplight at 25th and Broadway, I have wondered if there still needs to be a school zone speed limit on northbound and southbound traffic on 24th Street. St Peter School is a block away. Madison School is no longer used as a school. Chaddock isn’t in the area of the posted zone.

Adam Yates, deputy chief with the Quincy Police Department, said the school zone on 24th Street stretches from 220 feet north of Maine Street to 220 feet south of Jersey Street. The speed limit of 20 miles per hour is enforced during school days when school children are present. The zone is still listed online in the City of Quincy Municipal Code under “Schedule II: Speed Limits.” 

“However, because Madison School is no longer an active elementary school building, the Quincy Police Department does not enforce this school zone speed limit,” Yates said.

Yates went on to explain that the school zone speed limit continues to exist. However, Quincy police officers won’t be actively enforcing it. However, QPD could technically enforce the speed limit “if something drastic happened,” Yates said.

The Quincy School District last used Madison School, 2435 Maine, as a grade school during the 2018-19 year. The Quincy School Board sold Madison School in October 2019 to John Rupp and his sons, Blake and Bryce, for $200,000.

People inquired about how to eliminate the school zone speed limit on Maine when Madison was no longer used as a school. However, Yates said other people also asked for the speed zone to remain in place for the safety of students attending St. Peter School, 2500 Maine.

“School zone speed limits are created or removed by city ordinance,” Yates said. “The normal sequence of events is that a proposed creation or removal of a school zone speed limit is brought up for consideration by the Traffic Commission. They will discuss the issue and then forward the proposal, along with their recommendation, to the Quincy City Council. If the proposal is approved, an ordinance is drafted to be presented to and voted on by the City Council.”

Dear MRN, 

In a private parking lot … like your dentist … who can assess the fine for illegally parking in a handicapped spot?

Police chief Rob Copley says Quincy police officers monitor these spots for violations when possible. 

“We also respond to complaints,” he said.

The fine is $500.

The Illinois Secretary of State website says the minimum fine for parking in a space reserved for people with disabilities without disability license plates and/or a parking placard is $250. Local municipalities may increase the fines.

Unauthorized use of disability plates and/or a parking placard carries a minimum $500 fine and a driver’s license suspension.

The following are Class A misdemeanors for a first offense and may result in a fine of up to $2,500 and a one-year suspension of a person’s driver’s license. Violators may be charged with a Class 4 felony for a second offense.

• Using a deceased person’s disability license plates or parking placard.
• Altering a parking placard.
• Possessing a fake, fraudulent, lost or stolen parking placard.
• Duplicating or manufacturing a parking placard.
• Selling or otherwise distributing a fraudulent parking placard.