Code Enforcement Ramps Up Tickets For Weed Vegetation

Documents obtained reflect a stunning spike in fines for weeds or "high grass"

Photo: Kevin Gosztola

[UPDATE - July 15 at 11:15 a.m.] One day after the Elmwood Park Advocate published this article, Code Enforcement visited Charlie Garcia Jr. and apologized for issuing a ticket. Garcia said they admitted the fine was issued by mistake. Garcia says Code Enforcement told him there was a typo that led the department to confuse Garcia’s address with another nearby address. This is a positive development for Garcia, who shared his story with us. We’re glad that he no longer has to go to court in August to fight the ticket.

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Originally published article

By Kevin Gosztola

In June, Elmwood Park code enforcement ramped up tickets against residents for weeds or “high grass.”

The number of tickets increased around 300 percent when compared to the same period last year, and the sharp rise disproportionately impacted the northern part of the village. 

Documents obtained from the Village of Elmwood Park through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act show 142 total tickets were issued by code enforcement in June. Each ticket was for $50. If fully paid, the village would bring in $6,000 in fines. 

For comparison, the Elmwood Park Advocate also requested records for June 2024. Only 46 tickets were issued by code enforcement. If fully paid, the village would bring in $3,500 in fines. (As of July 9, records show that residents who received tickets more than a year ago still owe $1,500.)

Here’s a map of addresses that were ticketed for weeds or high weeds and grass in June 2024:

Here’s a map of addresses that were ticketed for weeds or high weeds and grass in June of this year:

The Advocate called and emailed the Elmwood Park Code Department for comment, but no person with the department responded to our request prior to publication.

Last June, code enforcement officer Samuel Parrilli was responsible for 70 percent of the tickets. Parrilli issued 101 tickets. In a single day, on June 23, Parrilli fined 16 residents. (The average number of tickets per day was around 5 tickets.)

Village President Angelo “Skip” Saviano sent a letter in mid-June that reminded Elmwood Park residents that they must maintain their yards in the front and the back of their homes. 

“It’s important that all vegetation be well kept on your property. This means keeping your grass regularly cut, weeds pulled or cut back, and bushes and trees trimmed,” Saviano stated. “It is important that this work be done in front of the home, as well as in the alley. All vegetation must be trimmed back to your lot line.” 

Saviano informed residents that the Elmwood Park Code Department would conduct inspections in “the coming weeks after you receive this letter and residents who do not comply with the village’s code for property maintenance will be ticketed and fined.”  

But several residents received Saviano’s warning in the final week of June, and by then, code enforcement had already handed out dozens of tickets. 

One resident, Charlie Garcia Jr., who lives north of the train tracks, shared a ticket that his family received on June 25. The ticket was written by Parrilli for “weeds in [the] alley in front of [the] garage.” 

Photos were included as “proof” of an ordinance violation. Yet Garcia insists that the attached photos were outdated and did not reflect the present condition of his garage and nearby vegetation. 

The attached photos show a cracked trim around the garage door. A more recent photo, which Garcia shared with the Advocate, shows a repaired garage trim, raising the question of when code enforcement took the photos.

Photo attached to Charlie Garcia Jr’s ticket

Photo attached to Charlie Garcia Jr.’s ticket

Recent photo of the garage shared by Charlie Garcia Jr.

"I understand why there are rules in place, and I understand the importance of enforcing rules, but what I don't understand is how those photos were used to build a case against my family for us to be on the hook for $50,” Garcia said.

Garcia is appealing the ticket and has a court date in August. 

Erick Cardona, who does the yard work at the Elmwood Park Community Church, posted on Facebook that a code enforcement officer gave the church his card. The officer said that if the church didn’t address a section that is out of public view and difficult to trim then the church would be fined. 

Maintaining vegetation at the church is not easy for Cardona, who works a night shift. Once a week, Cardona comes home at 6:30 a.m., freshens up, changes out of his work clothes, and heads to the church. "You guys have probably seen me cutting the grass on the corner of 75th avenue and Fullerton. I can only do so much especially with a one person crew.”

The community church has hosted events before for the Village of Elmwood Park, making the threat to fine the church for vegetation in a hard to reach area even more troublesome. 

According to the Elmwood Park village code, it is “illegal for the owners of real estate in the Village to refuse or neglect to cut grass and weeds when such grass and weeds shall have reached a height in excess of eight inches.” 

No resident upset with being fined during the past month has said that the village should not enforce the code. However, it is hard to believe that wild vegetation on properties was more of an outstanding problem last month than in the previous year.

That suggests code enforcement felt some responsibility or pressure to issue more tickets than usual, and the lack of tickets in the southern part of Elmwood Park raises the question of whether the code was fairly enforced when the village cracked down on weeds and high grass.