on west Evanston streets

About 78 cars were towed Thursday from streets west of Northwestern’s campus to make room for Evanston street cleaning vehicles.

Seven trucks from North Shore Towing, 2527 Oakton St., spent about six hours removing cars from streets running east to west near campus, said Al Warnock, manager of North Shore Towing. Those streets included: Chicago Avenue, Noyes Street, Haven Street, Colfax Street, Foster Street, Simpson Street, Lincoln Street and Clark Street.

In order to tow the cars, Evanston Streets and Sanitation Department staff were required to post signs at least one day in advance, warning car owners, said Zeltee Edwards, superintendent of Streets and Sanitation.

The department put signs up on Tuesday at about 50 foot intervals along each of the streets, he said.

In some areas of Evanston, the department simply tickets owners who leave their cars on the streets on cleaning days.

But the towing practice is used near Northwestern to encourage students to comply, Edwards said.

“We’ve had so much trouble with people complying with the tow signs (near campus), so we have special posts to allow us to tow the cars,” he said.

People whose cars were towed had to pay an $85 towing fee to North Shore Towing and a $50 parking ticket. People who left their cars overnight were charged an extra $25 storage fee by North Shore, Warnock said.

Evanston cleans the streets west of campus once a month about nine times per year, Edwards said. Street cleaning season runs from April 1 to Nov. 30. Thursday was the first day the streets were cleaned this year.

Other streets, such as Hinman Avenue, are cleaned bi-weekly about 20 times per year, Edwards said. Cars left on those streets are ticketed, he said.