The city of DeKalb is saying goodbye to ugly roadside decorations.

To preserve a community environment, the city recently passed a nuisance ordinance to ban unsightly, inoperable vehicles from its curbsides.

“It’s been in the books for years and it’s now time to update it,” said Russ Farnum, director of community development. “It doesn’t mean that we are doing this to be more difficult to citizens.”

Basically, if it has an engine and it sits outside your home for too long, you may be warned and eventually fined.

The current version of the ordinance doesn’t correctly describe the problem, Farnum said. As a result, broken-down vehicles still populate the streets.

Cleaning up the streets “keeps community pride going and puts a stop to the downward spiral of a number of properties degrading other properties in the community,” he said.

Sixth Ward Alderman Dave Baker also supports the ordinance, which hasn’t been updated since the 1970s.

“I can understand why we want to keep pride in community and pride in the neighborhood,” Baker said.

Not only do inoperable cars pose problems for the community, but they create other unnecessary costs.

“When the citizen doesn’t take care of it, we have to remove the property and relocate it … using a tow company,” Farnum said. “The tow company needs to get paid and owners can physically lose their vehicle.”

To put a stop to the degradation, a person who is committing a nuisance violation would be given a verbal or written warning.

If the vehicle is not repaired or gone within seven days, a $50 fine ensues each day. After 10 days, a court order is obtained.

Freshman business administration major Sandy Yu realizes this can pose a problem to some students on campus.

“It’s really a characteristic of college students to have banged-up cars,” Yu said.

However, as long as a car works, a person will not be fined.