Ask The Parking Ticket Geek – 7/25/08
Parking Geek,
I came to Chicago in May to work just for the summer. I will be leaving in about a week. So far I have accumulated about $250 in parking tickets (3 zone violations and 1 street cleaning one). My car is registered in another state and under another name (my fathers). I paid the first one and contested the second and third by mail. I am planning on contesting the 4th (the street cleaning one) because the sign was put up AFTER I left for work that day. My main question is, if I don’t end up winning these cases, what would happen if I just don’t pay them. Like I said, I leave in a week and do not plan on coming back to Chicago.
Thanks
N. G.
Dear N.G.
Don’t you love how this city makes you feel so welcome?
I have two answers for you if you lose.
Your first option is to open up your wallet and just pay your tickets. It’s expensive, but has less potential long term issues. This is what normal people call “being responsible,” (I say this with a sarcastic sneer and use two fingers from both hands to indicate air quotes).
Your second option is to flip Chicago the bird, jump into your car, drive like hell and never look back without paying.
There’s not a ton the city can do to enforce your payment of these tickets if you live far from the city. Your car can’t get booted if you accumulate three or more unpaid tickets living out of state.
Now there is a chance one of the collection agencies the city contracts with will send nasty collection letters to your dad. They may threaten to report your dad to credit agencies. But it’s only a possible maximum of four tickets and from what I have found out so far, credit agencies (at least one) don’t put a lot of weight on unpaid parking tickets as a strike against your credit rating.
But to be honest, I am still researching the credit score part of this question for a longer piece on parking tickets and credit.
The more important question may be what your dad thinks about the tickets. Some fathers have little patience for their kids getting tickets in their name. Others may be more lax. You’ll need to consult with him and see what he thinks. Perhaps he thinks you should tell Chicago to stick it too.
A piece of non-parking ticket wisdom. Don’t piss off your dad.
Hope that helps. I hope the rest of your time and experiences in our beautiful city were better than this.
Very truly yours,
The Parking Ticket Geek
Dear Parking Ticket Geek,
Man, I am so angry,
I just got 2 tickets for not having a city sticker, one yesterday and one today. I am moving out of Chicago at the end of this month and thought I would get away without getting a new city sticker for a full year. I emailed the city clerks office to ask if I could buy a short term, one month sticker but they never replied.
Now it appears that I am going to have to
1. Buy a new sticker ($75 + $40 late fee) even though I am leaving in 2 weeks
2. Pay $240 in fines
Is there any way out of this?
Perhaps the most annoying thing is that I only bought the car in Oct 07 and had to pay full price for a city sticker for the year July 07 to Jun 08 even though I only had the car from Oct. Now I need to buy a sticker for the year July 08 to July 09 even though I’ll only be here for one month of that. So for having a car in the city for 10 months I have to buy 2 years worth of city stickers. Can you see why I am angry?
Is there any chance of getting one of the tickets canceled due to the fact that I got them within 24 hours of each other, albeit on different days?
As I said I am leaving Chicago soon so my only option is to contest these by mail. Is it better to contest by mail or in person.
Thanks,
R.
Dear R.
Dude, I feel your pain.
This is a tough situation to be in, because you are pretty much screwed. There’s no way out of the tickets. The law is pretty cut and dry. You tell me your vehicle is registered in the city and you don’t have a city sticker. All vehicles registered in Chicago, that drive on Chicago streets, must have a city sticker OR face possible fines.
As far as getting two tickets for the same offense within 24 hours, there’s probably little you can do with this as well. You’re not supposed to be able to be ticketed for failure to display your city sticker more than once per day. But that’s alleged to mean calendar day. So, you can conceivably receive a ticket every day of the week while in violation of this law–if they catch you.
I would think it would be at least worth a try to make your “two tickets in 24 hours” argument and see what happens. If you try this, send a contest letter for both in the same envelope and make that argument on both letters. Refer to both ticket numbers on both letters so the hearing officer can look up both tickets at the same time.
I’ve never tried this or heard this tried. I think it’s a long shot, but if you argue it right, it may work to have one of the tickets dismissed.
As far as buying the city sticker with just two weeks left, I don’t know. Can you park your car in a garage or on private property or hide it out somewhere until you leave town? If it was me (and understand I am a bit combative with situations like this and not very bright) I would not buy the sticker, hide my car as best I could and tell the city to “shove those tickets up your ass, I’m leaving town and not coming back!” But again, that’s just me.
Unfortunately, Chicago does not pro-rate city stickers. It’s a flat fee. $75 for 365 days or a single day. It sucks, but Chicago is the city that works (to clean out your wallet).
If you’re considering skipping town and not paying your tickets, you get to consider everything I wrote above to N.G. Look up, see above.
As far as in-person hearing vs. contesting by mail, the historical statistics show better chances of winning in-person, but 2007 figures show the reverse. I prefer in-person. But your chances seem to be about even these days.
Good luck in your move out of town. Sorry about the taste of fecal matter the city left in your mouth.
Very truly yours,
The Parking Ticket Geek
Dear Parking Ticket Geek,
FYI, within the city of Chicago, it’s illegal to knowingly park at a broken meter. I found this out originally because I called in to report a broken meter. The man said, “You’re not parked there, are you?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “You are parked illegally and may receive a ticket.” I called back several times to verify the illegality and sure enough it is. Just thought you may want to advise people against parking at broken meters.
Candypants Capone
Dearest Candypants,
Whomever you spoke to is a moron.
I checked through the Chicago municipal code and cannot locate a prohibition from parking at a broken parking meter. I spoke to a few employees of the Dept. of Revenue and they say it’s OK to park at a broken meter.
Since there is no violation in the municipal code prohibiting parking at an inoperable meter, it is legal to park at these meters.
My contacts at Revenue encourage you to call 311 or 312-744-PARK to report the broken meter, but again you are not legally compelled to do that either.
If it were true and one could not park at a broken meter, think about how many parking spaces would be off limits?!? Sometimes it takes months for meters to be repaired.
Call whomever you spoke to and tell them to talk to me. I’ll straighten them out.
Very truly yours,
The Parking Ticket Geek
If you have a question for The Parking Ticket Geek, please e-mail the Geek at: askthegeek@theexpiredmeter.com
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Parking Geek here is a little FYI for your readers.
City Stickers: The city clerk does sell prorated stickers to vehicles that are new registered in the city of chicago. The catch here is those prices only go into effect after the 1st of the year (please don’t hold me to exact dates)
Broken Meters: Back in the day (2003), it used to be illegal to park on broken meters. However, because the DOR has so many meters down and so few meter mechanics, a wise City Alderwomen made sure the ordinance was changed. Parking Geek only
hit the enter button by mistake.
As I was saying the Parking Geek is right. Call the numbers listed as soon as you realize the meter is broken, or if you see a PEA they can log the meter into the system. This protects from an unfair ticket and helps the city fix a broken meter.
Ticket-
Thanks for the info on the pro-rated city sticker. I was at best, vaguely aware of that fact.
I think this particular reader is mad that he or she has to purchase a city sticker for only two weeks before they leave the city to live somewhere else.
Ticketmaster-
What was the fine for parking at a non-working meter? I have been receiving tickets in the city for 20 years and have no recollection of that violation. I am not doubting you, I just don’t remember this. Was this a violation that was rarely enforced? What if you put your money in the meter and then it flashed “Out of Order,” or “FAIL?” I have seen this happen in high traffic areas when the meter is over full of quarters. My point is, if you fed the meter, and it went out of order, wouldn’t you still be entitled to your time at that meter if you paid?
I realize I am splitting hairs, playing that stupid game of “What If” and am over thinking this issue to the point of absurdity, but I guess I want to know how that particular violation was handled in the past.
Thanks
The fine at the time would have been whatever the expired meter fine was in that particular year. In 2003 that would have been $30/$50 (non-cbd/cbd)
If the meter is out of order, you are entitled to park on the meter for the maxium time stated on the meter. Look on the meter head, and it will tell you what the maxium time is. Also, if you look down the street, there is usually a sign posted that will say “2hr maxium”.
Enforcement, well that is a little bit more trickier. I am embarassed to say, that even today, there is no real consistency. I will try to chart it out for you between the people who write tickets.
PEA’s = Majority will not write a broken/fail meter. It depends what they were told during their training and I am sad to say there is no consistint training program.
CPD – Depends on whether the cop needs to make his qouta. For the most part, if it does happen, you will see that usually happen in the downtown area
TCA’s – Same as the Pea’s but it also depends on what they are told in training. That should only occur in the downtown area.
SERCO – Private company contracted to the city. I have know idea what their training protocal is and have never came across their tickets on the meters.
Remember this, you are only to park on the meter up to the maxium time time allowed. Whether the meter is working or “out of order”, we can write you the ticket if you stay beyond the maxuim time. We do have the resources that we need to track the vehicle, however for the most part, we choose not to use them at this time (there is the occasional zealot who will though).
Ticketmaster-
Thanks for all the data!
All this info creates even more questions.
What the heck is a TCA? I have seen SERCO guys around, but normally I see them emptying meters of quarters. I didn’t know there were SERCO employees hired to write tickets. When did the city start hiring private contractors to do this?
And, what happens when the city privatizes all their parking meters? Does that mean you are out of a job or what?
Finally, although not related, this question popped into my pea brain. Did the city train PEA’s on how to handle the ParkMagic units?
I REALLY appreciate your info.
Sorry, force of habit to use the abbreviations.
TCA’s are Traffic Control Aides. They are the people who direct traffic downtown and around the airports. SERCO has been issuing citations for about 5 years now. They are only supposed to write tickets outside of the PEA’s working hours.
The city did spend about an hour of training Pea’s on the park magic. The one problem that we have noticed is there is a problem with the battery life. We have come across several Park Magic’s whose owners say they have time on it. However their park magic display screen is blank and when a new battery is put in, presto the screen is active.
Any job in the city can be eliminated, and needless to say the leasing of the meters has brought a serious concern to the PEA’s. SEIU 73 the union that represents the PEA’s had a meeting with Commisioner Bea Hickey at the end of February 2008 to discuss this issue. At this meeting, she made it very clear that it was “not her intention to privatize the PEA’s” and “that the city needs to maintain control of the enforcment”
Hope this helps
Ticketmaster-
Again, thanks. Sorry for all the questions, but for whatever odd reasons, I find this info very interesting. I DO appreciate the feedback from someone on the job and on the streets. I am certain I will bug you with more goofy questions. Hope you won’t mind.
My offer to you, to write a guest commentary from the perspective of a PEA is on the table indefinitely on whatever topic/subject(s) you like.
This broken meter thing must be fairly recent. I received (and paid, thanks
) a street-sweeping ticket in 1996, and on the back of the ticket there were some five extenuating circumstances listed that could invalidate the ticket. One of them was the parking meter being inoperable.
I contrasted that with Baltimore, where I went that same year for a conference and noticed that their parking meters say flat out that if the meter is busted it is illegal to park in front of it.
I see a lot of Chicago stuff but was wondering if you have any info about Baltimore. I live in Virginia and was in Baltimore. Got two parking tickets and didn’t want to throw away $23 each. Now I have a letter saying they are $71 each. Is there anything Baltimore can do to me in Virginia? I don’t plan on going back.