More Outrage In Parking Ticket Tax, Refund Move
Chicago parking tickets from as long as 20 years ago are still coming back to anger and frustrated Illinois taxpayers.
More notices from the Illinois State Comptroller’s office go out informing taxpayers their state tax refund will dry up due to alleged outstanding parking tickets and red light camera tickets, and more people are getting angry.
Chicago fast tracked their program to catch taxpayers before this year’s April 17th tax deadline to grab as much revenue as possible after passing the ordinance recently.
CBS 2 reports on one disgruntled man about a really old ticket.
While Chicago Sun-Times writer Mary Mitchell recently spotlighted a local librarian who claims her son received the outstanding parking ticket fine the city wants to snatch from her tax refund.
Not surprisingly, even more annoyed readers reached out to Mitchell after her initial report to tell their stories.
Does anyone know if this new law is even constitutional?
The City of Chicago claims it has done everything in its powers to collect these past due fines, but I know that is nonsense. The City of Chicago has done nothing to collect these fines other then sending out the original fine and a judgement when the fine is not paid. Has the City tried collecting their own fine with the use of a collection agency? Every business in Chicago or the country makes a reserve for uncollectible debts. Why does the City of Chicago feel it is special and should collect on all it debts?
Heres an idea, after you get a ticket….Pay It!!! Why shouldnt the city feel special by collecting on all debts owed to it? No worse than those who feel they are too special to pay their tickets. Damn those and their sense of entitlement
And do you think every ticket the city writes is justified. The city purposely looks for people that do not live in the city and writes them parking tickets because they know, they will not take a day off work to contest the ticket.
Not paying tickets is a first amendment right of free speech against the corrupt practices of the City of Chicago.
Instead of collecting money for parking tickets they should have gone after people who owe thousands on child support but they did this just to put the momey they will receive in their pockets.
Oh sweet baby Jesus, you can live in Mexico and still contest a ticket by mail. No conspiracy.
The city is definitely corrupt, has always been & always will be. Doesn’t matter who’s in office. It was my fault for the tickets, except for the red light ticket, which i fought, and lost. Enjoy my money Chicago…..cause the kid is leaving this corrupt, racists, segregated town, for good. Peace!!!!!!
I got a you will be fired from your city job if you do not pay a $120 for a, not display city sticker fine from 1995. I always pay my debt but why take 18years for this ticket I do not remember?
Richard S…
You are so full of it I’m glad I wore boots today. Show me, by Direct link; where in the Constitution of Illinois OR the United States Constitution that it States that we are free to Ignore governmental issued Fines. Oh snap…you can’t because it isn’t there.
And speaking for all PEA’s for a change, we don’t specifically target out of state or out of city vehicles JUST because we know they won’t contest.
We Ticket vehicles that we see are either in an illegal parking space or have vehicle compliance violations. We don’t care if it is an Indiana or Michigan or Wisconsin or New York or Hawaii or Alaska or w/e plated vehicle. We are Fair and Impartial in our Hunting.
And yes…the City sub-contracts to a Collection Agency after a (unknown by me personally) fixed number of days passes with no payment by the people that owe the outstanding ticket Fines.
While I agree that Some tickets shouldn’t be written (I AM Human after all and not a mindless machine.), there is a PROCESS for fighting tickets.
If someone gets a ticket and Blows it off….doesn’t contest it, and Blows off the Notice that the City mails out…
Screw them.
You can Fight a Ticket several times…
Withing 7 days of initial receipt, by mail or at an in person hearing.
And as I recall you can then Take it to court if you still disagree with the determination of the City (if they decide you are at fault after you contest it.).
It can take anywhere from 21 to 43 days for a single ticket to Double in Cost.
By the Time the Ticket has Doubled, you have more than likely received several notifications from the City that you Owe $X.XX for Y citation and you need to address that issue as a Responsible Adult.
I know that ‘some’ people who get tickets in Chicago may feel ‘put upon” by the city or taken advantage of.
But the simple fact remains that “IF/When” you get a ticket in ANY City, you are responsible to deal with it through the Legal Means that are made available to you.
Scofflaws are the main reason that Our Department continually petitions the city to reverse the 1991 ordinance that decriminalized Parking Violations/Compliance Tickets. Not every scofflaw is a heavy hitter (huge number of outstanding ticket: Phrase I got from Parking Wars), but every scofflaw is an jagoff.
Wow. You suburbanites really feel entitled, don’t you? When I lived in Chicago, I racked up a ton of street cleaning fines over the years. Sure, it pissed me off, but I fairly earned each and every one of them. And, I PAYED THEM.
If you can’t be bothered to pay the fine, DON’T PARK THERE. The signs in Chicago are easy to see. The city doesn’t hide them. The regulations are also there for a reason. In many neighborhoods, street parking can be hard to find, and the residents of a neighborhood, who may not have off-street parking, really ought to have priority over, say, some suburbanite who pays little or no taxes to the city.
You’re lucky that you don’t live near a city that tows on a dime. When I left Chicago, I moved to Hartford, and even small violations are often result in a tow, and a hefty towing fee. Either contest your parking tickets or pay them, but don’t blame Chicago for collecting on its debts.
Maybe if the city lowered the prices in half people could afford to pay the fines? Many people are looking at a $100-$200 parking ticket or an over-priced heat or electric bill.
The city is gouging!
Capt M Plate – why dont you show me in the US Constitution where businesses or states are allowed to collect all debts from refunds.
Not paying a fine is a form of silent protest – which the last time I checked is a First Amendment right. So don’t give me it is not in the Constitution.
Furthermore if you run a business, the business is going to incur bad debts, every business does. Why does the City of Chicago think it should be exempt from having uncollected debts?
In regards to bogus tickets written by PEA’s, the City of Chicago should be compensating people who have to take time off of work to fight these bogus tickets only to win their dispute. If the PEA’s weren’t PEA-brained to begin with, they would know the law and wouldnt be writing bogus tickets especially against cars without City of Chicago stickers. If you don’t like that idea, how about forcing the PEA to be at the hearing when the ticket is being dispusted. If the car owner has to take time off work and loose money to fight these bogus tickets, so should the PEA.
Man who misses Chitown – “Either contest your parking tickets or pay them, but don’t blame Chicago for collecting on its debts.”
The City of Chicago isn’t collecting on its debts. It is stealing its money back. If you don’t pay your credit card bill and the credit card company closes your account, do you see the credit card company going to your employeer telling your employer they are owed money from you because you defaulted on your bill. No it does not. Why is it different for the City of Chicago? In order for the credit card company to be paid for any past due debts, it needs to take the debtor to court and get a judgement against the debtor after proving the debt is actually owed.
What the City of Chicago is doing is stealing its money back. The City of Chicago makes no effort to collect its debt. The City Of Chicago just tells the State so and so owes us money without even proving the money is owed to them in the first place. That is not collecting on debt. That is a money grab.
Richard…per your request…state legisators are allowed to introduce bills to be voted on to make Laws that allow certain things to be done. The State of Illinois did that with this. The State followed the Rules, unlike the Drivers that are being affected by the seizure of refund monies due to outstanding parking tickets.
In some States and Municipalities, the Failure to Pay a Citation will result in a Bench Warrant from the Municipality the Citation originated in. The City of Chicago show some progressive thought back in the early 90′s by De-Criminalizing Parking and Compliance Tickets so that it wouldn’t clog the courts or adversely affect people with a string of bad luck and poor time management skills.
All municipalities have the right to attempt to collect outstanding Debit.
The City of Chicago has several steps…
The Department of Revenue (now Department of Finance) sends out reminder letters to the Known address of the vehicle owner that there are outstanding fines for vehicle citations.
If that doesn’t work, after a period of time; the City has a contract with a Collection Agency that then attempts to collect on the outstanding Debits.
If you are at the point where your State Tax Refund is being hit for restitution; then you have Obviously IGNORED your responsibilities to take care of your problem.
If you disagree with a ticket(s) that you might have gotten, you have several chances to contest. There are avenues to prevent garnishment.
If you are at the point where you are being garnished….then you qualify as a DEADBEAT Scofflaw In my opinion.
You are obviously talking out of your Rear.
As for your “credit card company” analogy….Private Industry can and Will go after people if the outstanding Owed Debit is worth the court time and fee’s to gain a judgement for garnishment. So don’t be obtuse.
Obviously Bogus Tickets are not issued by PEA’s.
They get issued by CPD and the scab Contractors that the City uses.
Ser Co has a quota.
CPD couldn’t write a proper parking ticket if their life depended upon it.
CTA superviosrs routinely ask PEA’s HOW to write a ticket.
Police Crossing Guards shouldn’t be writing parking tickets in the first place as they have NEVER BEEN Trained on how to do it correctly.
TCA’s should be in their intersections directing Traffic and Pedestrians, not out hunting for parking tickets to write.
As for your City Sticker Whine…
Any vehicle stored/garaged/parked Within city limits for MORE than 30 days is REQUIRED to display a City of Chicago Vehicle Sticker REGARDLESS of where the vehicle is registered. That is a DIRECT QUOTE from the City Clerks Website.
BUT…PEA’s Run the plates and just check vehicle registration. We don’t Stalk vehicles for 31 days just to make certain.
If we find a vehicle that was flagged as “not moved in 7 days” by the Ward, then we document the plate and vehicle type to track it. And after 30 days we WILL Cite it for no city sticker legally. But to do an ID check, the only agency that can do that is the CPD from the Vehicles VIN.
Du Mhan Yhu Richard S
Mike, the fines are steep for a reason. To deter people from unlawfully parking their cars, or to comply with plate registration. If a parking garage charges $30 to park and the City lowered it’s fines to lets say $20 don’t you think some people would purposely park illegally because it’s cheaper? None of this is rocket science. If you park like an a-hole expect a ticket. It’s sad that some people out there feel they are entitled to park wherever they want without consequences or roll around with expired plates on their cars when most of us have to cough up the $100 to renew plates every year. I live in the city, I work for the city and I spend each and every day in the city and I average maybe 1 ticket every 3 to 5 years. I pay it right away (or contest it) and then I go on with my life. Most of the time you CAN NOT beat the system. Hide your car in the garage from the bootman? OK you beat it for now. Jump in your car just as the bootman rolls up and flip him the bird? Cool, you just beat the system again. After all that ducking and dodging, in the end the city got your money via State tax return. Booyah!! Game over!!
That is all for now
They need to go after the Federal Tax refund next.
And suspend the DL of anyone that has gone to collections.
I love these suggestions…I must recommend them to the First Deputy
<>
So what does that make the City of chicago which initiated a red light camera ordinance three years before it had state approval to do so?
It proves the existence of the Home Rule Clause in the Illinois Constitution.
Any Municipality over 25k residents can enact city municipal laws/procedures and policies and enforce State Laws as they see fit with no over-site.
It seems the City of Chicago is now issuing tickets that are completely false. I recently received a ticket in the mail for expired plates. I really don’t understand how they can fine me for this when my plates have been properly displayed and don’t expire until June 2012. I tried to contest by mail and sent a copy of my vehicle registration, but they denied my response saying my plates were not properly displayed. I have had my city sticker and plates properly displayed since I purchased my car last year. This is ridiculous and I want to file a civil case. Any thoughts?
At this point Michelle, you can try to appeal, but this is costly, time consuming and unlikely to work out unless you really know what you are doing.
Here’s a longshot, but you could try contacting the Chicago Dept. of Administrative Hearings, explain that the hearing officer completely failed in their ruling, give them the details you outlined above, and ask if you can ask for an administrative review of the hearing/ticket.
Word of advice…
Never, ever, EVER contest a ticket by mail. Ever. Always do it in person.
They will ask you questions you can answer.
You may think of something while you are there.
They will ask you if you have anything to add at the end.
They will look up the ticket to see if something is amiss and if there is a mistake in the writing, it will be dismissed.
The chances are much greater it will be dismissed if you have an in person hearing.
Trust me, I have had numerous hearings, and probably 95% have been dismissed simply because I have had a chance to have a conversation with the the hearing officer.
The City is not allowed to enact its own traffic enforcement laws under home rule authority. The appellate court recently confirmed that. The Red Light ordinance is void and always has been.
Juvenal….File a Lawsuit then.
I’ll be glad to be on your side….
Capt M Plate: “state legisators are allowed to introduce bills to be voted on to make Laws that allow certain things to be done. The State of Illinois did that with this.”
That does not make the law constitutional. Chicago had it’s hand gun ban on the books for ages before the courts were going to strike it down as being unconstitutional.
Capt M Plate: “The City of Chicago has several steps…”
I don’t know where you are getting your bogus information about a collection agency being used. I can tell you that is wrong. I never got a notice from any collection agency that was working on behalf of the City of Chicago. That is a fact. So right there is proof that Mayor Rham is lying when he claims the city has done everything possible to collection these outstanding tickets.
Capt M Plate: “Obviously Bogus Tickets are not issued by PEA’s”
You can get all technical if you want on who actually writes the ticket. I really don’t care. The fact is bogus tickets are written. Frankly a police officer should know the rules more than a pea brained PEA.
If you are going to argue bogus tickets are not being written, check the Tribune story about the guy who received 26 tickets for parking the street. Twenty six consecutive tickets written over periods of month. If that is not a case of bogus ticket writing than I don’t know what is.
The state legislature doing something legally does not make it constitutional What?
By enacting a policy/bill by majority vote into LAW = It is constitutional unless/until overturned by State or US Supreme Court.
Good Luck with that.
I know the story you point out. Rogue Englewood cop with a hardon for some chick went after a ex of hers and now between 4 and 8 cops are on the shit list. Best I can say is thank goodness it wasn’t a PEA.
Richard….the Geek has several archived posts on his site that mention several Collection agencies that deal with collecting fines after the department of Revenue (now Finance) has no luck. I believe the current firm is Arnold Scott Harris.
Are you contrary by nature?
I said there are several steps.
Ticket Issued…
Person either :
1. Pays
2. Contests
3. Blows it off.
In case of 1 or 2…..Ticket is dealt with and either no longer exists or a notice of determination is placed against person with ticket and then they :
1. Pay
2. File Appeal at County Court Level and spend shitton of money greater than ticket fine.
3. Blow it off.
In Case of 1 or 2 = ticket gone or court case decision to pay…
In case of “Ticket Legitmate”
1. Pay
2. Blow Off.
In all cases of Blow Off: the city Department of Revenue (now Finance) attempts to collect via Mailed Notices to currently recorded Registered Owner of Vehicle. Notices of Final Determination are sent out to address on file….notices before the Fine Doubles and After the Fine has Doubled.
After a number of attempts by the City to Collect the outstanding debit, the Case is passed over to the Collection Agency that has the City Contract.
The only thing that prevents you from ending up passed over from City Collection attempts to Arnold Scott et al is either Payment in full or Payment arraignment.
http://theexpiredmeter.com/2011/05/ask-the-parking-ticket-geek-25/#more-8693
Reading the back and forth among Richard S, Chitownbootman, and Capt M-Plate has me wondering whether I should bother to add my two cents.
In regards to the alleged money grab by the city with the state in cahoots, are the defenders of the practice absolutely confident the city and state have bulletproof accurate information, with no chance of error? Probably not.
Has the city proof for its allegations? Probably not. What’s scary about that is that it could be as bad as the home foreclosure situation of 2007-09, where foreclosures were granted without the banks showing possession of the deeds.
I know first hand of a ticket-writing mistake, and I have to believe it’s not a one-in-a-million miscue. A vehicle has a current, valid suburban village sticker on the lower right side of the windshield, and gets a ticket for no city sticker. I’m sure there are more instances of different moronic mistakes, probably to the tune of 8 – 12% of all tickets created.
Is there any chance to refute the city’s claim in case of a mistake? Probably not. A couple of years ago, instead of receiving the state income tax refund, I got some card or letter citing some discrepancy of my wife’s and my taxes dating back to a period before we were married. There was no contact number or recourse procedure to follow listed on the correspondence. To hire anyone or take time off to pursue the matter was not worth it.
We have to remember, as long as they can make the rules to suit them (like the pension fiasco that has Illinois underwater, or selling booted and impounded vehicles at auction for ticket fees), recourse is non-existent.
Just like cigarettes and alcohol, when they tax it too much, we buy elsewhere. Similarly, a lot of us have to wise up with regard to these parking ticket vultures: We have to use our quarters, stay strong, and figure the best way to do our business. If the masses can embrace that concept, maybe we can make Chitownbootman find some honest work.
Rapidman,
You bring up some very good points.
On the surface, I’m not sure I have too much of a problem with the city going after tickets this way.
However, going back 20 years in some cases?!? C’mon! Who is going to be holding onto any documentation from that long ago.
Even 5 years seems to long ago.
I think this law should been rolled out more carefully and only gone back to collect on tickets no more than 5 years. I would prefer less, but I could live with that.
Does anyone trust a claim from 10 or 20 years ago–even if it comes from the government? I sure don’t.
If they restricted it to an initial 3-5 years, added a year each year after that, and posted the data for drivers or taxpayers to view the documentation that is the basis for the action the city is taking.
But, more importantly, thank you for the excellent thoughts.
Richard……. Arnold Scott Harris……..city contract to Collect on unpaid bills and citations was up to date in May of 2011:
Geeks link: http://theexpiredmeter.com/2011/05/ask-the-parking-ticket-geek-25/#more-8693
The City sends out Notices to attempt to collect before it goes to Collections. As I have never had a parking ticket go to collections, I don’t know what practices they use…phone and/or mail or whatever.
Quote: “That does not make the law constitutional”
Actually ratification by the House and Senate DOES make it constitutional until such time as it is ruled by a State or Federal Court. So good luck with that particular windmill Sancho. Do I like it? No…the State Refund is a joke for the most part. Personally speaking; I’d just go directly towards garnishment of wages or the Federal Refund.
Now for rapidman…
I’m only going to discuss the City Sticker point…
When the CPD or PEA runs the VIN or Plate through their PDT or Security dept……IF any DL or State ID comes back with a City Address and you don’t have a Chicago City Sticker, you get the ticket regardless of where your license plate is registered because by Order of the City Clerks office, any and ALL City Residents are required to purchase and display a Chicago City Sticker regardless of where the vehicle is registered.
Direct Link for you Sir:
The FAQ link : http://www.chicityclerk.com/VehicleStickers_FAQ.php
The How do I know if I need a Sticker Direct Quote:
“You must buy a city vehicle sticker if you own or lease a car and live in the City of Chicago more than 30 days out of the year, regardless of where the car is registered.”
Or guess what…we go through resident parking lots…and if the vehicle has a permanent resident parking pass for the lot…but no city sticker…Hey guess what, legally issued violation for no city sticker on Chicago residents vehicle.
One further thing Rapidman,
At the point where the State is seizing a % of your State Refund you have passed the point of “Contesting a Ticket” and are also past the point of “the fine has Doubled” and past the point of receiving Mail from the City letting you know that “oops you got a ticket and forgot to do something about it”.
Do I feel there should be a statute of limitations on collecting on them?
Nope….because the City did decriminalize them about 20 years age.
25 years ago when people got a Street Cleaning or Meter or No City Sticker ticket they Paid them and you never got the Bench Warrant for being a Scofflaw.
Might be time to reverse the Decriminalization of Parking/Compliance Tickets. Skip seizing refunds and just issue a warrant for all that owe tickets more than 45 days old.
Rapidman, I believe my job is honest work. After all, you being one of so many taxpayers who pay my salary wouldn’t be paying me to do dishonest work would you? Is the IRS dishonest by taking a percentage of your paycheck each week? Is a cop dishonest when he stops and arrests a drunk driver? Why is booting the car of a scofflaw screwing YOU (The Taxpayer) out of money owed to YOU dishonest? I’m offended by your comment, after all you hired me to collect the money owed to you!
Thank you Capt…I just spit out my Beer reading your post.
Anyone know what is SUB-AGENT on parking ticket? Because I’m living on residental area, because garage roof repair. I parked my car on a block away from my house. Less than 30 min, I received a ticket. So fast! So fast! So fast!…….So I think the Chicago use part-time, your neignbor,
stay home mom, a third or forth parties to be their ticket enforcers. They are the sub-agents. They don’t have a schedule, don’t have to report to work. They can write tickets 24 hours in their assigned area. They don’t have stable salaries, but get commission from tickets…….more tickets, more money. So be careful about your neignbors!
So the State of Illinois wants to use tax refunds as a stick? Take it away from them. Adjust your deductions so you owe a bit every year.
What a bunch of sceaving weasles. I have not even driven into the city in 6 years and probably another 5 before that. I was in the City on a Saturday one day in eleven years and the received a ticket in the mail for expired plates tag, I then had to prove my innocence by submitting all of my paperwork including pictures of plates and cancelled check and registration proving my tags were valid. This now just wreaks with theft and under handedness. I have never received any notification of ANY outstanding tickets and then they steal my tax refund with no onus of proof , where is any sort of due process in this. It is legalized theft where WE have to prove our case to get our money back. It is WRONG why don’t they have to prove there was attempts made to collect or contact before funds are stolen. I agree with not withholding ANY STATE tax until the last second of the last hour of the last day it is due Screw the state of illinois if they are going to allow me to be legally robbedthen they can suck eggs with no money on a bi weeklty basis from me. let them pay their salaries with ZIP. KNow one has been able to come up with ANY evidence that I even have tickets it is ridiculous.
I go out of my way to have my dog piss on boots. A nice pile of dog shit right where the bootgoon needs to kneel is a nice touch as well.
I really enjoyed reading those of you defending the actions of our twisted politicians and government. Not to say that all politicians and government is corrupt but we do need to filter those that are. Where on what planet is it fair that a car that you own can get booted and get sold in an auction and you still owe money for unpaid tickets? That planet: Earth. That country: USA (land of the free home of the brave). That state: Illinois. That city: Chicago. Why isn’t the money received from the auction deducted from the price of the debt? Where does that money go to? Oh yeah, unpaid storage fees….believe me when I say I avoid any and everything that will cost me avoidable fines. I dont have a dime to give to our government so I avoid tickets. I do what I am told which is “you park where I want you to park when I want you to park”. Yet somehow I managed to get tickets for street cleaning with no signs posted. I contested. I took time off to argue my position and win. But lets see I missed about $125 in work pay to avoid paying what $75-$100, cant really remember what the fines were back then but you do the math. Well how about contesting by mail…..verdict: you lose. Once I parked in a perfectly legal parking space and received a ticket under “other” and some section or another which I googled the violation number(again dont remember what the number was) but it is actually illegal to park in a legal parking space without a meter if there is a space with a meter available on the same street! Are you serious? Who in their right mind would park by a meter when there is a non-meter space available? Well, another day off work to contest a ticket- the principal of this one was worth the money. Clerk: “Oh this is not valid because there has to be signs posted stated that you must park by a meter”–thats what I thought! Win again.YES!!Lose again-DOH!~~!!!….We are living in the land of the free and home of the brave meaning you are free to complain on sites like these without fear of persecution but the freedom actually goes to the government, who are free to make laws and loopholes go hand in hand and get you for your hard earned money. The brave are those who chooses to speak up against bogus politics and laws and fight against unfair and unjust practices that we face. My opinion on the matter is the government will get their money one way or the other. My advice, try avoid tickets and fines the best way you know how and contest and speak up if you feel you were wronged. You may come up on top sometimes but probably wont a lot of times. The system is designed for you to pay one way or another.
Capt M-Plate
How many parking tickets have you issued at the address “644 W. Michigan Street” in Chicago, IL?
I received one not long ago only via the mail 10 days after the bogus event.
Don’t insult this columns readers by stating non-ligit tickets aren’t written by PEAS!
It only took the City FOUR months and a small claims action in Lake County Court to give them a geography lesson.
I Personally don’t keep track of how many mistakes I’ve made because our department doesn’t track dismissed tickets under the reason they get tossed out at the Admin or County Level.
However…I endeavor to Not Screw up on the tickets I write in the first place…but every so often I bet I accidentally write a ticket with the wrong Plate State or wrong hundred block. But I’m 100% certain that West Michigan isn’t a ticket that I’ve ever written by design unless I was actually on West Michigan Street (I know there isn’t one by the way).
Now for my question Doc…
What day of the week?
What time of day?
What is the Citation #? Does it start with a 006 or a 918?
My comments are about Intent.
We both know damn well most PEA’s in this City write Just enough tickets on a daily basis to keep their supervisors and managers off their ass…and they also write them in a way that if the person that got ticketed is observant, they can beat the ticket 100% of the time.
Hell…I’ve come across Handwritten Police Tickets for Expired Meters in the Central Business district for a non-Central Business District Fine…which is an Improperly Written Ticket On Purpose because I can’t believe a Cop would be confused about being between Halsted / North Ave / Roosevelt / Lake Michigan.
Example of a bullshit ticket? Outside of Metered Space. Ticket gets written by the CPD all around the city. I saw a lot of the TMA’s writing it as well in the Loop before the city fired the ones that needed to be fired.
But it very rarely actually gets written in the One Area it is legal to write it….A city controlled Metered Parking Lot (like the LAZ lot at around 3124 N Broadway for example).
Or one of the Favorite ones by Ser Co to make their 60 a day quota…
20 feet from a Crosswalk……..when there is no crosswalk markings on the ground…
There are accidents and there are intentional mistakes and then there is malice.
I need to know whom wrote the W. Mich St ticket before I comment more.
If the city council cared anything whatsoever about serving the public they would change the laws to state all parking and moving violations must be accompanied with photo and/or video evidence of the violation. There are enough cameras in use throughout the city now that this is completely practical. No photo = no violation. This would completely eliminate the issue of bullshit tickets, which has been a long-running problem for Chicago area drivers. Additionally, it might even help uphold legitimate violations as drivers would have a hard time lying their way out of a situation that was caught on camera.
But that could only happen in a parallel universe where city officials actually were held accountable by voters.
Pete, where have you been? For the past 3 years, 99% of all tickets issued by the Department of Finance/Department of Revenue has included photographs of the violation. Now everything being equal, their photography skills need to be improved and something better than a 1 megapixel camera used however, various ticket writers I have talked to have stated that since they started taking photos, their conviction rating has increased 10fold.
The picture quality is pretty darn good. (At least it was on my ticket). Hard to contest, but I contest every ticket. (You never know if it will slip through the cracks). This is Chicago, with the exception of State workers, City workers are the laziest when it comes to doing their jobs, it might work to your advantage as far as a ticket getting dismissed.
Remedy says:
July 9, 2012 at 11:41 am
Hard to contest, but I contest every ticket. (You never know if it will slip through the cracks). This is Chicago, with the exception of State workers, City workers are the laziest when it comes to doing their jobs, it might work to your advantage as far as a ticket getting dismissed.
My comment:
This “I contest every ticket, even when it is correct” mentality is what makes it harder for challenges to legitimate tickets. It ties up resources and increases our taxes to pay for additional hearing officers to cover the illegitimate challenges. If you get a ticket and its valid — pay it and don’t waste the money belonging to the rest of us.
As for your comment about “lazy” government workers, that’s also badly mis-informed. Can you cite any studies that indicate that Government workers are “lazier” than non-government workers? Teachers are government workers and they work very hard and are very badly underpaid. But hey, based on your other comments, we all know your real agenda.
David – Sorry, but I agree with remedy. I contest every ticket as well. I have had a handful of tickets get dismissed because of errors and city failing to meet the burden of proof when I had no idea there were errors on the ticket. I’ve also had tickets that I absolutely was not guilty of that I couldn’t prove and ended up having to pay them, so I consider it a fair trade.
I always go to court when I get traffic tickets as well. I’ve had several tossed because the officer didn’t show, and even some that the judge tossed for no apparent except that seemed to be a nice guy as well. Simply said “drive carefully” and dismissed it.
So its worth the extra effort to not have to pay.
Requested Ticket Info;
Monday, 02/13/06, 13:08 hrs
Ticket starts with 004
Actual address 645 W. Michigan St.
Curb Loading Zone
Doc….
00# = CPD or TMA ticket of the Handwritten variety.
91# = PEA or Ser Co ticket.
Now…to use a Curb Loading Zone with a passenger plated vehicle, one needs to display a ICC# Or City of Chicago Loading Zone Permit.
Glad the ticket wasn’t PEA issued after all….but just as a thought….
The W might have been a very sloppy N….lol
I copied an ICC# from a pizza delivery vehicle and made my own sign for when I use the loading zones. I should be good to go, right?
Pete….you’re good unless the Illinois Commerce Commission Police see it and check it..
Then there might be an issue.
David, I dont need data to support my comment about how lazy government workers are. Im a city worker myself and I see it everyday. But City workers aren’t the worst. I give that honor to State workers. Try calling any State run office with a question (Secretary of State, DFS, Etc.) And any given call will speak for itself. Complete incompitence. Your either too sensitive or just totally clueless. Open your eyes Chief! Oops, didnt mean to call you chief, you make call me a racist again or say Im stereotyping Native Americans.
Thanks for the info on the fraud they almost got away with.
so how about this:
Two months ago I registered my truck in Chicago, bought my city sticker and only minimally grumbled about the almost daily $25 no residential truck parking tickets. (I have a small 4 cylinder truck, smaller then most everybody’s SUV’s). Being not from Chicago I didn’t realize that my city sticker would expire June 30th as paying $200 for a 2 month city sticker seemed excessive to me. I came back from school and work on July 16th to find a $200 ticket on my truck. As it was past 5pm I went inside and researched getting a new city sticker the following day, leaving the ticket on my window. In the morning I came downstairs with my credit card ready to pay the $200 city sticker fee, $60 late fee and $200 ticket only to find that the officer had placed another $200 ticket on top of the previous one. So now 2 months after I bought a city sticker I owe $660 for another one. And if people want to say that the funds go to fixing roads, try driving a non 4-wheel drive vehicle around Pilsen and don’t tell me the roads are in “good shape.”
Nisi,
That is the saddest story I’ve heard in a long time.
You have seriously depressed me. Sorry.
It’s just Mayor Emanuel’s way of saying “Welcome to Chicago!”