Category Archives: Chicago Parking Tickets
Mourners Ticketed During Funeral Procession For Fallen Marine
Corporal Conner Lowry
Corporal Conner Lowry was returning home.
The Marine had been killed in Afghanistan March 1st.
So as Lowry’s body was being transported from Midway Airport to the funeral home on the Southwest Side, Chicagoans pulled over the cars to allow him to pass and show respect for his service and ultimate sacrifice for our country.
However, it seems some mourner’s vehicles were issued parking tickets by insensitive ticket writers for parking illegally during their outpouring of grief during the procession according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
When word of this situation got back to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Parking Enforcement Aides were instructed to stand down immediately and then had all tickets along the route non suited (voided).
City Rakes In Big Money From Tax Refunds
View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.
Talk about quick cash.
The City of Chicago’s local debt recovery ordinancef has paid off very quickly and handsomely for the city.
In just about two weeks, the city has scooped up $5.2 million in past due parking tickets and other outstanding debts by intercepting Illinois state tax returns of parking ticket scofflaws. Ultimately, Chicago estimates it will see an $8.5 million windfall.
Perhaps, most interesting is that more than half the income came from taxpayers residing outside Chicago’s city limits where boot vans cannot travel to affix the dreaded bright yellow Denver boot to their vehicles.
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 Covers City’s Income Tax Refund Grab
CBS 2′s Kristyn Hartman tracks down a driver who’s Illinois state income tax refund has been held up due to alleged past due parking tickets from 1997.
Here’s her full report, “City Starts Collecting Unpaid Fines By Seizing State Tax Refunds.”
Chicago Fast Tracks Recovering Old Parking Ticket Debt Through State Tax Refunds
Windy City. City of Big Shoulders. The City that Works.
Chicago has a lot of nicknames but maybe taxpayers should start calling it the “Fastest City on Earth”–at least when it comes to collecting revenue.
Less than two weeks ago, the Chicago City Council passed a debt recovery ordinance which allowed the city to use the Illinois State Comptroller’s office to grab taxpayer’s Illinois income tax refund to pay for outstanding debt from parking tickets, red light camera tickets, water bills and other other overdue debt.
The ordinance became effect on February 15th, the day the Mayor signed it.
Immediately, in fact that same day, the city transmitted the required paperwork to begin the process of intercepting taxpayer refunds on behalf of Chicago according to Illinois State Comptroller spokesperson Michael Dropka.
Local Band Promotes With Fake Parking Tickets
Adam Becvare realizes the power of a strong, provocative graphical imagery.
That’s why, every time local post punk band The Lustkillers returns to Chicago from touring to do a show, the band’s lead singer usually prints up show fliers which look strikingly like a bright orange Chicago parking ticket.
The Lustkillers play a show Tuesday night, February 28th at Debonair, 1575 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.
City Adding New Tool To Collect Unpaid Parking Tickets, Red Light Camera Tickets
Suburban Drivers May Feel Impact The Most
Ultimately, it was taxes that undid Al Capone.
Now it may be tax filings that separate drivers with unpaid Chicago parking tickets from their Illinois state tax refund.
So don’t be surprised if your refund check from the State of Illinois is a little less than you originally expected if the City of Chicago gets its way.
Up until now, the City of Chicago had only a few ways to collect money from unpaid parking tickets and red light camera tickets. For larger ticket debts, lawsuits have been commonly employed. Collection agencies are also an avenue for the city. Of course, there’s always the dreaded bright yellow Denver boot.
But back in December, the Local Debt Recovery Program became law in Illinois. The program allows municipalities to have the Illinois State Comptroller withhold state tax refunds from people who owe cities for unpaid parking tickets, red light camera tickets, water bills and the like and hand it over to them to pay off outstanding debt.
Street Junk Begins Popping Up After Snowstorm
Just one little snowstorm.
That’s all it takes and all of a sudden some neighborhood Chicago streets are awash with lawn chairs, milk crates, five gallon buckets and all sorts of other junk.
Even though the several inches of white stuff melted away in 48 hours, selfish Chicago drivers still pulled their crap from their garages and basements to pathetically “reserve” the little piece of the street they allegedly worked so hard to shovel out.
Hearings Scheduled For Cops In Fake Parking Ticket Case
The wheels of justice move ever so slowly.
Especially in Chicago.
Remember Mark Geinosky?
He was the south suburban man who got 24 Chicago parking tickets in just over a year all the way back in 2007. The problem was, the tickets were phony.
He beat each one, but took the matter to the Police Review Authority. That went nowhere until the Chicago Tribune’s Problem Solver, Jon Yates began reporting about Geinosky’s story.
RedEye Covers The Parking Ticket Beat
RedEye jumps into the parking ticket journalism game with a recent story about how pervasive parking enforcement is in the City of Chicago.
While the story talks to many over ticketed Chicago drivers, the star of the piece is none other than Jeremy Smith, one half the founding team of SpotHero.
Smith talks about how the massive number of parking tickets he’s received over the past two months was part of the inspiration to create SpotHero’s Chicago parking reservation website.
Read the full story, “Orange crunch.”
