Parking is worse than driving

Some parts of Chicago are cool.

Other parts of Chicago are so insanely awful that it’s amazing anyone lives here.

One is the weather.

Another is the 400% jump in parking fares.

Seriously, Four…Hundred…Percent…in quarters.

Chicago’s Privatized Parking Meters Are An Epic Failure

Update: Newton’s third law goes into effect – Has The Parking Meter Revolt Begun?

No More Driving

The state of Illinois and it’s various representatives and I are having a disagreement over whether or not I should be allowed to drive.
I say that I should be allowed to drive. They keep notifying me that, in fact, I should not.
Exhibit A – see previous posts on tickets for not having a “Vehicle Sticker”.
Exhibit B – I GOT ANOTHER TICKET!
Blasted police!
Now I gotta go to damn traffic school!

Open Letter to Mr. Del Valle

(Miguel Del Valle, Chicago City Clerk)

I arrived at my new home in Chicago on the night of October 2nd, 2008. By the end of the very next day I had registered to vote, gotten a driver’s license, and registered and licensed my vehicle. I had my mail forwarded, my insurance changed, and was about to start my new job. I rarely drive and the majority of the time my car sits in a garage that I pay an extra $125 to use every month.

So you can understand my surprise when I was ticketed and fined $120 on the day before Thanksgiving for not having something I’d never heard of and breaking a law I had no information about. For reference, it’s ticket number 0055569370 15.

I called the City Clerk’s office today to find out about this “City Sticker” and was told that information about the law and the requirements could be found on the City of Chicago’s website. So I visited it, expecting to find a pretty obvious piece of critical information. I suggest you do the same.
Nowhere on the front page is there any information about “City Stickers”.
Nowhere in the “For Residents” section does it mention anything about the fact that on day thirty-one of residency I am breaking the law by not having this sticker.
Nowhere in “Traffic and Transportation” is there any mention of the fact that I can (and will) receive nearly the largest parking fine the city has to offer if I don’t act within 30 days.
Nowhere in “Parking Permits & Sites,” is there any mention of the City Sticker.
It’s not until you reach the very last item under “Parking in Chicago” that you see “City Sticker Information”.

As I did not yet have any tickets, and am explicitly paying NOT to have to try to park on Chicago’s streets, I had zero reason to think that I would ever need to visit this site, or delve so deeply into it, to find out that I am breaking the law. And, in order to comply with the law, I now must pay the $120 ticket, buy the $78 City Sticker, and pay the $40 late fee.

I am fully aware of the fact that ignorance is not the same as innocence, but by making violation of the law the only reasonable outcome, new citizens are being put in a position where instead of feeling welcome in their new city, we are receiving a nearly $250 fine. I know that a city must struggle to make ends meet, and that income from traffic violations is a large part of that revenue, but a “Welcome to Chicago! Go get a City Sticker!” postcard when I registered my car would’ve been much more pleasant than the entrapment that is currently greeting new citizens.