TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: You Can't Foil These Parking Meters/Technology Makes it Easier

Re: You Can't Foil These Parking Meters/Technology Makes it Easier

Gordon S. Hlavenka (nospam@crashelex.com)
Thu, 08 Sep 2005 03:21:00 GMT

Fred Atkinson wrote:

> When we returned to the vehicle, there was a parking ticket on it.
> When I looked at the chalk time versus the time the ticket was issued,
> the difference of the times was only thirty-eight minutes.

Here's a parking meter story from ten or fifteen years ago that I know
PAT will enjoy, because it involves one of his favorite topics:
Chicago government.

The wife and I drove downtown on a Sunday to visit the Field Museum. We
were pleasantly surprised when we got there to find ample parking
curbside. There were meters, but the meters were placarded "Monday
through Saturday, 6am to 10pm" so the parking was even free!

We enjoyed our visit to the museum, and when we returned to our car we
found we had been ticketed for parking at an expired meter! Fifty
bucks!

We took a photo of the meter's placard (with the meter number
showing). Then we filed an appeal; I forget exactly how it worked but
basically you explain in writing why you shouldn't have gotten the
ticket and mail it to a special address. Anyway we explained about
the "Monday through Saturday" thing, enclosed the photo, and returned
to our regularly scheduled lives.

Then we got the response. Denied! Reason for denial: "Insufficient
evidence" -- what do they want, we should rip up the meter and UPS it
to them with a calendar???

"Fortunately" there is a process in place to appeal the appeal; all we
had to do was fill out another form and send it in along with a
non-refundable $400 check for court costs. Really!

So we solved the problem the easy way. We paid the fifty bucks, and
we haven't been to the Field Museum since.

Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com
If your teacher tells you to Question Authority
Should you do it?

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And I have not been back to Chicago
since 2001, (actually not since 1999, but I returned there very
briefly in 2001 for a couple months) and do not see any reason to return
anytime soon. The whole place is rotten to the core with dirty tricks
as you experienced. PAT]

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