I've Seen This Happen, In Other People's Lives. Now It's Happening In Mine.

Talk about parking meters enough and I guess you eventually get stung.  In September of 2008, my employer moved from a non-desrcript single-story cinder block building in a semi-dodgy neighborhood to the 6th floor of NBC Tower, in the heart of Streeterville.  We also went from windowless to floor-to-ceiling windows with a gorgeous view of the Chicago River, Navy Pier, Lake Shore Drive.  The change in real estate also meant no more free parking, so with the two ticket threshold before getting the 'Denver boot', I settled up with the City of Chicago on two outstanding parking tickets that were complete and utter B.S..  I will own up when I have parked illegally but when I get tickets for no legitimate reason, I won't pay them, unless of course, I have to. Amazingly, I've managed to park in a very busy and crowded Chicago business district without any real issue for the last eighteen months, save one ludicrous incident I wrote about last summer. 

Last week, I found a killer parking spot in Lakeview, mere steps from my destination: The Improv Olympic (I/O) Theatre.  I went to the meter box to print out my ticket receipt and placed it very prominently on the curbside part of the dashboard.  It was 6:22PM and I had the spot until 7:37.  Imagine my surprise when I went to retrieve something from my car at 6:50 and found a parking ticket on my windshield for (wait for it) an 'expired meter'.  Even with the ticket tucked under the wiper, you could still plainly see the receipt.  Apparently, Stevie Wonder was on duty that night because not only did he fail to see the valid receipt, the photos presented as evidence looked as if they were taken by a sight-challenged individual.  These two photos are the actual photos they presented on the LAZ website as 'proof'.  All they prove to me is that LAZ doesn't drug test their employees. Want a cool job where you get to get high, walk around the city, take pictures and piss countless people off? Contact LAZ for parking enforcement positions.

I'll update here when I hear back from the City of Chicago Department of Revenue, I contested this ticket by mail.  My success rate contesting tickets by mail (9 for 12 in the last 15 years, only one of which was a legitimate violation) is decent.  My one and only experience contesting in person was a slam dunk (last summer) but I have better things to do with my time than take off work and prove my innocence in person every time I get a (bogus) ticket.  It's bad enough that we now have to pay double what we used to to park in an overcrowded city but to have to spend time to defend ourselves for completely unwarranted reasons is criminal.  If I do get this ticket expunged, I will write back and ask for a written apology from the idiot who wrote it.

Tell me about your favorite City of Chicago parking nightmare.  It's not whether or not you have one, it's just which is the best story to tell, drive in Chicago for more than fifteen minutes and you'll have a story.

Comments

[Jeff]

I think the only Chicago parking story I have is getting towed from outside of Berlin. Expensive and annoying - yes - but not quite a nightmare.

Instead, I'd like to remind you of a Chicago parking triumph - where we literally picked up your Le Car and dragged it by hand into a tight spot. I don't think I'd do that now!

[drcastrato]

i get so mad about this parking BS i can't even talk about it.

[Helen]

I parked on Ontario from about 1 to 4, and went back to feed the meter until the end of the work day. The best part of this story is that I had called in sick that day, but got called in for a meeting and ended up having to stay longer than anticipated (thus not parking in a garage and having to meter feed). I felt like complete crap, so all of this was even more annoying.

Of course, when I chose "max" on the meter, the lovely meter took my money. I put the ticket on my windshield and went back to work for another 30 minutes. Let me just say that from where I parked, there were NO visible signs stating that there were any weird parking hours.

When I got back to my car a short time later, there was no car. I say my car, but it was actually my in-law's brand new car that I had borrowed because ours was unavailable. I called the number on the parking meter, and I got an answering machine telling me where all of the tow lots were. I had no idea which was closest, but I soon found (after about 30 minutes on hold and 2 miles of walking toward what I thought was the closest tow lot, per their message) that almost all of them closed by 5. I tried calling my husband, and he eventually found a number where I could talk to an actual person to find out how to get my car.

What I found was that I needed like $250 in cash to pay for the tow, AND I needed a notarized letter from my in-laws saying I could retrieve the car for them (this is another long story itself. My in-laws are not the most agreeable people in the world, to say the least, and to ask them to go out and find a notary after hours was almost too much for them to handle). And I had to get to the impound lot, which was on lower wacker. Right. They told me to go to Columbus and go downstairs. It was across the river from the Sheraton. Mmm-hmmm. I followed their directions, and of course, there was NOTHING on the North side of the river but a park and some restaurants. I kept calling them asking them for better directions. They really had no idea how to tell me to get there, and neither did Google Maps. I walked around for what seemed like FOREVER, and I was certain that while I walked alone on lower wacker (lower lower wacker actually), I was going to get killed. I tried to wave down a police officer, but he ignored me. Big surprise.

So, I was sick, my heart was doing all sorts of crazy things, and I was getting really scared. Oh, and I had massive blisters on my feet - that'll teach me to wear uncomfortable shoes because they're "professional."

I finally gave up on getting directions from their location OR from Google maps, and I went to the hotel and asked a concierge. Thank goodness they knew - apparently, you have to go down below lower wacker and walk until it ends. There is no signage until right when you get there, and it's really dark. It's extraordinarily dirty, and there are holes in the fence near the only sidewalk where anyone could come through from the river park and grab you or your stuff. But I made it.

I thought, OK, I can handle this. It's a crappy day, but at least I managed to find the damn car. You pay, and they give you the a slip of paper, but then you have to fend for yourself in this massive lot to FIND the car. Another great trick when you don't have a working key fob. When I finally got to the car, I saw that there was a $60 ticket in addition to the $250ish tow fee that had to be paid within days. WTF? Talk about robbery.

I took tons of photos to show that there were no visible signs saying it was a tow zone, but it didn't help. We just had to suck it up and pay over $300. And had to deal with the ire of the in-laws. I hate Chicago parking.

[Joel]

So what happened with the ticket, Ken? Were you absolved? Or did you have to pony up?

[ken]

Helen, that is an EPIC story, so sorry. That trumps mine for sure.

Joel, no news yet. I'll keep y'all posted.

[ken]

My 'violation' was not one, I was absolved yet again. No fee but no apology either.