Chicago Parking--Yea!!

It's rant day for me. I left this out of P & R on purpose, but here's a prime example of how things "work" around here. We have a lot of Residential Zoned parking in the area, actually a good thing given the number of bars, restaurants and Wrigley Field. One afternoon I parked along a stretch of street where zoning doesn't begin until after the alley, about 100 feet off the cross street. This is common in commercial areas. Regardless, I have a zoning sticker, so that point should be moot. Eh eh. I was issued a ticket for parking in residentially-zoned parking without a residential sticker. In reality, it was the other way around. I immediately began working on contesting it--and funny enough, the Google Maps Street View showed a photo of the exact spot in question, confirming the lack of zoning signs, which I included. For kicks, I added a second photo from down the street that showed the arrow sign where zoning began. And also the little issue of how I had a zoning sticker. Mailed it in and wait...wait...wait. A few weeks later I received a violation notice in the mail from the city with the fine doubled. I called, and the very compassionate, caring and motivated city worker told me "Too bad", since the window was now past for contesting it. They claimed to never having received the contested letter from me, so I couldn't do anything. Rules is rules. Pay up pal.

 

My ulterior motive...