$600 car issued more than $100,000 in parking tickets

[UnrepentantLiberal]

An abandoned car in Chicago worth an estimated $600 has been issued more than $100,000 in parking tickets over the past three years.

Jennifer Fitzgerald, 31, is currently stuck with the bill but says the 1999 Chevy Monte Carlo actually belongs to an ex-boyfriend who registered the car in her name without her knowledge or consent.

The Expired Meter reports that from May 23, 2009, through April 30, 2012, the Chicago Department of Finance (DOF) issued 678 tickets against the car, totaling $105,761.80 and setting a Chicago record both for the total number and amount of parking fines issued.

In fact, it blew past the previous record holder, which was $65,000 from approximately 400 violations.

More: http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/blogs/sideshow/600-car-issued-more-100-000-parking-tickets-234529296.html?.b=index&.ts=1354031526&.intl=US&.lang=en

[snooper2]

1. I would go ahead and just let them keep the car

[Enrique]

2. the Sun Times once published names and addresses of the biggest "scofflaws"

listed the names and addresses of the highest amounts owed. The addresses were almost all in the very poor South side and West side neighborhoods. It is a giant scam.

and then there is this story from Oakland:

Oakland parking officers were ordered to avoid enforcing neighborhood parking violations in two of the city's wealthier neighborhoods but told to continue enforcing the same violations in the rest of the city, according to a city memo obtained by The Chronicle.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Oakland-parking-ticket-policy-called-not-fair-3272115.php#ixzz2DRJOQHZg

[UnrepentantLiberal]

3. Assholes.

The accusations cast a new light on one of Oakland's most contentious issues during the past year. Desperate for new revenue in a faltering economy, the City Council in June increased parking fines, meter rates, hours of enforcement and enforcement in neighborhoods.

The parking department created a new work shift to ticket neighborhoods at night. As part of that enforcement, parking officers ticketed residents for violations that had been a way of life for decades.

The most controversial tickets in residential neighborhoods were issued for parking on sidewalks and parking in the wrong direction. Residents told the city and The Chronicle that some streets are so narrow that emergency vehicles cannot get through unless they park like that.

Under pressure from businesses that complained the new parking rules were keeping customers away, the council in October rescinded only the meter enforcement from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., but left other elements in place.

[Blue_Tires]

6. In the 90s, there was a similar scandal in suburban Atlanta

essentially the cops did nothing but set up speed traps on the county borders and made it a point to ONLY give tickets to speeders from outside that county...

[niyad]

4. and yet here, if a car is deemed "abandoned" (as in, has not been moved in 72 hours) it can,

and often is, towed (again, depending on neighborhood, and whether anybody actually cares that the car has not been moved in a significant period of time)

[Tikki]

5. Some years back we kept getting parking ticket notices (about 15) for a car in San Francisco...

We don't live near SF and we tried to correct it through SF Parking Services to no avail.
A lady at our local DMV told me to write to the head of the SF Parking Services himself
(she gave me his name and address) and remind him that if he didn't take care of this
he could find a letter to the SF newspapers published about negligence on his part.

And what do you know, we received a letter from a Parking Control Officer with an explanation that
the license plate number he had been writing down for a VLP looked like our license ULP.

No apology, but he did send carbon copies of all the tickets he posted on that abandoned car.


The Tikkis

[Bandit]

7. A car does not get registered without your consent unless your signature was forged.

If that is the case then she has nothing to worry about...

[KansDem]

8. $105,761.80 / 678 tickets = $156 per ticket

$600 car / $156 per ticket = 3.8 tickets.

Seems a bit steep...

[marybourg]

9. They don't tow abandoned cars in Chi town?