Twitter has all-but replaced my desire to blog, but some things take more than 140 characters to explain...
For most of my first year at The University of Chicago, I took Metra and CTA from Evanston to Hyde Park. It took awhile, but was hassle-free (as long as I didn't miss the bus/train). I started driving more in the spring after becoming a LEAD facilitator, and gave Sahil (whose wife also goes to Kellogg) a ride on April 29th.
We found a spot on 60th St near the Midway Plaisance, and tucked the car in just behind a "No Parking" sign at the end of a long row of cars. When we (and a few others) came back to the car that evening, a ticket was waiting for us! Apparently, there were invisible street cleaning signs posted that morning.
I contested the $50 ticket by sending a letter in mid-May, and on July 11th "It [was] the finding of the Administrative Law Officer that the information submitted supports a determination that the violation occurred." At this point, my only option was to spend $90 to file a civil lawsuit against the City of Chicago - so I went online to pay.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that I now owed them $100. How could this be? As it turns out, I had 21 days to pay after the determination on July 11th. The only problem is, I didn't get the letter until August 13th. They sent it to our address in St. Louis Park (where the car is registered), where it was forwarded to our address in Evanston and subsequently forwarded to our sublet in Minneapolis.
The woman I spoke to was surprisingly helpful, but did not tell me what I wanted to hear. Apparently, the court won't remove the extra $50 late fee due to mail forwarding delays. Ugh!
I feel better, thanks for listening.
Labels: chicago, rant, twitter