Well, the hand's on the other foot now, isn't it, Kramer?"

Wow, now if we can just get Daley out of the mayoral throne, then maybe I can start feeling good about living here.

Diogenes: Yeah, the machine is dead.

See http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/lake/chi-0505190216may19,1,1607218.st ory

Daley picks rising star to end government corruption

By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 19, 2005

I work for the Department of Revenues,

\Sorry
\\Had to do it
\\\Still hung over from the OSCARS
\\\\Jon Stuart was funny
\\\\\I need to be in bed!

Thanks for the explanation, everyone. This is unbelievable! Do they need a court-order to install these devices, or is it just guilty until proven innocent? How far have we slid into police-state-wonderland!

ZAZ: In Massachusetts booted cars have a warning pasted to a window saying that moving the car is considered theft and you'll go to jail for many years.

That's stupid. How do they consider it theft if it's your farking car? Instead of booting a person's car, why don't they just prevent people who have outstanding tickets from getting their license and/or registration renewed until the tickets are paid? Bunch of savages...

You have all been fooled by the rabid press in this city. John Kass, the Sun Times, they make the stories up so they seem relevant. Laski took payoffs to award a contract to a trucking company. That's not exactly fixing a murder trial or sabatoging Nixon.

In fact, Laski's greed is no different than the dozens of pols in Washington who write bills for campaign donors. Ever hear of the "Duke?"

The difference now is that we have low level corruption where small time services companies grease some palms. That happens in EVERY city. The corruption that made Chicago famous, the sixties and seventies First Ward corruption is gone with the windy city.

There is far too much attention payed to every level of government now for the city to be completely under a corrupt shadow boss.

If the city loses Daley, it will be a disaster. Chicago is easily the most beautiful walking city of any large city in the country. No other city has the boulevards and greenery or the park design that Chicago does. If Daley is corrupt, he uses his influence for positive changes. If Jesse Jr. was in office the corruption would simply change hands, and the city would be plastered with grafitti and drugs.

stiletto_the_wise: Do they need a court-order to install these devices, or is it just guilty until proven innocent?

Guilty until innocent. My GF was booted in Hoboken NJ (NYC area), even though she has a valid permit. The officer was clearly in the wrong. 130 bucks to remove the boot, no exceptions. Now she has to go to court to get her money back. The system is clearly set up to take as mich money as possible from whomever they can.

Daley picks rising star to end government corruption

I actually knew a past "rising star" that was hired by Daley to weed-out corruption in the city's purchase department. They hire these "stars" every few years to replace the last corruption-blocking genius.

What they do is, they bring you in as a "cleaner" to make the public happy. Then they get your hands "dirty" with a corrupt transaction or two that you may not be involved in, but you witness and your bosses (i.e. Daley) refuse to prosecute. By the time you have your first chance to really do something, they *own* you by your failure to prosecute the first issues you experienced.

The machine has the process worked to perfection. They don't really want to clean things up at City Hall...they just want to stay out of the papers.

Happened with my girlfriend after she double-parked. She's absolutely brilliant and has a Mensa membership. She entered college at 16 after dropping out of high school, majored in economics, and is currently successfully employed, making good money and she has a big penis.

/WAIT!!
//That can't be right

gradatim: And then you get busted for damaging property.

If you drive away with the boot, or if somebody else takes it after you remove it, then they'll probably prosecute for theft.

Like they'll be able to proove you were the one that removed it.

And if your an out of towner (meaning you live out of the town) chances of them booting your car again are minimal so long as you keep your parking random.

Breathe Laugh Twitch

Happened with my boyfriend after he double-parked...has a Mensa membership. He entered college at 16...currently successfully employed, making good money and he has a big penis.

I truly hate to be the one to remind you of this but your profile says you're a lesbian and yet you sleep with a guy nicknamed Tripod. Disgusting.

2006-03-06 11:36:50 AM Ant

That's stupid. How do they consider it theft if it's your farking car? Instead of booting a person's car, why don't they just prevent people who have outstanding tickets from getting their license and/or registration renewed until the tickets are paid? Bunch of savages...

I never understood this either. Preventing re-registration and re-licensing is a slam dunk way to get paid. Why farking bother spending money and administrative time on this ridiculous boot system? Charge them an interest rate on the outstanding tickets, don't bother trying to collect them (maybe send letters), then wait for them to come crawling back at renewal time, or just arrest them for driving without a license / registration.

Bam, done.

"Everyone is always ready to scream "CORRUPTION" when anything happens in Chicago. Newsflash: Al Capone is dead. The Machine is dead.

If you live here, especially over the last decade, the city has been reborn. Virtually every part of the city is under development and modernizing.

The newspapers' bread and butter is uncovering so-called corruption. The Sun Times especially goes nuts over trucking, towed cars, the denver boot, snow plows- pretty much anything that has to do with maintenance. If that's the only "corruption" that can be dug up, then I think Chicago is well ahead of the pack.

Cities like Philadelphia, Providence, Vegas, and Washington have or have had mayors under criminal investigation in the last few years. So far, Chicago's Daley is untouched. And the city is booming. I always thought corruption was bad because it sucked the resources away from the people and gave them to the fat cats. That is not the case in Chicago.

Chicago haters can suck it"

I love Chicago, but Your Blind!!!!

I won't argue that Jesse Jr is the greater of the two evils, but the problem is that the quality of city contracts goes to hell when bribery is the ONLY means of getting them.

The CTA Brown Line project, the Hired Trucks program, Millenium Park and others have a tremendous amount of waste and poor quality because there's no accountability when tax-free under-the-table dollars do all the talking.

Yeah, Millenium Park looks great by the naked eye, but the tax burden was incredible. The Hired Trucks program was a waste and the negligence in the system resulted in the deaths of a family. I can't wait to see how much the budget and delays run for the CTA thing...

There is a price to pay for the way Chicago does business. Clean streets, iron-wrought fences, and a bunch of festivals are only on the surface. When the machine fails, it fails BIG.

Ant: That's stupid. How do they consider it theft if it's your farking car?

Theft of the boot, I'd imagine.

"We impose these severe penalties against John Q. Citizen. Everybody has horror stories about being booted. And those in charge of booting skate? The public is going to be very upset," said Ald. Tom Allen (38th).

From the sound of it, public employees avoiding the boot because of the "good ol' boy network" isn't your biggest problem.

"Everybody has horror stories about being booted." WTF?

Thanks for the warning, I won't be coming to Chicago again any time soon.

--h

stiletto_the_wise [TotalFark]

Thanks for the explanation, everyone. This is unbelievable! Do they need a court-order to install these devices, or is it just guilty until proven innocent? How far have we slid into police-state-wonderland!


Traffic tickets are a funny part of the law: you're pretty much considered guilty until you can prove your innocence, which is usually several magnitudes more expensive in both time and money.

My favorite parking ticket was at ORD in the post 9/11 security frenzy. For security measures, you were not allowed to stop in the terminal if you were not loading/unloading someone. I had been circling around a couple times and had finally spotted a person who I thought was my dad (who I was there to pick up) and I pulled to the curb to look and wave to get his attention. Not 30 seconds later, car still running and in drive with my foot on the brake, I see an officer standing in front of my car looking at my license plate. Through my open window she handed me a ticket for parking in a no parking zone or some other bullshiat and walked away, while I sat there dumbfounded.

$50 or maybe even $100 down the drain.

hdhale: Thanks for the warning, I won't be coming to Chicago again any time soon.

That's fine. Keep chewing your kud out in Amish country. We won't miss you. Ass.

http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000827033236/
ucopy upaste

Ever see the Jackass show where they pretend to be meter maids? A guy pulls into a parking space amd immediately a "meter maid" writes him a ticket. The guy goes a little crazy saying he just pulled into the spot. The "meter maid" informs him that there is not a grace period on meters... Priceless comedy gold.

Same episode they dress up as "meter fairies" and put money into expired meters...one meter ahead of the real meter maid. The meter maid calls it in and basically goes ballistic. Threats and all...Too funny.

PS--did you know it is against the law in many cities to feed a meter if it isn't your car?

Mike_Bolton

good idea, but then I would have to leave one of my 18" rimmzzz behind

/wheel whore, my car: http://stealyourface.net/2004jetta.jpg

Smash the parking meters with sledge hammers. Shoot the parking nazis. We paid for public property with our taxes and should be able to use it for free.

derekste: good idea, but then I would have to leave one of my 18" rimmzzz behind

Heavy hammer and a cold chisel.

You can even write a nice note for them on the boot in magic marker if you want since that will be the only thing in the parking space.

Chicago is one of the most corrupt and vile places in the United States of America. There's only one solution.

Glass...parking...lot...

I pulled into a spot in town once, fed the meter, nothing happened. I walked away, came back to a ticket. Called the city about it, the ticket lady said that if you knew the meter was bad, why did you park there? Well, if it had been marked as bad I wouldn't have parked there, would I? Eventually I got a letter from the city saying they'd take my car or house if I didn't pay. I emailed the head of parking, told him the meter number, he let me slide.

We're now getting smart meters so if you park in a 2 hour slot and try to get by with 4 hours of parking you'll get a ticket. No more downtown workers parking in the good spots while customers have to park in BFE then walk.

derekste - its time to unpimp zee auto.

Mike_Bolton
That is in my city :D I've been past that parking lot many times.

Mike_Bolton;

That's funny as hell. He's just lucky he had a thin tire tho, on thicker ones you can't jimmy most of them loose enough to get a tire iron in there.

Orangutan

Everyone is always ready to scream "CORRUPTION" when anything happens in Chicago. Newsflash: Al Capone is dead.

And he still managed to vote in the 2004 elections

derekste

Sub-compact sedans are for girls

Chicago is corrupt. Get over it.

AnyName
Good one.
But he was able to vote because he was picked up by a party bus, taken to several poling sites and instructed each time on who to vote for and under what name.
;~)

mtv4069

So says you in your orange prison jumpsuit (profile)

/PMITA type prison?

redneckian

let's see your whip

here in Chicago if you get 3 final determinations on your car (3 non-paid tickets) you are eligible for the boot. I always have two outstanding tickets and pay the third whenever I get one..... then you wait till they have an amnesty program and pay em all off.

I have a friend who has an Indiana liscence plate and lives in Chi-town. Literally has a stack of unpaid parking tickets three fists high. For some reason, never gotten booted. She says it has something to do with the extra paperwork it would take the city to send the info to Indiana, then back to the city.

/is this weird?

Laski took payoffs to award a contract to a trucking company. That's not exactly fixing a murder trial or sabatoging Nixon.

It's not exactly running a clean, corruption-free government either. I mean, since Ted Kennedy personally killed at least one girl, does that excuse the actions of each and every other politician who does something "less" than murder someone?

/dilikes Chicago whether it's corrupt or not
//blind and/or holier-than-thou residents are the reason
///well, that and housing prices
///Ok, sometimes the pizza's alright

Mike_Bolton: http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000827033236/
ucopy upaste

That guy must have really cheap wheels and tires. If I did that, I'd have to shell out > $350 for a new wheel, and about $150 for a new tire. Not worth it.

You have all been fooled by the rabid press in this city. John Kass, the Sun Times, they make the stories up so they seem relevant. Laski took payoffs to award a contract to a trucking company. That's not exactly fixing a murder trial or sabatoging Nixon.


Soooooooooo at what point is corruption bad, and when is it ok. Might open a shop in your area.

dannysauer: dilikes Chicago whether it's corrupt or not
//blind and/or holier-than-thou residents are the reason

Please stay in the burbs with your pit-stained shirt and dip-lip drool and die of meth. Everyone in Chicago sees you as a monkey. Take down your christmas lights, junk that car parked on your lawn, and take the last twenty bucks out of the ATM to get your granddaughter a thong to go under her sweatpants. Everclear-drinking Billy-Bass buying walmart zombie-bubba. Rural Illinois is a wasteland of fast-food death and date-rape.

Corruption or not, it's pretty damn simple:
pay your tickets, and you won't get booted.

99.9% of the tickets issued are for valid reasons.
You can contest it if it's not.

It's really not that difficult.

Orangutan

Rural Illinois is a wasteland of fast-food death and date-rape.

Watch it.

/farm-raised

Monster_Kabasue: Soooooooooo at what point is corruption bad, and when is it ok. Might open a shop in your area.

The whole point of this article is that these idiots in charge of putting boots on cars actually were found out and got the boot!

The corruption is under a microscope. Sorry, but it's never going to be the City of Big Shoulders again. Spout on and on about corruption, but it's nothing more than any other city. Not anymore. The only difference is that Chicago has its shiat together in other areas, where most big cities can't do anything right. See Seattle or Houston's idiotic rail systems or Orlando's failed downtown entertainment district.

I owe a parking ticket in VA (Arlington I think) which is why for the rest of my life I can never visit there again by car.

Everyone here biatching about the parking enforcement here in Chi-town is totally on the money! There are way too many BS tricks that the city plays on unsuspecting parkers. For example, the 'No Overnight Parking' rule on Milwaukee Ave in Wicker Park and a few other areas.. the only way you know about this is if you walk all the way to the end of the block and peer up at the miniscule sign that says no parking 3-7am.. what is the point? Revenue.. that's the point.. Also, I've come across cops writing me tickets for permit parking zones way before the time for the zone actually comes into effect (20-30 minutes.. or 'station time' as they call it).. I'm all for parking regulations, but the city is way out of hand with this stuff... I've gotten no standing zone tickets in the mail for dropping someone off at the train (i didn't even get out of the car! and was only there maybe 20 seconds). Now they've got the areas where there are no parking meters but the meter box that covers the whole block.. so you pull up and don't see a meter and you think you're ok.. think again! Also, the whole street cleaning thing where they put up signs in the afternoon, and if you don't come home 'till night time you can't even see the signs.. Good morning! Last but not least, let's not forget the red light cameras.. where the yellow is shortened by about 2 seconds.. look out for these folks! Thanks Daley.. you're doing a heck of a job making it hard for the average joe to live in this city without the UFIA of the MeterMaids...