Chicago Parking Ticket Scam

The Chicago Tribune reports on that racketeering enterprise called Chicago:

Heather Thome thought she scored "rock star" parking when she grabbed a coveted open spot last April on inner Lake Shore Drive at Addison Street. But she was dismayed when she returned to find a police officer had just written a ticket for violating a parking ban from 4 to 6 p.m.

"I asked him where the sign was," said Thome, 35, a temp worker. "He said there used to be a sign on 'that' pole, and it hasn't been there for two years. My logical question was, 'How can you write a ticket?' And he told me he doesn't want to, but his boss tells him he has to go out every day and write tickets."

Thome said the cop advised her to appeal to the city's Department of Administrative Hearings. She did, by mail, with a photo of the scene -- sans sign -- enclosed. She still was found liable.

"I just think of all the suburbanites coming here for Cubs games," Thome said. "They don't know how to contest a ticket. They just pay it."

In the private sector,this is called theft.