State Senator Barack Obama Causes Financial Pain For Chicago Condo Owners : Obama's Public Act 90-516 - Chicago's got a system in which, just to challenge a $200 fine, you have to blow a wad on a lawyer.

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

The story begins in late April. That's when the 1525 Granville Condominium, which represents its six apartment owners in Edgewater, got a sternly worded notice from the Department of Streets and Sanitation.

The notice indicated that a city inspector had paid a visit to the premises in November, half a year earlier, and noticed refuse in the alley “improperly stacked against, piled (on) or overflowing from the dumpster or reform container.” Proof would be provided if the defendant appeared at a hearing before a city administrative law judge, the notice added. If an appearance wasn't made, the $200 fine had to be paid within seven days or it would jump to $500.

Now, 500 bucks is a lot for a little condo. I live in a six-flat condo, and that's about what we spend each year on snow removal and the garden combined. But it got worse.


Added the city's notice, in tiny print, “Please note that if respondent named above is a corporation or legal entity other than an individual, the respondent must be represented by an attorney at all administrative hearing appearances.” In other words, spend a grand or two to hire a lawyer, or pay up.

So who made you get a lawyer to fight City Hall?

you may wonder how Chicago got a system in which, just to challenge a $200 fine, you have to blow a wad on a lawyer. The answer, from the appellate ruling: “The underlying statute establishing in-house administrative adjudication, and raising their judgments to the dignity of court judgments, was the result of Public Act 90-516, sponsored by then-state Sen. Barack Obama.”

Guess what? He's a lawyer.

A true Blue America story!