Sometimes it's just not your day

[asmodeus]

On June 15, I parked at the Route 59 Metra lot and went to pay the $2 daily fee at one of the machines. In an all too frequent occurrence, the machine rejected one of my dollars and with the train already loading, I had a decision -- fiddle with the machine and miss the train, or take my chances that the meter maid would not give me a ticket. I chose the latter.

Sure enough, when I returned to my car after work, there was a $20 ticket on the windshield. I momentarily grimaced at the fine amount -- especially considering I did leave one dollar in the machine that morning -- but chalked it up as just one of life's annoyances.

Two weeks later I got around to sending a check in to pay the ticket, and the check was cashed on 7/6. However, just after I mailed the check I received a notice stating that the payment had been due 6/25 (just 10 days after the citation) and that the penalty was now $40. I refused to pay an additonal $20 so I threw the letter away. A couple of weeks later, I received notice that the fine was now $80 and would be $120 if I didn't pay by July 30. Holy crap! Talk about inflation. I decided that I would go to the hearing on July 30 and give them a piece of my mind.

So today I took the day off from work and traveled to City Hall (Aurora) to have my day in court. Sitting in the council chambers, I watched as several people argued their parking tickets and surprisingly were found not liable by the hearing officer, despite what I considered to be irrelevant excuses. One guy successfully fought a ticket for parking in a No Parking zone. Another guy said he shouldn't have to pay for an expired meter because his friend in a nearby storefront noticed that the meter maid was waiting at his car minutes before it expired--as if that changed the fact the meter did expire.

I figured I had a good chance at success based on this apparent leniency, but when it was my turn the hearing officer decided to get tough.

I explained that I wasn't contesting the original ticket, but rather the outrageous escalation in fines. The check cleared 20 days after the infraction--why should I be paying $80 for this? The hearing officer first told me he wasn't even allowed to rule on such a case but then basically went on to defend the quadrupling of the penalty. By then I knew I was toast so I gave my two cents about how this is one of the reasons people don't trust government. For a piddly little offense, the government can confiscate huge amounts relative to the original fine.

Anyway, I paid the additional $60 and left the building. I noticed that Hollywood Casino was just a few hundred feet away, and decided to test the Karma waters...

Now I've done some gambling in my day, with annual trips to Vegas where the rooms and meals for me and my buddies were always "comped" thanks to the level of gambling we would exhibit. However, I haven't been back in years because I came to the realization that you just can't win over the long haul and each trip was costing me $5k even with all my other expenses paid.

So on a whim, I decided to go into Hollywood Casino and play one hand of Blackjack for $60. Either I would win back the parking fine, or I'd be out another $60. I walked to the first table I could find, plopped down three $20 bills and sat down next to two other guys. The dealer gave me $60 in chips and I put them all down on one hand. Here were my cards:

8, 2

The dealer had a 6. If you've played Blackjack, you know this is a great hand for the player. The odds are that the dealer will bust, and with a two-card total of 10, the proper play is to "double down". Of course, that meant digging into my wallet for another $60, which now meant I was risking $120. You can probably guess what came next. The dealer gave me a 4, giving me 14 total. He then drew for himself a 3 and a 10, giving him 19 and the win.

I calmly walked out with a chuckle, and thought about how even when things seem certain to go your way, life doesn't always comply.

[EagleDad]

Jul 30, 2010 13:47:37 GMT -6 asmodeus said:

On June 15, I parked at the Route 59 Metra lot and went to pay the $2 daily fee at one of the machines. In an all too frequent occurrence, the machine rejected one of my dollars and with the train already loading, I had a decision -- fiddle with the machine and miss the train, or take my chances that the meter maid would not give me a ticket. I chose the latter.

Sure enough, when I returned to my car after work, there was a $20 ticket on the windshield. I momentarily grimaced at the fine amount -- especially considering I did leave one dollar in the machine that morning -- but chalked it up as just one of life's annoyances.

Two weeks later I got around to sending a check in to pay the ticket, and the check was cashed on 7/6. However, just after I mailed the check I received a notice stating that the payment had been due 6/25 (just 10 days after the citation) and that the penalty was now $40. I refused to pay an additonal $20 so I threw the letter away. A couple of weeks later, I received notice that the fine was now $80 and would be $120 if I didn't pay by July 30. Holy crap! Talk about inflation. I decided that I would go to the hearing on July 30 and give them a piece of my mind.

So today I took the day off from work and traveled to City Hall (Aurora) to have my day in court. Sitting in the council chambers, I watched as several people argued their parking tickets and surprisingly were found not liable by the hearing officer, despite what I considered to be irrelevant excuses. One guy successfully fought a ticket for parking in a No Parking zone. Another guy said he shouldn't have to pay for an expired meter because his friend in a nearby storefront noticed that the meter maid was waiting at his car minutes before it expired--as if that changed the fact the meter did expire.

I figured I had a good chance at success based on this apparent leniency, but sure enough, when it was my turn the hearing officer decided to get tough.

I explained that I wasn't contesting the original ticket, but the outrageous escalation in fines. The check cleared 20 days after the infraction--why should I be paying $80 for this? The hearing officer first told me he wasn't even allowed to rule on such a case but then basically went on to defend the quadrupling of the penalty. By then I knew I was toast so I gave my two cents about how this is one of the reasons people don't trust government. For a piddly little offense, the government can confiscate huge amounts relative to the original fine.

Anyway, I paid the additional $60 and left the building. I noticed that Hollywood Casino was just a few hundred feet away, and decided to test the Karma waters...

Now I've done some gambling in my day, with annual trips to Vegas where the rooms and meals for me and my buddies were always "comped" thanks to the level of gambling we would exhibit. However, I haven't been back in years because I came to the realization that you just can't win over the long haul and each trip was costing me $5k even with all my other expenses paid.

So on a whim, I decided to go into Hollywood Casino and play one hand of Blackjack for $60. Either I would win back the parking fine, or I'd be out another $60. I walked to the first table I could find, plopped down three $20 bills and sat down next to two other guys. The dealer gave me $60 in chips and I put them all down on one hand. Here were my cards:

8, 2

The dealer had a 6. If you've played Blackjack, you know this is a great hand for the player. The odds are that the dealer will bust, and with a two-card total of 10, the proper play is to "double down". Of course, that meant digging into my wallet for another $60, which now meant I was risking $120. You can probably guess what came next. The dealer gave me a 4, giving me 14 total. He then drew for himself a 3 and a 10, giving him 19 and the win.

I calmly walked out with a chuckle, and thought about how even when things seem certain to go your way, life doesn't always comply.

Great story, sorry to hear about the $200 parking ticket. The daily parking system at Rt59 drives me nuts. The only reason it exists is to make the collections easier. See, at 10AM they can get a nice little handy, sorted, printout of spaces not paid for and then zip by and issue tickets. That way bubba doesn't miss his morning coffee by having to do any actual work.

There should be ALOT more permit spaces. Far too many people like myself have been shoving 2 dollars into those machines, every day, for years, because they refuse to issue more permits. Every chance the city gets they convert more spaces to daily. To top it off, they spent four hundred thousand dollars last winter to put in new machines. Did they add new ones? Nope, not a one. In fact there are fewer machines today. They took out existing working machines, spent nearly half a million, and replaced them with less (which are slower by the way). Silly, just silly.

To top it off, if you ever call Aurora MVPS with a question, needing help, having a problem, you are greeted, in my experience, by the most nasty, vitriolic, and unpleasant person I've ever had the displeasure of speaking with. To have a simple question, you would think you are killing their young by asking it. Apparently when one get's really, really pissed of working at the state DMV, they move on to the "customer service" department of Aurora MVPS P

A private entity could run that lot 100 times better in a week. There is no common sense, and whomever is managing it should be moved. I would immediately cut two 1-lane, 1-way right-turn only exit only slots in the back of the lot onto Meridian to alleviate the jams, and install public wifi in the ticketing building (you know the kind resembling the EPIC FAIL of MetroFi that never rolled out, but at this location a single access point could service 100,000 people each day for a few minutes while waiting).

It will never happen though, this ~$25K of improvements are apparently much lower priority in the city of lights than aldermanic block parties, and plopping red light cameras at strategic intersections.

Keep it in mind when it comes time to vote in elections.

Ask the residents of Lehigh Station townhomes how their trolley to the station is coming, the one that they bought their homes with a promise from the city and developer of, the one that their paid a monthly special assessment for for years.

[asmodeus]

They took out existing working machines, spent nearly half a million, and replaced them with less (which are slower by the way).

Yeah, those machines can be temperamental. I usually bring three crisp dollar bills just because I know the odds are good that one or two won't be accepted. The interesting thing I've found is that if you do get the first dollar to go in, the second one almost always does as well. It's almost like the computer figures that if you put in a legitimate one first, chances are your second one isn't counterfeit. However, in my story above, the first one went in fine, but then the second one got jammed and got spit out looking like an accordion. At that point it was hopeless getting it in again and I didn't have my extra spare dollar.

I wonder what happens if someone pays but punches the wrong space number. For example, would the collector/officer have a way of seeing that space 102 paid 0.00 but space 120 paid 4.00 and then not write a ticket?

I always tell myself that if I ever get a ticket due to an error by the collector (assuming I have the pay stub to back it up) I would demand $20 from the city, the same as they nail you for when you don't pay.

The one agency I think has it right is I-Pass. When you forget your transponder (such as when you move it to another car temporarily or are driving a rental) and get a ticket for non-payment, they charge an extremely reasonable amount if you call and just give them your transponder number. If the toll is 50 cents, I think they charge you $1.00. That's the way it should work.

[EagleDad]

I-Pass has gotten a lot better. When they first got serious about enforcing the tolls (for years many people, not me were blowing them off) they sent me a bill for $3000. Turns out I had a bad transponder and didn't know it. My wife argued like crazy to get it reduced. Even then they did not take it to tolls only.

I just got a bill for $80 and change from them for 4 missed tolls over 3 months. My wife called and they were very nice this time. Seems the pictures showed me clearly holding the transponder up (I drive a convertible) each time. The transponder has worked for other tolls and continues to work. They explained that I probably wasn't holding it up soon enough (which is right - I wasn't) and that you need to hold it up about a half mile ahead of time as there is a presensor. They immediately backed off the fines, and offered a license plate transponder instead, which wouldn't work for me as I don't run a front plate.

Their customer service (tollway) has changed for the good over the last 5 years in my experience. That said, I still think the tollway should be disbanded.

I really got a kick out of MVPS one time when I called in a snowstorm because the yellow/white spaces in which I parked had not been plowed and you could not see the numbers so I asked what I should do. After being pissy, they honestly told me to go ahead and pay at the machine for space #1. I giggled and hung up.