Watch out for those tickets, Monday October 26, 2009

If you have a car in Chicago, you better be weary. Reported by the RedEye, Chicago's percentage of parking meter violations has risen 26% this year already. And just so you know, the area in and around the Loop accounts for half of that increase.

ABC 7 News reports:

Records show about 327,650 tickets were issued in the first eight months of the year for expired meters or overstaying a pay-and-display spot. That's up from fewer than 260,000 in the same period of 2008.

This "ticket blitz" as its being called, has accumulated around 7 million dollars in revenue for the city. These well-earned dollars go directly to our depleted general fund.

So what does that money go towards? Well one thing is, as stated by the Chicago Tribune "The city budgeted for additional parking enforcement staff in September 2008, and 32 personnel were added in late 2008 and early 2009".

But why are they ticketing so much? Well somebody has to pay for the CTA, the libraries, the school systems, the many festivities Chicago has to offer, among other things. All understandable.

But my question is, why weren't they doing this in the first place? Did they not realize that people who drive are usually idiots who don't care about the parking meter? Why now, are they cracking down when, as reported since this year, the city could have made millions of dollars to make up for its huge expenditures cough the Chicago Olympic bid cough.

Therefore, by riveting and precise analysis, Beatnik Babble Broadcast has hypothesized that the city of Chicago is not in the right concerning the matter of the parking blitz. We have assessed the situation and demand that the old parking way of life be restored and the money taken from said idiots be returned. Our conclusion is that it is not fair to make a sudden change in ticket traffic, targeting the unaware Chicagoans.

Moral of the day: Don't own a car in Chicago. If you do own a car, buy a mobile parking spot, they make them small enough to fit in purses, handbags, and murses, not wallets.