Privatizing Treachery

Imagine a world where treachery reigned supreme.

Imagine no more... and Welcome to Chicago.

The city that fines you 10,000%, IMMEDIATELY, for not feeding a parking meter.

Yes, if you are 12 seconds late on that 25 cent parking meter...

• your fine is not 50 cents, which would be 100%..
  
• not $2.50, which would be 1000%...
  
• but a whopping $25.00, a 10,000% fine for your offense.
  

Now if you do not pay that fine in 30 days, these things come in the mail a lot of the time folks, your fine DOUBLES.

So make that a 20,000% fine, your .25 offense is now costing you $50.00.

If applied to your mortgage payment, the average U.S. mortgage being about $1700 per month for a $215,000 home, being late on a payment would mean:

By the time you woke up the morning after that payment was due, you would owe your bank $170,000 for THAT MONTH'S mortgage payment.

If you missed the following month, because you didn't know they had not received your check, your total payment due for that ONE MONTH would be $340,000.

Now imagine if you did not pay (wow who could), you would be locked out of your house without warning and given 10 days to come up with the money. If the money was not paid within 10 days, your house AND IT'S CONTENTS would be sold at an auction you could not participate in or know about.

This is what happens to cars with unpaid tickets in the City of Chicago. I do not want to hear bout how "extreme" the example is, THIS HAPPENS and more often than any of us know of.

All this frustration comes on the heels of the City of Chicago's decision to sell the rights to our parking meter system to a private company for the next 75 years.

The announcement was coupled nicely with news that the mew meter rates for neighborhoods would rise, IN 26 DAY ON JANUARY 1, 2009, from 25 cents and hour to $1.00 an hour, a 400% rate hike.

Think that's horrible?

The parking meters in downtown Chicago will now cost... $6.00 an hour.

That is 10 cents for every minute!

So while there was heated and vigorous debate as to whether the minimum wage should be raised for HUMAN BEINGS, many of which work downtown in eateries at at retailers, from their current rate TO $6.55 an hour now and $7.25 an hour starting July 24, 2009, we all readily accept an inanimate objet needs it's $6.00 an hour to survive.

I say I have no problem with the new rates, as long as they change the parking meters to mirror the picture at the top of this post.