Ticket scofflaws shown some mercy from City Hall ; Payment plan moves through committee

Fran Spielman

January 13, 2004

Chicago Sun Times

Roughly 280,000 motorists who've piled up more than $500 worth of overdue parking tickets will get a chance to climb out from under their debt -- without having their vehicles immobilized by the Denver boot -- under a payment plan advanced by a City Council committee Monday.

Chicago aldermen welcomed the rare show of leniency by City Hall, but they demanded that Revenue Director Bea Reyna-Hickey show some mercy to dead people, whose survivors are being hounded in their grief for a simple unpaid parking ticket.

"We have enough living people to go after. We don't have to worry about going after dead people. . . . It incurs additional pain on people's families. It gives the city a bad [image]," said Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th).

Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) lashed out at Hickey for capping penalties for businesses that file late tax returns while seeking to dun scofflaws to death and beyond -- literally.

"She chases them to the grave. . . .When you go to the local funeral homes and shake the change out of the bodies, you're being too tough," Stone said.

Hickey acknowledged the city is revisiting its policy of dunning the dead in the wake of a column last week by Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass. He told the story of Frank Patzke, who's still getting threatening letters from City Hall about his son's unpaid parking ticket 5.5 years after James Patzke died of a heart attack at age 40.

"What we are looking at is establishing a dollar cap . . . that we would say we're just going to dismiss those tickets. Maybe $150. Maybe $100. . . . We may decide that we're not going to pursue any of it when it's a deceased situation," she said.

The decision to give beleaguered motorists a break before City Hall tightens the noose with higher parking fines follows repeated demands by lakefront Ald. Helen Shiller (46th).

Two months ago, Shiller introduced an ordinance establishing Chicago's first-ever parking ticket payment plan and convinced all but three aldermen to cosign it. That forced the hand of a Daley administration reluctant to go along for fear of the high default rate that accompanies similar payment plans.

The ordinance approved by the Finance Committee Monday includes several safeguards to protect the city from a dramatic loss of revenue.

It would be open only to motorists who have piled up more than $500 in parking tickets, agree to make a down payment of 25 percent of the overall debt or $500, whichever is greater, and pay off the rest through a negotiated plan in no longer than 12 months.

Drivers who adhere to those provisions from March 1 to 31 would have their names removed from the city's boot list. After March 31, the program would be limited to scofflaws who are eligible for the boot but not already booted. The only exceptions would be hardship cases, as defined by eligibility for food stamps, Medicaid, Section 8 housing certificates, supplemental Social Security income or government help paying winter heating bills.

Motorists who set up a payment plan and then default would be slapped with a $100 penalty and immediately become boot eligible. They would also be barred from future payment plans.

The $500 benchmark is designed to minimize the city's risk.

Also on Monday, the Finance Committee agreed to increase parking rates at the Millennium Park garage and waive a $1 "Internet convenience fee" that has had the unwitting effect of discouraging motorists from settling their parking debts online.

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