Don't Shoot The Messenger: Take Action!

Parking tickets make me angry.

Getting booted made me insane.

But at no point during my maniacal ravings have I ever verbally assaulted, physically assaulted or fired a shot at a cop, PEA, booter or any other city employee.

I am honestly disturbed by last Monday's shooting of the booter on the city's South Side.

But as much as I think it's OK to get pissed and outraged at parking tickets, booting, the crappy system surrounding both, and Mayor Daley, it can never, NEVER be acceptable to lash out at city workers in any way--verbally, physically, or ballistically.

I understand your anger. It is the reason we created our website. But the city employees issuing tickets and doing the booting are just the messengers of this city's bad policies.

While you may dislike the work these city employees do, they are human beings and deserve at worst, a minimum of respect. At least enough respect not to attack them.

Your anger is misplaced. The real culprit is Mayor Daley and his complicit City Council who have gone over the line with their overly aggressive parking ticket and red light ticket laws. All they care about is revenue at the expense of the city driver.

The purpose of The Expired Meter is to channel our anger into action.

Contest your parking tickets. Fight all of them, every time. Even if you lose, the only downside is you get more time to pay if you lose.

Overwhelm the hearing system with hearings and thus slowing down the city's revenue stream.

Use the legal remedies available to you to fight back.

Call and howl at your alderman for relief via changes in the municipal code.

Complain, complain, complain.

Write letters to the newspapers. Call into radio talk shows. Get your friends involved.

We agree. We know. We are getting screwed.

Make your voice heard!

But never, NEVER lash out at the city employees who are ultimately, just doing a job, trying to put food on their table and clothes on the back of themselves and their family.

It is not right.

Now get to work and fight back.

For more information on fighting parking tickets, parking ticket news, red light camera information and more, check out The Expired Meter.

Comments

[plebeianswillrevolt]

The clerks at 7-11 are taught and trained not to confront and escalate at shoplifting situation. The city agent who insisted on being a hero and booting this car in the face of an irate and unstable car owner was a fool, or a serial power abuser. Undoubtedly both. Turns out, the boot was on him. RIP