On the 2700 block of North Campbell in Chicago, the street sign seems to make it clear: no parking north of the sign unless you have a residential permit. But south of the sign? Have at it.
“I don’t think it could be much clearer,” area resident Joe Rubinas told NBC 5 Responds. “You see the arrows pointing north. … I’m just parking on my street in a legal zone.”
But in that legal spot in the past year, Rubinas said he’s been ticketed not once, but twice, with $75 violations for parking in a residential permit-only zone.
The first time he got a ticket, he appealed the violation and the City agreed, wiping out the fine. The second time, he used the same letter as he did in his first appeal, but with new pictures, and the City shot back a different answer.
“I got the notice from the City that ‘the evidence you used was not sufficient’ and so I still had to pay the fine and that’s when I got frustrated,” Rubinas told NBC 5 Responds.
His second ticket was upheld by an Administrative Law Judge, or ALJ, for the City who said Rubinas “did not raise one of the permitted defenses.”
The denial was a real head-scratcher for the North Side resident, since his identical argument worked with an ALJ on the previous ticket.
"It seems like a complete luck of the draw as far as who your judge is and maybe they had a bad day," Rubinas said. "I was just kind of baffled as far as what else you want me to do to show you that I was parked in a legal zone."
His only option left was expensive court fees, which were about the same as the erroneous ticket, he said. That’s when he reached out to NBC 5 Responds.
Last February, we profiled viewers who complained of uneven findings by ALJs, who are private attorneys hired by the City to hear parking ticket arguments from drivers who contest their violations.
We revealed one ALJ’s findings favored the City over drivers more than two-thirds of the time. Officials at that time told NBC 5 the ALJ in question would be “re-trained.”
One year later, we asked the City to take another look at Rubinas’ outstanding violation. A spokesperson looked into his case and told us the ticket should not have been written in the first place.
The full statement from Molly Poppe at the Chicago Department of Finance:
“The City of Chicago has a deliberate process to review parking tickets issued by City personnel. In this particular incident, the Administrative Hearing Officer determined that the parking violation had occurred, but upon further review, City supervisors determined the ticket was issued in error, because the street signs do not accurately reflect the parking restrictions on this block. We regret any inconvenience experienced by the affected resident. The City will continue our ongoing training of ticket writers and hearing officers to help prevent tickets from being issued in error and subsequently upheld in the future.”
For his part, Rubinas says he is relieved, but wishes the process could be more even-handed for residents who try to defend themselves against unfair fines. "I tried doing it myself and it didn't work,” he told NBC5 Responds. “I reached out to you and I appreciate your help."
