Chicago Mysteries

Last year Chicago replaced all the meters in the city with pay boxes as a part of a deal with a private company. Major Daley decided it was a good idea to lease parking for 75 years for over a billion dollars.

Back before pay boxes, when meters ruled, I saw people getting tickets for expired meters. Well, I saw the results of expired meters: tickets. But I never saw anyone handing out said tickets. Heaven knows, Chicago's 'finest' were not taking time out from harassing people to give out tickets.

But since the pay boxes were put up, I've seen no evidence that you get reprimanded for exceeding the two hour parking limit. Every time I pay at the pay box and then have to put a receipt in my car to prove I have paid - oh yes, that's how it works - I wonder who's coming by to check. Mystery #1.


Mystery #2: Street cleaning. Unlike a lot of places, Chicago does not have permanent Street cleaning signs on side streets. Instead, almost as if by magic, temporary, hand-hung signs appear a few days before you need to move your car to avoid a $50 fee. I've never seen anyone hanging up the signs or taking them down. They're there, and then they're not.

Until today. I have the luxury of walking to work and today I saw both mysteries revealed. Three blocks away from my apartment a man wearing one of those neon vests roadside workers sometimes wear, was pushing a shopping cart chock-full of the street cleaning signs. He must have had hundreds of them in that cart. I was cursing myself for not having my camera to document it. I will likely never see this anomaly again.

THEN, a few blocks further along my walk, I saw another vested man checking a pay box, about to give a tick! Almost everyday there are cabs parked along this particular stretch. And yet they have never paid to park there - always around 8:25 in the morning. Well, one of them finally got caught. And it's nice to know you can't just skip out on paying days and days in a row. Especially since you have to pay from 8:00 am -9:00 pm everyday, including Sundays and Holidays. Thanks, Daley.