Chicago - A message from the station manager

The [Monday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

For completists, there was no Weekend Desk Report this weekend.
“In its effort to clean up a mistake it made on 1.9 million red light and speed camera tickets, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has erred again,” the Tribune reported Sunday.
“In a mass mailing last week to recipients of those tickets, City Hall offered a second chance to appeal the violations. The effort was intended to fend off a class-action lawsuit alleging the city failed to give ticket holders adequate time or notice the first time around.
“One problem: The city’s ticket website is not allowing many ticket holders to view the violation video or photographic evidence used to issue the fines in the first place.”


*
The city says it is trying to rectify the situation.

Emanuel’s Transportation Department spokesman, Michael Claffey, said Friday that “as soon as the city was alerted to this problem, we immediately contacted our vendors for the automated enforcement programs, and they are adding additional resources to get every violation uploaded as soon as possible.”
Claffey said the process may take several days, and that to ensure that everyone has ample time to contest their violations, the city is extending the deadline for filing the new appeals by two weeks to Feb. 19.

Just an innocent glitch, then?
Perhaps, but Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown sees a larger problem.
“Some 1.2 million motorists have been sent notices from the city of Chicago offering an ‘additional opportunity’ to contest red-light and speed-camera tickets that some of them paid as long as seven years ago,” Brown wrote last week.

What the notices don’t explain is that it’s actually the city that is trying to give itself the “additional opportunity” – to reinforce its claim to millions of dollars in fines and penalties that it is in danger of having to repay those vehicle owners.
The notices are part of a legal strategy by the Emanuel administration to lessen the potential impact of a pending class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of motorists ticketed under the red-light and speed-camera programs.
A Cook County judge has ruled the city denied due process to recipients of camera tickets, in part by failing to send them a second notice of their violations before assessing additional penalties. Lawyers for the plaintiffs contend the city could be forced to refund $200 million.

Go read the whole thing to get the full gist of it – and before you respond if you’re one of those who received a notice.
–
Comments: 1. From Eric Emery:
“I’m planning a second class action lawsuit against Chicago. As one who received the red light notice, I’m suing Chicago for the argument with my wife regarding my driving skills when we initially thought the notice was a newly earned ticket. The money received will help pay for the marriage counseling required in the wake of this letter.”
–
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #135: Bears Mess Conference, Toast To Terry & Opening The Score’s Door
George McCaskey is not a patient man – except when it comes to his family’s ownership and management of the Bears. Then his patience is infinite. Plus: Wake Me Up When Rondo Go-Goes; Arty On Top; and Toasting Terry While Opening The Score’s Door.
–
Chicago’s Data Factories
“Buildings where workers once processed checks, baked bread and printed Sears catalogs now stream Netflix and host servers engaged in financial trading.”
–
Calling Working People Of All Colors
“The best way for progressives to realign themselves with the white working class isn’t to reverse this progress; it’s to argue forcefully that the economic concerns of the white working class and people of color are more alike than different.”
–
New Year: New Pie?
How he plans to stop worrying and learn to love Brexit – and Trump voters.
(The first comment is already in – and it’s mine!)
–
The Weekend In Chicago Rock
Is in pre-production.
–
The Sound Opinions Weekend Listening Report: “Esperanza Spalding is a singer/songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist, a librettist, a Grammy winner, and much more. She joins Jim and Greg for a candid conversation about exploding genres and creating her theatrical new record. Plus, the music and legacy of David Bowie, one year after his death.”
–
BeachBook
A sampling.
The Media Treats White Drug Addicts Like Angels Who Lost Their Way, And Black Drug Users Like Demons Who Must Be Returned To Hell.

*
Why Americans Eat The Way They Do.

*
New Tips For New FOIA Rules.

*
Beachwood Field Trip!

–
TweetWood
A sampling.
Wow.


*


*


*


*


–
The Beachwood Tronc Line: Highly cited.

Permalink

Posted on January 9, 2017