Monday, June 18, 2007
City licensing: one week later
After 9 calls to a myriad of Chicago departments, I have finally learned that I must attend court. There is no mail in option for failure to display a city dog license.
Here are the different organizations I had to go through to get this simple answer.
311-two times
Administraticve hearings-2 times
Animal Care and Control-1 time
24th district Chicago Police-1 time
Chicago Department of Revenue-1 time
City Clerk-1 time
I was informed that it takes approximately two weeks for the ticket to enter into the system. Once that has happened, I can come to the court and have my hearing at a time conveniant for me. Out of morbid curiousity, I looked up some of the violations that do allow mail in of fines.
CTA ordinance violations
Drinking in public
Biking on the Sidewalk
Skateboards, Rollerblades or pushcarts on a roadway
Placing advertising matter on vehicles
Solicitation or selling on a public way without a license
Glass containers in public parks, beaches and playlots
Lack of charitable solicitation permit
Violation of park district codes
Violation of operation restrcitions of marine vessels including dangerous or reckless operation.
Creating wakes within 150 ft of shoreline, bouys or swimming areas
Now I don't want to be a pain and I believe licensing is important. But is failing to display your city dog license more serious than some of the infractions above? Do you mean I can be operating a boat in such a way that is dangerous to life and limb and get out of my court date and a dog owner who has failed to purchase a license must appear in court? What's wrong with this picture?
In the meantime, my check to the city has still not been cashed.
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3 comments:
It would seem to me that the fines available for mail-in payments, particularly drinking in public, are available for a mail-in ajudication because they are the most frequently written violations. The city likely allows those fines to be mailed in to alleviate the huge caseload of making those people appear at a hearing.
what happened when you went in?
I came in with my carbon of my check and my applications that had been returned with my tags, stamped paid. The check was still not visable on my online checking, so it was the best evidence I had.
The department of law attorney seemed to think that the check was proof that I paid my fine. I kept telling her that it was proof that I applied in a timely manner for my licenses, prior to being ticketed.
In the long run, all they cared about was did you have the license at the time you were ticketed. Answer...NO. Had to pay the fine, which was $30 plus admin costs of $10.
I guess I could have challenged the point, but every minute in court was time out of work aka loss of monthly income.
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