Oak Park and lot of other communities are trying to grab money for their nearly empty coffers by increasing the fines and being very aggressive in enforcing parking regulations. [$20 for backing into a stall?! Viewpoints, April 28] I’ll share my own family’s personal story.
My wife called in her car for an overnight pass and made a slight error in supplying the license plate number. She had the correct make and model of the car, along with the exact location. She simply screwed up the order of the car’s plate number. Big mistake! A $35 ticket was issued. Her appeal was denied and a check was recently mailed to pay the fine. There was a time in Oak Park when this type of simple and honest mistake was accepted and the ticket rescinded. Those days are long gone. Remember to read the signs, feed the meters and be accurate when you call for a pass.
It’s too bad there wasn’t such strict enforcement of Oak Park procedures when the village manager and finance director played fast and loose with the computer consultant contract. I’m sure Oak Park could use the $250,000 they misspent!
Jim Coughlin
Oak Park
Submitted to WednesdayJournalOnline.com
