Most Chicago Things Locals Did This Week

My most Chicago thing: got a $75 street cleaning ticket on Kenmore yesterday. I work from home, my desk is by the window, and I swear on my life the sweeper never even came down the street. It feels like they just send a guy in a Cushman to write tickets whether the truck runs or not. Is it even worth contesting it anymore? I know I can do it online but it feels like screaming into the void. Wondering if I should just pay the piper and move on.

Got my car towed from in front of my own house during the first big snow because my husband moved it but not quite far enough to avoid being a foot into the 'no parking' zone. Dibs is one thing but the tow trucks are another level. That was a $220 lesson. For your ticket, I would just pay it. My time is worth more than the seventy five bucks I might save after six months of fighting.

My most Chicago thing was biking home down Milwaukee and getting cut off by a rideshare, a Divvy tourist, and a delivery driver all at the same intersection by the Damen stop. It was like a video game boss level. I did not get a ticket though, so maybe you win.

You have to fight it, Eddie. The city has a 'Sweeper Tracker' website. If you can pull the data for your street and show the truck was never there, you can win. You need to take a screenshot of the map for that date and time. Also take a timestamped photo of your car parked on the street with the sign in the background right before the restriction starts. Submit it all online. It's a pain but they count on people not bothering. I did this last year for a spot on Kedzie and they dismissed it a few weeks later.

You all are lucky. My most Chicago thing was paying my Cook County property tax bill. That makes a parking ticket look like a rounding error. And we do not even have street sweepers out here, just potholes the size of a Portillo's chocolate cake.

Sat on the Blue Line for twenty minutes between Division and Damen with no announcement. Then the doors opened and closed three times before the operator came on to say 'we're being delayed by train traffic ahead'. The most Chicago part was that nobody on the train even looked up from their phone. It's just the price of admission.

Thanks for the advice, especially AlbanyParkAnna. I found the tracker and it looks like the sweeper completely skipped the 6100 block of Kenmore and went straight to Sheridan. I got my screenshots. Submitting my appeal now. It probably will not work, but at least I feel like I am doing something. This is now officially my most Chicago thing this week, spending my evening building a case against the city.