Parking Tickets Up

But not by the police:

• Your chances of receiving a parking ticket in Chicago have shot up from last year, and the pace has accelerated even more in recent months.
  
  A ticketing blitz in the city has led to a 26 percent spike in parking meter violations so far in 2009, according to city records provided to the Tribune in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
  
  The area in and near the Loop accounted for half the increase in tickets.
  
  
• Parking and non-moving compliance violations tickets issued by the Chicago Police Department and traffic control aides declined about 10 percent in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year, Walsh said. Meanwhile, tickets issued by the Revenue Department increased almost 10 percent.

Compliance violations (front/rear plates) and meters (surprise!) showed large increases while Rush Hour and Street Cleaning tickets (both traditionally police written) had double digit decreases. And as the manpower shortages continue to leave police running from job to job and unable (or even unwilling) to perform ticket writing duties, we expect a bigger shift toward "revenue" writers rather than police.