Letter to the City Clerk's Office

I just now sent this letter to the City Clerk's Office.



To Whom It May Concern,

Shortly after I paid for and received my City Sticker I received an application for a zone sticker for my street (XXXXXXXXXX.). The zone code on the application was for Zone 6XX. I quickly filled out the application and enclosed my payment ($35 total) for not only the sticker but also some visitor passes and the necessary proof of residency materials requested. A few weeks later I received my Zone 6XX sticker and passes, but there was no Parking Zone street signs up, so I called my Alderman (26th Ward, Bill Acostia) and learned that Zone 6XX in reality did not exist. Actually, Zone 6XX never existed. There was a petition to zone the street, but it was defeated and the street was not zoned. That's right, I was issued not only and application, but the sticker and guest passes for a zone that never existed.

I was amazed that such a mistake could have happened. How could my payment be processed and a sticker issues for something that is not real? I called your office and was apologized to and immediately sent a refund application. That was over 2 months ago. My payments for the sticker and guest passes were posted on 7/25/06 and 7/28/06 respectively. It is now Tuesday October 31, 2006. (Happy Halloween)

I recently called your office again, to see where I stood on the refund. I was told that a refund would take 14 weeks. This is unacceptable. I followed the rules of the City and purchased my Zone 6XX sticker in time to not be ticketed by the police if in fact the zone had been real, which was not the case. Zone 6XX is not an enforceable zone. I would like my refund. In addition to my refund, I feel a one time penalty payment to me of $25.00 is fair. If I had not gotten the proper sticker I could have faced much stiffer penalties, so in my opinion a $25.00 payment in addition to my full refund of $35.00 is more than fair.

I fully expect to receive my refund and penalty payment by Tuesday November 14, 2006. That is a full two weeks from now.

Payment should be sent to:

Mr. Concert Josh
XXXXXXXXX
2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60647

I can be reached Monday - Friday, 9AM - 5PM at (630)2XX-XXXX. Feel free to call me with any questions or concerns.

Once again, send a refund and penalty payment of $60.00 by 11/14/06.

Sincerely,

Concert Josh


So do ya think I have a shot at getting my penalty payment?

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[Update 11/01/06] The City's Response:

We agree with everything you wrote in your email. You will need to
continue to contact the refund division of the clerk's office at
312.XXX.XXXX in this regard. They are in direct contact with the City
Comptroller's office...they are the entity that actually cuts the refund
check. All of your refund information has been processed by the clerk's
office and sent forward to the Comptroller to issue your check, so,
hopefully, you will have your money in the time you requested.

As far as the applications you originally received for a zone that did
not exist...this information came through the city's IT department. How
they had data on a street that was never zoned is a question we are
still asking of them. We have yet to get an acceptable response at this
time.



Chicago City Clerk's Office

Rain

Yeah, its raining.

BUT....

My computer is fixed. Sure I lost everything I had downloaded to it, like some music, programs, files, pictures, etc.. but at least it is working and my external hard drive with my vast iTunes music library is OK.

I have 2 tickets to The Hold Steady tonight, but I don't want to go. Guess I'll just eat 'em, it won't be the first or last time I get tickets to a show and end up not going. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the latest album anyway. Its good, but not near as good as their other two.

Next in the series "Things in My Life That Have Crashed"

So my year and a half old laptop has crashed. It is currently in the hands of my IT Pro here at the office. So far its not looking good.

In other more relevant news Mozilla Firefox 2.0 was released. It rules over IE7 with an iron fist, plus the add-on's and theme's are awesome.

Blah.....

So I had Friday off to get my car looked at again. Eight hundred and some odd dollars of damage. Add that to the Six hundred forty dollars for the bumper damage and the two side dents I want to get fixed and I'll have a grand total of just over $2,000 worth of body work. I'll have a better idea after I take it to the actual body shop on Saturday.

Over the weekend I went to back to back shows. The first was Magnolia Electric Company on Friday. My friend Say-Jack and I had a real good time. He got "I'm seeing double' Drunk and we left the show a few songs early. I woke up feeling a little rough on Saturday. I was going to take my car to get my flat tire (just another page in the pain in the ass this new car is) but I was too lazy/hung-over/tired to deal with it. Early in the afternoon my Roommate his girlfriend and I headed up to Milwaukee to see Widespread Panic play. I haven't seen them play on a few years, and probably won't be going again any time real soon. I was bored for most of the night.

Now I am back to work. I took my tire over to the gas station to get fixed at lunch. Now its time for some candy.

Don't say I didn't warn you. Some major attack is nearing

Unlawful combatant stingrays OR The 'new' Jaws.






You decide.

She was a good dog

Until She got into some posion. She died tonight. My sister just called, balling her eyes out. One of the last things I did last Friday, before I got in that stupid accident, was take her for a ride around the block. See, she got in my car and wasn't geting out with out a ride. She was cute like that.

My dad said he could hear all the birds, squirrels and rabbits in the area having a big party. She chased and caught them all.

She loved treats. And people. And running fast. And playing. And chasing.

She was only 7. (correction, I just now learned that she was just over 5)

Along with the death of the family dog phone call, I also got this in the mail. If you can't see the picture so well, that is me going through one of those red light camera's. My only excuse is that it was the day of tornado warnings and heavy rain. I didn't see it at all. I could barely see with the heavy rain and wind and probably should have pulled over. Oh well, what's $90?

Wow.

I bet you turned the game off last night. I bet you wish you didn't.

I had to watch Sports Center to make sure it all really happened.

Go Bears.




Mr. Urlacher willed the team to win. What a very special player. The heart and soul of this team.

What the F*ck?

So last week was crazy. I went to a Monday Night Rock Show starring TV On The Radio. They were alright, not mind blowing but good. I followed that show with The World's Best Rock Band, The Rolling Stones on Wednesday night. Holy crap that was cold. I have been to Bears games in December that were warmer. I will say, these old geezers know how to put on a big rock show. I have seen them several times over the years and have always been impressed. They work every inch of their stage, play to every person in the crowd and just basically rock the fuck out.

Friday I took the day off to get my car looked at and deal with the insurance people. After getting things pretty squared away, I headed home. With less than 3 miles to my girlfriends house I was side swiped by some idiot who couldn't wait for me to finish merging into the exit lane. The driver door forward is completely fucked. All I can do is laugh.

The rest of my weekend was spent filing a new accident report, filing more insurance claims, shopping and seeing not so scary movies.

I am looking forward to a weekend of Rock-n-Roll. I am going to see either Silversun Pickup's or Magnolia Electric Company on Friday and then heading up to Beer City on Saturday for my first Widespread Panic concert in 2+ years.

Roc-tober

So this month is really starting to live up to its name.

So far I will be attending 3 Rock shows, with the possibility of at least 3 more in the works.

Here's a list of them, cuz I know you care!

Friday 10/6 - The Long Winters
Saturday 10/7 - Chris Harford and the Band Of Changes (if you don't have his new CD, get it. Now!)
Monday 10/9 - TV On The Radio
Wednesday 10/11 - The Rolling Stones
Thursday 10/12 - Art Brut
Friday 10/20 - Silversun Pickups
Saturday 10/21 - Widespread Panic
Monday 10/23 - Figurines
Thursday 10/26 - The Hold Steady

Work

Things to do when it rains

Window Craft's. Yep, that's what we do at my house when it rains. We build fancy water diversion sheets out of garbage bags to channel the flow of water leaking down the side of the building and into the living room through the window. It's a fun way to spend a Monday evening with the Roommate.

Here is a picture of last night's Craft's session.



















In other news my sister and I are taking our mom and her neighbor friend to the Rolling Stones concert next week. That should be interesting.

Also, my co-worker suggested that I use a magnet to find a stainless steel spring I dropped on the floor and lost this morning. This is the same person that thought Friday last week was really Saturday and came in just over two hours late. All I can do anymore is shake my head in disbelief anymore.

I am still getting the run around from State Farm Insurance. Hopefully I'll get more information today, but I am not counting on it. Bastards.

Fun things to do on a Monday

Cut and paste lines out of Rep. Mark Foley's chat log and send them to your friends in text or instant messages.

Win

Notre Dame wins over Perdue.

Tony Stewart wins (with no gas mind you).

Bears stomp Seattle.

Yeah, it was a good weekend for my teams.