City sticker and tints tickets equaling $900 HELP (Kansas: license plate, car)

[ofcjim40]

This is a Chicago process not Cook County. Tint was front windshield and no sticker so both are valid tickets. The first tickets were removed , so whoever did the second ticketing would have no idea when or if the first set was issued. This is hardly the fault of anybody but the OP. Drover had the best advice on how to proceed.

[ChiGuy2.5]

Originally Posted by ofcjim40

This is a Chicago process not Cook County. Tint was front windshield and no sticker so both are valid tickets. The first tickets were removed , so whoever did the second ticketing would have no idea when or if the first set was issued. This is hardly the fault of anybody but the OP. Drover had the best advice on how to proceed.

The OP said 35% all around (which is legal). This implies it was not the front windshield. Either way though, they legally CAN ticket for 35% on all 5 windows regardless of state law. Even if the tickets remained on the wipers they can still ticket, cant they?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by ChiGuy2.5

Either way though, they legally CAN ticket for 35% on all 5 windows regardless of state law.

That's debatable.

[shaman1204]

I have had 100% success at getting tickets thrown out that I challenged, all four via mail. The first was on a sports car that I bought in Wisconsin so there was no front license plate frame. After two years of ownership I finally got a ticket for no front plate, so I put the plate on the front bumper, took a picture and included a letter stating that the plate frames were on back order from the German auto dealer, which was complete BS, and the picture showed I had complied. It was dismissed.

Next two were for a vehicle that I had recently purchased that had temp tags. I kept the temp tags on b/c I was lazy about buying a city sticker. The face of the temp tag said it expired on 3/2011, but if you ran the tag it expired on a specific date, such as 2/18/2011. The officer ran it and gave me a ticket for expired tag and for no city sticker. My saving grace, it had snowed lightly and they did not brush off the windshield. I checked the city website and there was a picture of my snowy windshield as "evidence." So I went and bought a sticker, took a picture of it on my windshield and included a printout of their "evidence" and said it was there the whole time. I also explained that the plate did not expire until the end of the month and I had no way of knowing that it expired in the middle of the month. Both were dismissed.

Fourth was for street cleaning. I got a ticket in the morning for that, it then stormed and blew that ticket off. I then got another about five hours later. I paid the first and included proof of payment with my letter stating I was wrong and paid but felt that I should not have to pay twice for the same offense. That was dismissed as well. This may be your best route, admit some guilt and pay something.

Sorry for the long response but if others search about parking tickets this might give people a few ideas.

[Custompainter123]

I think mr. Go mexico is a douchbag crook cop stuffin his pockets with this same outragous fines and fees cook county makes hard working people pay which is why he is sticking up for these ludacris fines

[rparz]

Before tints were legal and paper work was sketchy at best we used to take pictures of our car with the windows rolled down and go to court showing 'we removed the tint'

Go buy a city sticker and take pics of your car without tints.


Put sticker in window and park off the street. (since chances are you'll never get pulled over by a real cop for something so trivial)

[Chmura]

Just a very late update..I contested all the tickets by mail. Sent in photographic evidence of my tints, a copy of the receipt from the tint shop stating I have 35% tints, copy of the law and a letter stating why I should not be charged for the tints. They dismissed the two the tickets I received the next day for tints and sticker, but I still had to pay for the tickets issued on the 1st day. I probably should have gotten a hearing and it might have worked out in my favor.

[Chicago South Sider]

Originally Posted by Chmura

I have been driving with tints (35% all around which is legal) and no city sticker on my car for quite some time now. On Friday night an officer left two tickets on my car in Chicago, one for no city sticker $200 (9-64-125 (b)) and front tint $250 (9-76-220(b)). I couldn't do anything about those tickets on Saturday because I was out since Friday night and my brother took the tickets off my car. The very next day not ever 24 hours later I received the very same tickets by the same officer. I have since got my city sticker and removed the front tint so the officer will leave me alone, but is there anything at all I can do about these tickets? I have an option to contest by mail or schedule a hearing.

You might want to look at a payment plan.

[dewthedru]

Originally Posted by Chmura

Just a very late update..I contested all the tickets by mail. Sent in photographic evidence of my tints, a copy of the receipt from the tint shop stating I have 35% tints, copy of the law and a letter stating why I should not be charged for the tints. They dismissed the two the tickets I received the next day for tints and sticker, but I still had to pay for the tickets issued on the 1st day. I probably should have gotten a hearing and it might have worked out in my favor.

thanks for providing an update. I wish everyone did this.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by Drover

When you say "front tint" do you mean the front windshield or the front driver/passenger-side windows? If you mean the windshield, then clearly that's illegal. If you mean the front-side windows, then it's a crapshoot as to whether you'll get those tickets dismissed. Even though state law has been amended to allow 35% all around (except the windshield), the city still has the "old" tint ordinance on its books and is using home-rule as its justification for continuing to enforce it, the legality of which is questionable at best. From what I hear, people are having about 50% success at getting tint tickets dismissed, but you better put together a convincing legal argument as to why the state law should override the city's home-rule privilege.

If you contest it by mail, chances are high you'll end up paying all the tickets. Unless it's an open-and-shut case with photographic evidence in your favor, it's always best to contest in person. I'd contest at least one set of tickets or another; you'll have better success if you concede you earned some of them and that you'll pay up on them.

One option is to contest the second set of tickets on the grounds that you did not have adequate time to correct/mitigate before receiving the second set, and that you did so at your earliest opportunity. Concede that you'll pay the first set and they may dismiss the second set at their discretion. The other option is to contest the tint tickets on the ground thats state law overrides home-rule privilege where automotive equipment rules and standards are concerned (hint: it's called "uniform" vehicle code for a reason).

I do not think the cop was legal in writing a ticket for tint on a parked car. First of all, how does he measure the amount of tint without having access to both sides of the glass to measure it using a light and a meter? Secondly, you can just say you had skin cancer and it is medically necessary. Whether you win or not I can't say. It is hard to win in Chicago. If you don't win, you can just pay the sticker fines and ignore the tint tickets because they cannot do anything to you unless you get 3 or more. I would not pay them.