Which Chicago Ward Gets the Most Parking Tickets?

Nearly 193,000 parking tickets were issued during the first eight months of this year in Chicago’s showcase 42nd Ward, which includes downtown and the Gold Coast. That’s 35 percent more tickets than the next-highest ward.

But when it comes to applying the Denver boot, the 42nd Ward is near the bottom of the list. Motorists parking in the congested ward were booted 577 times. Forty-two other wards have higher numbers.

That’s just one of the tidbits from the booting and ticketing breakdown released Wednesday during Day One of City Council hearings on Mayor Daley’s 2010 budget.

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Revenue officials insist that the 42nd Ward has 192,758 tickets and only 577 boots because downtown cars are primarily parked in private garages and lots. Boot crews only prowl city streets.

Tougher to explain is the fact that 11 of the top wards on the boot list are majority black wards. The city has long insisted that boot crews are color-blind and “cover all areas equitably.”

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