[valkyrie]

Achtung, does your ticket indicate a procedure for disputing the ticket? If you can dispute it, you probably should.

Chicago has its own special demon that was born in the bowels of parking hell. It goes by the earthly name of Lincoln Towing. If you even THINK about parking somewhere that is or was illegal at some point, they are going to tow you. It will take them about ten seconds to find you and tow you, no matter where you are. They are watching you right now, in fact. Yes, I know I sound paranoid, but it's true. One time I was with some friends and we parked somewhere that wasn't even marked "no parking" and they towed us. So you go over to get your car, and they charge you like $200 in cash or some outrageous amount of money. When we were there, my friend was trying to find out why they towed her, and she was standing by the motorized gate asking the guy a question. They closed the gate on her, and if she hadn't moved quickly, they would have smooshed her in there. And they are SO RUDE you can't even believe it.

And yeah, when I was in Iowa City, I got towed twice but that was totally my fault because I got a ton of tickets that I didn't pay. There, they tow you way out to the middle of nowhere and make you pay cash for towing, storage and all of your tickets. Of course, you don't have money and you don't have a car to get out to the boonies to get your car. It's awful.