Chicago Moves 17,000 Vehicles Per Year Without Telling The Owners

In Chicago, if you park your car where city workers have a job to do, it might get moved somewhere other than where you parked it. The only problem is that you might not know which parking spots are off limits or where your car has been moved.

The city's moved-car database can take a while to update after a relocation, and there's no way for the police to know what happened to it. So for all you know, the car was stolen. That's been the real life story for more than a few Chicago street parkers.

It's like a real life version of Brazil's Central Services "taking care of things" for you. An ineptly executed logistical nightmare that only really affects the individuals who are unfortunate enough to find their cars missing.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the city relocated more than 17,000 vehicles last year for various reasons. Many of them were moved with little or no notice. Even though city code requires that signage advising motorists and pedestrians of upcoming works projects be posted 24 hours in advance, emergency projects don't require any notice. Anything in the way, vehicle or otherwise, can be moved without all that letting-people-know-what's-going-on red tape.

This must cause considerable problems for the already bureaucracy riddled urban residents of the Windy City. Think about it. If your car is relocated and it takes a week or two to find out where, you could have been towed for violating some parking or street sweeping ordinance during that time. That's two levels of bureaucracy to deal with instead of just one, three if you count parking tickets and the police department.

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