Rant: Illegally Issued Tickets

According to the Mission Statement on its site, the government of the City of Cleveland exists to:
A. improve the quality of life by
1. strengthening our neighborhoods,
2. delivering superior services,
3. embracing the diversity of our citizens, and
4. making Cleveland a desirable, safe city in which to
a. live,
b. work,
c. raise a family,
d. shop,
e. study,
f. play
g. grow old.

And yet the City administration made a conscious decision to issue thousands of automated red-light tickets in violation of the law as they themselves wrote it. Which part of the Mission Statement says to steal from its citizens?

It's not honest on the part of the city to knowingly issue illegal tickets. Bob Triozzi, the City's top lawyer knew that the law the City Council approved was flawed from the beginning, making it illegal to issue tickets to drivers of leased or rented cars. But the illegal ticketing was approved with at least the tacit, if not explicit consent of the executive branch. Thousands of times, and for years.

As part of the law, the city devised an appeals process so onerous and labyrinthian that it is economically irrational to argue with the city about the ticket. Only a quixotic attorney had the time, money and legal know-how to challenge the law and win. If we have to obey the law, so does the City.

How does this behavior promote the achievement of the City's Mission Statements? It does illegally collect more money, perhaps for improving our roads, or not. However, when the City’s legislative and administrative branches cooperate to create this adversarial situation, biased 100% in favor of the City, that does not Improve the Quality of Life, Strengthen Our Neighborhoods, Deliver Superior Services, Embrace our Diversity, and certainly does not Make Cleveland a Desirable, Safe City. It DOES create suspicion, distrust and cynicism about the politicians we elect and, by association, the City itself. From where does Cleveland's self-loathing come? The Top.

Having lost the court case, Triozzi then has the unmitigated gall to argue that by capitulating to the staggering weight of the city appeals process, those illegally ticketed drivers FORFEITED THEIR RIGHT TO APPEAL WHEN THEY PAID THEIR $100 FINES.

As an analogy, assume the City paid the invoices of a contractor who knowingly submitted false bills to the City. When the City found out, they demanded their money back but the contractor claimed that once the City paid the bill it forfeited that money and had no recourse. Would that stand? Oh HELL no! Not only would the City get its overpayment back, but the contractor would be banned from further work and prosecuted for fraud. Maybe we ought to consider that plan of action for those officials who perpetrated this ticket fraud.

For the city to create this one-sided, confiscatory, back-door tax with such an unfair playing field is utterly unethical and dishonest. How is that behavior acceptable on the part of our elected and appointed officials?

Now, adding insult to injury, the city is using more of our money to challenge the legal motion to make this issue a class action suit. The city's leadership utterly and without shame refuses to stand up and admit its mistake. And yes, the city knew a priori that it was illegal to take your money and that they were not entitled to it. Now they refuse to return their ill-gotten gains to those from whom it was illegally taken.

Cleveland’s leadership refuses to take responsibility for their illegal actions both individually and as a group. They have no shame and their actions contribute to a culture of corruption. Nor does this behavior and the mindset that created it advance or lend support for the City’s stated mission to Improve The Quality Of Life.