- Drivers in Oak Park are getting fewer tickets than they used to.
While that is good news for many, it can be a problem for the village, which is expected to go through another extremely tight budget next year.
The village collected about $434,000 less than expected in parking fines through the first six months of the year.
There are a few theories on why this is the case. At a finance committee meeting last month, Village President David Pope said tough economic times may be causing people to be more cautious when parking to avoid tickets.
The village's chief finance officer, Craig Lesner, suspects it has more to do with a decrease in enforcement.
We haven't heard any numbers coming out of City Hall lately about their parking enforcement numbers. We can't imagine Rahm wouldn't be using those as a club to beat the Department with if they were low. Hell, we can't imagine McJerseyShore/McStatmaster wouldn't be saving those numbers for another "Gotcha!" moment at the next CompStat meeting if he can.