Uniform Enforcement or Personalized Law? A Preliminary Examination of Parking Ticket Appeals in Chicago

This Article is one in a series of papers that sets the record straight about the type, quality, and quantity of information that U.S. cities may employ, so as to make more informed policy decisions. It does so, specifically, by examining information that is collected by the City of Chicago: in order to gauge the uniformity, as well as the relative cost effectiveness, of the parking ticket appeals process. The Article has six (VI) parts. Part I is the introduction, which sets the stage for a preliminary examination of the parking ticket appeals process in Chicago. Part II describes the applicable law. Part III explains this Article’s methodological approach, which employs percentage analysis to explain how parking tickets are distributed, how parking ticket appeals are distributed, and how frequently ticket recipients obtain relief in Chicago. Part IV outlines the Article’s findings and positive analysis, which includes the fact that more advantaged zip codes have higher administrative costs and lower error rates than disadvantaged zip codes. Part V contains its key normative recommendations. Part VI is the conclusion

Where Schools Close in Chicago

This article tests the assumption that schools close disproportionately in disadvantaged parts of the city in order to explain where schools close in Chicago. It does so by introducing a new CPS closings data set.This data set sheds some light on the phenomenon by identifying 130 schools that closed over time, twenty-seven ZIP codes that experienced CPS closings, and three demographic characteristics of each ZIP code. As a result, the dataset helps to explain how CPS closings relate to race, income, and location

Why Police Should Protect Complainant Autonomy

This Article describes a simple way to limit the high cost of police misconduct, which is informed by background principles from U.S. civil procedure. It does so by calling for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to better protect the complainant autonomy of injured citizens under the scaled-down process that is used to resolve certain legal claims against officers. Complainant autonomy is an injured citizen’s right to control how its claims are drafted and framed, even over the objection of a nominal plaintiff, regardless of whether such a right to do so is clearly established or not

WHO WINS RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY TAX APPEALS?

This article explains who wins residential property tax appeals in Cook County, Illinois. It does so by collecting and combining public sector data, which has been recently released by the Cook County Assessor. The article then uses this data to compute three statistics. Lastly, it contextualizes each statistic in order to determine if some townships, or groups of townships, win more appeals than expecte

Why U.S. States Need Pension Waiver Credits

[A] new tax expenditure concept, which is described for the first time in this article, achieves its goal by providing fresh consideration for each of the parties. This additional consideration takes two forms: a new tax credit allocation (i.e., this tax expenditure provides early access to retirement benefits, which would otherwise be accessible upon retirement, and thereby provides fresh consideration for public employees) and the right to discontinue offering defined-benefit pension plans (i.e., the waiver of this legal duty, which would otherwise need to be discharged, serves as fresh consideration for public employers). Because this fresh consideration is not tied to any pre-existing duty, and meets every other requirement, Pension Waiver Credits resolve the fresh consideration dilemma for public pension contract

How Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts Correlate with Taxable Properties

TIF literature does not answer a basic question:Does this economic development tool positively correlate with expanded tax bases? The question is important because it avoids the difficult issue of causation, while also yielding insight into the nature of the relationship between TIF and expanded tax bases. As a result, this Article answers the question for suburban Cook County, Illinois

WHY WE NEED A COMPREHENSIVE RECORDING FRAUD REGISTRY

This essay argues for a modest expansion of the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry (NMLS) in order to detect and deter more recording fraud. It does so, initially, by explaining why this online registry limits mortgage fraud. The essay later describes how the NMLS could detect or deter other crimes, such as deed fraud and lien fraud. Lastly, it deals with concerns about a Comprehensive Recording Fraud Registry

Medical Malpractice Claims in Mississippi: A Preliminary Analysis

This Article explains where medical malpractice claims are filed in Mississippi. It initially does so by collecting state circuit court data, which have been recently released by the Administrative Office of Courts. Next, this Article computes summary statistics. Last, it examines these statistics in order to determine which county had the most medical malpractice claims

WHY POLICE LEARN FROM THIRD-PARTY DATA

This Essay argues that third-party data collection, particularly of administrative complaints and departmental audit information, holds greater promise than lawsuit data collection. It does so by asserting that third-party data collection is more useful for three reasons. First, third-party data collection may prevent manipulation by individual police officers and law enforcement agencies. Second, it may assure that police behavioral trends are identified. Lastly, third-party data collection may help to deter published § 1983 cases. This Essay, however, only models and tests the final claim

How the United States Postal Service (USPS) Could Encourage More Local Economic Development

Over the last ten years, the United States Congress has made it increasingly difficult for the United States Postal Service ( USPS )1 to encourage economic development on the ground. Congress has deprived the USPS of its traditional means of achieving local economic development goals, which have largely benefited sub-national governments by providing indirect federal subsidies. This deprivation has occurred, at least in part, through the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act ( PAE Act ), which expressly limits the USPS\u27s right to offer certain non-services like domestic money transfers and other financial products. In an attempt to provide a measure of guidance to the USPS, this Article does four things. First, it explains how to provide new incentives for people to buy USPS money transfers through the Sure Money ®/DineroSeguro® Program ( SM/DS ). The Article also describes how a subsequent increase in USPS money transfer sales could expand local tax bases. Third, it shows why any expansion of local tax bases may help U.S. cities in crisis to improve their prospects. Lastly, this Article explains how expansion may impact a range of different parties. Examples include the real parties in interest, third party beneficiaries, and unrelated third parties