Open letter to Illinois politicians: Why is Lincoln Towing in Chicago treating Illinois Commerce Commission like a joke?
Open letter to Illinois politicians: Why is Lincoln Towing in Chicago treating Illinois Commerce Commission like a joke?
When did Protective Parking Service become a universal condo board for Chicago?
Update on March 11, 2024: To my absolute relief, a new (and far more fair and productive) condo board has ended the contract with Lincoln Towing. I loathe the company and its owner’s antics all the same. But at least I no longer have to be bothered with them. I was going to delete the petition I’d started, primarily because I’d dedicated 99% of my attention to writing to alder(wo)men and other politicians instead of gathering signatures. When I got ready to delete it, I saw it had a few signatures anyway, so I’ll leave it open so others have a place to speak up. Personally, I think all condominiums and businesses should part ways with Lincoln Towing.
Writer’s note: The following letter (and a couple earlier versions) has been sent to three Chicago alder(wo)men, both of Illinois state and federal senators, all Illinois House of Representatives, the mayor, the governor, the lieutenant governor, the state attorney general, along with a second reporting to the Better Business Bureau and the Illinois Commerce Commission. Additionally, approximately 20 queries were sent to Chicago news and broadcasting outlets. Enough is enough!
Between July 2015 and March 2016, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) Police found evidence of 830 illegal property seizures from Lincoln Towing (now doing business as Protective Parking Service). But even after ICC voted to revoke the towing service's license, Cook County Judge Neil Cohen ruled that the commission "violated due process" in its Sept. 12, 2018 order that revoked Lincoln Towing's license, according to ABC Chicago.
Cohen reversed the commission's order, but his decision could have been appealed. Under the leadership of Robert Munyon, Lincoln Towing is as horrendous in 2024 as it was nine years ago. A casual glance at Yelp reviews and Google reviews proves just that. At 4882 North Clark Street, 205 of 218 Yelp reviews are one-star ratings. At 4601 West Armitage Avenue, 59 of 61 Yelp reviews are one-star ratings.
As a former condo board president and former condo board treasurer who was blocked by Robert Munyon to receive a parking pass to rent my own Limited Common Element parking space, he told a bold-faced lie about how the pass was "sent," ignored my lawyer’s letter stating I had a right to a parking pass and treated ICC like a joke when he was contacted about it.
Last week, when I asked again for a pass on Jan. 4, 2024 and gave him 48 hours to respond before contacting ICC again, his reply was, "No need to wait contact them now."
If Lincoln Towing had any amount of professionalism, their sole goal would be to protect LICENSED and LEGITIMATE owners from having unauthorized cars in their spots, not for Robert Munyon to be delusional enough to think he owns all Chicago property, including condominiums he neither resides in nor pays a percentage of.
Recommended Read: “Why does a Community Association Management license matter when hiring a property manager? ~ In addition to licensure, condo boards need to get tough on contractor cancellation rates”
In 2023, I let this play out in Small Claims Court with my condo board. But even after all condo board members and the problematic “property” manager (with no Community Association Management license) quit, Robert Munyon is still taking it upon himself to block parking pass distribution solely for me.
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I have filed a complaint with the Ward 49 alderwoman, Chicago's mayor, governor, lieutenant governor, both state and federal senators for Illinois, the Better Business Bureau, ICC (again), the Illinois Attorney General, and reported these antics to 13 Chicago newspapers and broadcasting stations.
It appears that Robert Munyon thinks ICC is a joke and I must be too. YOU THOUGHT! I'm hoping that enough people will sign this petition as was the case with the petition on February 1, 2016 to make another judge reevaluate the 2018 decision.
Egg on my face and a hard lesson learned about Lincoln Towing
As a former condo president, who dealt with an angry owner confronting me in December 2021 for giving Lincoln Towing a second shot three years after their license was reinstated, egg is firmly on my face. I didn’t choose Lincoln Towing casually. Chicago changed the towing rules so that a towing company had to have a primary parking lot in our city in order to patrol the neighborhoods.
Sponsored by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), the new rules require tow truck drivers to qualify for a license and pay a $250 fee for each truck they own. Operators will need to seek a $750 license for their towing lots, as well, with the industry to be regulated by the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
By licensing drivers, the city could keep track of who’s operating within the city and strip a license from those found to be violating other provisions in the ordinance, officials argued. -Block Club Chicago
Because our prior towing company’s primary garage was in a nearby suburb, they had to stop patrolling our area. With Chicago’s maximum mileage for each patrol company, I had one of two options. I still had a hard time choosing Lincoln Towing — even with their website claiming they’re under “NEW MANAGEMENT with a BETTER
understanding of ALL your parking needs.”
I’d heard horror stories of a former condo board president having her car towed and other cars inexplicably gone missing with Lincoln Towing. But I (naively) thought that a company that almost had its license revoked must be better by now. Who would be ridiculous enough to be worse after all the drama with their license before? Lincoln Towing doing business as Protective Parking Service apparently decided to be that company.
I should’ve listened to that owner yelling at me as soon as I walked out of my door. I should’ve listened to the prior condo board president who warned me of several towing nightmares over the past decade. Sometimes you have to learn a lesson the hard way. From 2022 and onward (a few months after they were re-hired to do our condo patrol), I was reminded that whether a snake is on the grass or on the sidewalk, it's still a snake. This company (and company owner) are either so miserable in life that they’re taking it out on anyone around them, or they are entitled enough to think they run Chicago.
Chicagoans, let's work to get Lincoln Towing shut down for good to stop this madness with them illegally banning parking passes, illegally towing cars and being startlingly rude to anyone who dares to ask why.
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