Cops, Orange Chicken Enthusiasts Discover Common Bond

By Matt Wood in News on Jan 24, 2007 12:51PM

From The We Never Thought We'd See This Happen Desk, the Sun-Times reports that two Chicago police officers were towed last week for parking illegally. The department later sent a memo to officers warning them about parking in handicapped spots or in front of hydrants.

The actions by the department come after a Sun-Times investigation last week into police officers misusing disabled parking signs. Not surprisingly, some officers are incensed, playing the game of taking arguments to the most ridiculous extremes possible to plead their case. "Let's say I have a call that there is a bum in Holy Name Cathedral and he won't leave," one officer told the S-T anonymously. "He is boisterous, but there is no threat of violence. Do I have to park three blocks away and walk?" Well of course not Chicken Little, but you should find a legal spot instead of double-parking outside the Starbucks or crossing lanes to park backwards in front of the White Hen like you do in our neighborhood. The officer then took the high road by suggesting that police might start ticketing Streets and Sanitation workers if more police vehicles are towed.

We thought cops went out of their way to not go out of their way to get coffee and donuts, but that's nothing compared to what people supposedly won't do for fast Chinese food. A Panda Express representative threatened to abandon plans for a new restaurant in Orland Park if the village forced them to move three parking spaces to the back of the building for safety reasons, claiming that customers wouldn't dine there because they won't walk to get their orange chicken on. He has a point; we wouldn't walk for Panda Express either.