If you're appealing a parking ticket,

[lissie930.livejournal.com]

*make sure* you follow up to make sure they received your letter.  I got a parking ticket, sent a letter, didn't hear back for a while, called in and was told "don't worry about it, it takes a while", and now I'm being told "oh gee, we never received your letter and it's way too late to deal with, sorry, you're SOL."  Apparently they also won't return phone calls to tell you this, so don't bother leaving messages.  I am so frustrated because I thought I was being diligent and following up (I spoke to one person who apparently didn't know that there was a time limit to deal with these things because they told me to fax in my letter and leave a message, both of which I did and never received a phone call back). 

So, the moral of the story is, make sure you call to confirm they got your letter.  Silly me, trusting that sending something through the mail would mean it would actually get there.