Remove your expired parking stickers!

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Last year I moved away from Somerville, and since February when my parking sticker expired I've been using friends' visitor permit cards when I visit them (2 or 3 times a month on average). I have not removed my expired parking stickers (I have about a dozen of them from previous years) because I couldn't manage to peel them off, and I didn't think it mattered. But on Tuesday night I got a ticket while parking on Bromfield Rd, with the comments "EXPIRED PERMIT" and "USEING GUEST CARD". I called 311 to clarify the issue, and was informed that it's illegal to have an expired parking sticker, even while otherwise parking legally. I guess I've just been lucky that no one noticed this the previous dozen times I've used a visitor permit card, or else they just started enforcing this law. So, here's a public service message: make sure to remove your expired stickers if you ever want to park in Somerville again (the 311 responder suggested using Windex and a scraper).

By the way, does anyone think I have any chance of appealing this ticket?

Comments

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I can't find anything in Rules and Regs (http://www.somervillema.gov/CoS_Content/documents/TrafficRegSept08.pdf) that say anything of the sort, but perhaps I've missed something.

The last time I got a ticket where that was the case, I appealed it and asked them to cite the rule I had broken. They dropped the ticket. Good luck!

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Did you appeal by mail or did you show up for the scheduled hearing?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I've only ever appealed by mail.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Is there a form to fill out, or do I just type up a letter? Should I include the ticket or should I keep that in case the appeal is denied?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I wrote & printed a letter, then included it along with the ticket in the provided envelope as per the instructions (at the time -- I can't say if it's changed). I made a copy of the ticket for my records.

Also make sure to do it right away. If you miss the (I think) 21-day deadline, you're likely SOL in any case.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

The back of the ticket says "This violation may also be appealed and adjudicated by mail if supporting documentation is mailed within 21 days of issuance." No more details about how and what to mail.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I'd just write a letter, maybe include a copy of your current car registration or something else showing you don't live in Somerville anymore, put that in the envelope and send it in.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

scrape off all the old stickers.

appeal it and say "please cite the rule, and *what* stickers (include photo)" :)

#

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Wait...so you were using a guest pass that was NOT expired, and parked legally, but they gave you a ticket for having expired passes still on your window?

That is freaking stupid. (On their part.) Seriously, how many people actually ever bother to take their old stickers off their windows? That's insane to expect everyone to do that! Hell, I've got three on my window right now!

[docorion.livejournal.com]

Well, imagine it from the point of view of the parking control officer. She walks up to your car, parked in a permit-only zone. She looks for your sticker, and sees a welter of them cluttering up your window. She has to actually search out which ones have expired and which have not, using more of her time, assuming she can actually find the one which is valid.

This is, I suspect, one of the reasons they moved the sticker location to the windshield. People are less likely to collect things there.

I realize that people who have a collection of them on their window are justifiably proud of having lived in Somerville for years. Go you. But that isn't the point of the stickers. It isn't *that* hard to get a razor scraper (available in any hardware store or CVS for less than $5 for the cheap plastic model) and scrape the old stickers off.

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

I see your point, but frankly if they're charging for that now, that's the most blatant example of 'giving tickets just to get money' I've ever heard of.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

If they are in the front windshield now, why bother looking on the back? That is stupid.

[docorion.livejournal.com]

You don't know that's what happened (I don't know it isn't, either).

I've seen people with 2 stickers on their windshields (I believe they moved it to the windshield 2 years ago). I don't think that's too bright, either.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

For the record, I have only one parking sticker on my windshield; the rest are on the back window, left and right sides (I have also lived in Boston and Cambridge). Plus a few Northeastern stickers on my left rear side window.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

That's actually against the regulations. And may have something to do with it.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Which regulations?

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

I can't find this anywhere either, after reading through the whole PDF (http://www.somervillema.gov/CoS_Content/documents/TrafficRegSept08.pdf) the city provides.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I may be making shit up again. I remember being told that the front stickers had to be in a particular place on the window, which, you'd have to remove them year to year to be able to see.

[livingadream.livejournal.com]

It's possible that this rule is new-ish - I just recently got my first parking permit sticker for Somerville and the lady at the Traffic office told me it had to be in the front driver's side window.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

It is, but this is probably my second or third front sticker. I left the old ones on the back, but removed the one from 07 for the one for 08.

Since I seem to get a new windscreen every year anyway, I think it'd be fairly hard to preserve a whole crop of them there.

[cutieperson]

enh, i suspect it has more to do with not knowing they moved from Somerville. the old stickers suggest that they let their permit lapse and are using a guest pass, which is illegal for residents to do.

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Why should that be illegal? I really don't see any reason for it.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

Because visitor parking permits are cheaper than resident stickers. If you're a resident you're assumed to park on the street a heck of a lot more often, which means you get to pay more. Expired sticker + visitor pass = someone who is probably not paying for a new sticker even though they should.

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Or, as pointed out, someone who's moved and is now, in truth, visiting.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

Of course. But the ticketing officer does not know that. Which is why they tell you to remove the expired sticker in the first place.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

If you peel off your old stickers, it still doesn't prove that you're not cheating the system by using a guest pass while still living there.

[cutieperson]

because the city wants people to register their cars? they're called _guest_ passes for a reason.

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

I meant, just having an expired pass and a guest pass in your window at the same time. As is the case with the OP, it doesn't mean the person still lives in Somerville.

[cutieperson]

as someone else already explained to you, it's impossible for a parking officer to know that the person moved. thus the need for removal of the stickers.

[coorr.livejournal.com]

Keep in mind that its illegal to put stickers on your windshield. This includes the inspection stickers we are required by law to have on our windshield.

Unbelievable really.

[ron_newman]

citation please?

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

That seems silly, since they changed the position of those stickers two years ago. You might remove the one on the FRONT but the ones on the back are just decor, now.

[alphacygni]

Cambridge's method of having different shapes and pictures each year sure beats being obnoxiously draconian.

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Word.

Hairdryer Method

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

I am told (but have not personally verified) that blowing a hairdryer directly on one of these stickers helps it come off. Yes, for those of us without driveways, this may require a very long extension cord.

Re: Hairdryer Method

[ron_newman]

Or a battery-powered hairdryer.