Non-resident contesting a $100 snow emergency ticket due to financial hardship?

[tooffdk.livejournal.com]

Hey all,

I live in Hyde Park and was visiting a sick friend last Saturday evening in Somerville. I came back to my car to discover a $100 snow emergency ticket.

I am aware of the policy of towing and ticketing cars, but I really didn't know there was a snow emergency declared that night (as I don't live in Somerville, and why would I sign up for alerts for a town I was in for 2 hours, visiting a pal?).

I've been absolutely devastated and anxiety-ridden at the thought of spending $100 on this ticket. Like many people, I am under severe financial hardship.

Anyway, my question is, does anyone think I'd have a shot at contesting this ticket? I'm really not trying to whine about the city policies, but 1. I honestly had no idea there was a snow emergency declared 2. I'm from out of town (MI license plates) 3. It will be EXTREMELY difficult for me to cough up $100 to pay this fine.

Comments

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

You can try, but I doubt they'll budge. They may give you an extension on when the payment is due.

[tooffdk.livejournal.com]

Argh :(

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Sorry :( I tried once (though I'm a resident) and failed utterly.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I think you'd have a better shot at convincing your friend who failed to tell you there was a snow emergency to pay it.

[ceo]

For future reference, there are blue blinky lights at major intersections near city borders, that come on when there's a snow emergency.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Do they actually work? The last time I went past one of those lights during a snow emergency, it wasn't on. (Would that be a way to get out of a ticket?)

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I'm curious- were the text messages sent out? I never got any. No biggie- I was out of town, but still, if there's a problem, I'd like to resolve it before the next storm.

With the city budget in disarray...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

They're are going to try to get each dime they can. Especially from non-residents! On the other hand, Obama did not pay for decades! :)

[blondeamazon.livejournal.com]

Umm, this may be bad advice, but don't pay it. You aren't registered in MA and the last I knew, though admitedly this could have changed, most of the states aren't linked up and you car is registered et all in another state. Up to you of course.

[tooffdk.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it does go back to MI - I've gotten parking tickets here bfore.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

they eventually find you, and if you amass enough tickets in Mass, they boot your car and make you pay all your tickets, plus a fee to remove the boot. (my husband had this same philosophy when his car was still registered in MO)...

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Evidenced by my roommate, whose car has Maine plates, having a boot on it this morning!

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Yeah, don't do that—I have a friend whose registration was revoked over an unpaid ticket from New Hampshire. It was very complicated and expensive to resolve. Not worth it.

Never hurts to ask.

[mistresshellena.livejournal.com]

I'd say that it's worth contesting. You are guaranteed to have to pay it if you *don't* contest/appeal, so it seems to make sense to at least try.

[imvfd.livejournal.com]

It is extremely unlikely that you can have a ticket like that annulled, especially since it was a snow emergency. However, you might be able to spread out the payments over time. While this is not an official position, if you send in a partial payment, my experience has been that the "pay within 30 days" clock gets reset. Granted, last time I tried this was about two years ago but worth a shot. It's not like they'll charge you a higher late fee and the impact of having to making two $50 payments (or what have you) is certainly less than one of $100.

Re: Never hurts to ask.

[imvfd.livejournal.com]

Oh, something to remember. If this trick works at all, it only works if you mail in the payment. So if you try to come in to contest and that fails, they'll want the whole payment in person. But as I said, it is, in my opinion, incredibly unlikely that they'll let a $100 ticket slide.

More bad news...

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

You say you live in Hyde Park and have your car registered out of state-- if the RMV notices that, you're in trouble. You're supposed to register & insure it where you live within 30 days of moving. And they are pretty serious about that, although plenty of people do get away with registering in NH and living/parking in MA.

Re: More bad news...

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I moved here from CA and when I did I kept my CA license and CA license plates for well over 2.5 yrs. Worked out fine until someone stole my license plate!

Re: More bad news...

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

And if you had wrecked your car or it had been stolen, and the insurance company figured out that you'd been insuring it for CA and garaging it in MA, you'd have found out pretty quickly that your insurance was invalid.

Re: More bad news...

[dreamgirly19.livejournal.com]

Actually my insurance company knew. I was in a small accident and it was fine...I was a student and the laws are different.

Re: More bad news...

[nalz.livejournal.com]

Sure, you *can* do stuff like that. However it's not legal and when you get caught it reallllly sucks.

Re: More bad news...

[dreamgirly19.livejournal.com]

It is legal when you are a student!

Re: More bad news...

[nalz.livejournal.com]

Students are not full-year residents according to the law.

Re: More bad news...

[tooffdk.livejournal.com]

This is irrelevant, but I have clearance from my insurance company to do this.

Re: More bad news...

[tooffdk.livejournal.com]

why does this concern you

Re: More bad news...

[tooffdk.livejournal.com]

Watch out, I'm also an illegal immigrant and I collect welfare checks while I snooze all day!