parking tickets

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Recently there was an article in the Boston Globe, which also got posted in this community, about how the city was overzealous in handing out 48-hour-parking tickets after the snowstorm back in March. And it said that they expected a fair number of people to protest the tickets.

I'm wondering whether anyone here actually received such a ticket and protested it successfully? Or knows someone who did?

I had a car parked on the street that weekend (actually my mom's car which I was borrowing, as she was out of town) and it did receive a ticket for parking over 48 hours. The notice that my mom received in the mail indicates that it actually got two tickets, but I only found one physically on the car. The dates of the tickets are 3/19 and 3/22 (the storm was 3/16, as I well remember since it was my birthday).

I should note additionally that a) the car was NOT parked on the wrong side of the street for during a snow emergency, and b) this is NOT a permit-only street. So, the car was parked legally. Also, cars very often park on our street for more than 48 hours -- in fact I have called police once or twice when large vans were parked there for many days at a time.

So...do I have a case? Is my argument (which boils down to: the car was otherwise parked legally and this is an example of selective, some might say opportunistic, enforcement) at all compelling? Is there any point in me taking time away from work to go to the parking office and protest this ticket, or should I just suck it up and pay it?

TIA!

Comments

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

In a way, you don't have a case, because the law's on the books whether they enforce it or not, and so they were legally allowed to ticket you for violating a regulation, and there's no getting around that.

However, in another sense, you do have a case, for all the reasons you mention and that have been discussed here and in newspaper articles and so forth. You're probably one among many, and they may come up with a blanket answer for all the protests they're getting -- hopefully rescinding at least some of the tickets. So you might get one or both of them taken away not based on your individual case, but because of the recognized unfairness of that ticketing spree on the whole.

I protested back when I first got them; I paid one, and they took the other away.

[thegecko.livejournal.com]

if you want to appeal it, but don't want to take time from work, just appeal by letter. and say in the letter that you can not make the time for the in-person hearing.

they'll drop the ticket or not, but at least you won't have taken time away from work.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

well, it says on the notice, "If you wish to contest this ticket(s), you must appear before the Parking Clerk personally on the date shown above." And anyway, the date is tomorrow, so if I sent a letter, it wouldn't arrive in time and they'd potentially increase the fee.

[thegecko.livejournal.com]

i've protested two somerville parking tickets in writing, and they've dropped both of them. said something along the lines of "i am not able to make this hearing date and time, please contact me to reschedule or take this letter as my formal appeal" blah blah blah.

but you're right, with a hearing date of tomorrow, it's probably too late to write a letter.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely keep the letter-writing option in mind in case there's a next time, heh!

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I think it's ridiculous. Encouraging people to drive more? Now that it's warm, I walk and T everywhere. And I shouldn't be punished for not driving for a couple days when I'm parked on MY street.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Or, like the guy said in the article, it's forcing you to move your car three feet down the street, which is just ridiculous (not to mention a huge waste of gas).

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

So contact your alderman and ask them to change the law.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the civics lesson. I'll get right on that in my copious free time.

Seriously though, according to the article, the Board is already considering it, so I don't feel a huge amount of urgency. I know people will say "but they need to know how their constituents feel about it" and I entirely agree, but right now, contesting my own tickets is all I have the cycles for.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine got a ticket for the 48 hr rule and they had moved their car (they had to go to work each day that week, and they were ticketed on the Thursday for parking longer than 48hrs, which given that they had gone to work MTWR already, was impossible). They wrote in and were later sent a "we feel we were correct in ticketing you, but we'll forgive the fine this time as you protested" type letter in response.

Makes me glad I lived in Cambridge.

20 Feet

[tut21.livejournal.com]

Somerville has a plethora of parking policies (http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/CoS_Content/documents/ParkingPoliciesWeb.pdf), not all of which seem justified. I have received five different types of violations in the eleven months I've lived here. A friend of mine got socked with this obscure one two weeks ago:

20 Feet From Intersection & One Foot From Curb
These policies are designed to maintain sufficient passage space to accommodate emergency vehicles and insure the safe flow of traffic. Somerville’s narrow streets require strict enforcement of these rules.

Twenty feet seems excessive. And to add insult to injury, she never got the initial ticket and received a late notice charging an additional $15. Who knows if it blew away or was taken off her windshield.

Re: 20 Feet

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

A 20-foot clear zone at corners makes sense, but if it's a problem on certain blocks, they should really just post a No Parking sign instead of ticketing for a secret unposted rule.

Whatever

[reverend-jim.livejournal.com]

You ratted out people for parking more than 48 on your street, but somehow *you* shouldn't be held to the same standard? That takes some balls. It doesn't sound like you've got a very compelling argument anyway, but I'd wager they'll dismiss one of the tickets and make you pay the other.

Re: Whatever

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I "ratted out" people who were parking a commercial van (i.e., a large vehicle that takes up more than one regular vehicle's space) on a residential street for weeks at a time. And they were not doing work on one of the houses nearby -- they were just using our street as a parking lot. Conversely, I was parking a personal vehicle on the street where I live. If that distinction doesn't work for you, then indeed, "whatever."

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I have beaten a 48-hour-rule ticket I received, though it wasn't this year. Among other things, I quoted the Somerville parking code, which did not match the violation wording. I assume they've since corrected that oversight, but hey, you never know.