Here is the actual letter I sent to the Department of Parking Violations yesterday in response to a $45 ticket I got last week when my car was parked on W109th Street. As I write, there has to be a buffer zone or grace period of reasonable flexibility in matters like Alternate Side Parking regulations. If you disagree with me, please let me know. Personally, I will continue to protest such ridiculous fines and urge you to do the same!
March 22, 2011
To Whom It May Concern:
This ticket is an affront to law abiding citizens of New York City and frankly, I protest the fact that an officer even used city time to issue it to me.
I very carefully checked the appropriate sides of the street for Alternate Side Parking regulations the morning it was issued. I watched as the street cleaners went by and then re-parked my car, sitting in my parked vehicle until just before 10 am when the ban against parking on that side was officially lifted.
This city has to have a buffer zone of reasonable flexibility for Alternate Side Parking. To ticket someone for the sin of leaving their car FIVE minutes before the appropriate time is ludicrous.
And if you’re wondering why I abandoned my post at 9:55 the answer was because I had spent so much time driving around finding a good parking spot that at that point I was dying to use the bathroom.
My choice was running to locate a bathroom or peeing in my car.
In case I didn’t make myself clear, I find it completely insane that officers are patrolling the streets to find cars that are “illegally parked” on streets that have already been cleaned. This is a bizarre definition of illegal. I can show you better definitions on many other city blocks.
It’s one thing to ticket a car at 9:30 or even 9:45…but it’s another thing to punish drivers for such a slim transgression. Even on the street where I live, the cops are far more flexible and NO ONE gets ticketed for leaving five minutes before the appointed time.
Therefore, I protest this ticket and urge traffic police to use their time more fruitfully.
Sincerely,
Shira Dicker
2 comments:
oh, it's no use. I've written these letters in the past. I guess it helps blow off some much needed steam, but it's a lost cause. This is what the city is about, like it or not. Maybe a poem about the existential thoughts that driving a car around city blocks incurs is a more reasonable reaction and probably more fruitful in the long run.
Nice try, though.
I have gotten so many parking tickets since I moved to the city! I am always trying to find some legal NYC Parking! I try to research new places before I go, and recently in doing so I found this awesome website. Citymaps allowed me to look at all the streets surrounding where I was going and see where the parking was. It was so easy, and I didnt get a ticket!
Post a Comment