Goddamn Baltimore City
My letter to the editor, Baltimore Sun:
"My husband and I have patronized the Sunday Baltimore Farmer's Market under the JFX for over a decade. We look forward to supporting local farmers by purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. We enjoy the feeling of community and the atmosphere of diversity at the market. All good feelings were marred, however, when we arrived at the parking lot adjacent to the market at 11:00 a.m. this past Sunday (October 3). Two parking attendants were busily ticketing nearly every vehicle!
In all the years we have been coming to the market, we have never once fed a meter on the lot. We have never seen anyone else feed a meter. But apparently, these are 24-hour, seven-day meters. And now, the city has decided to begin enforcing the parking rules--without any notice. Many long-time market patrons were left with both a ticket and a bad taste in their mouths. Could the city have at least posted a noticeable warning sign saying that parking rules are in effect during the market and that meters must be fed? The only way patrons know they are to feed the meters is the fine print on the meters themselves. And most of us assume that meters on a lot under the highway are free on Sundays.
I see this as a campaign to fill the city's coffers with ticket fines. This comes at the expense of alienating many of Mayor Martin O'Malley's most active constituents, who support Baltimore City in many more ways than coming to the Sunday market."
We didn't get a ticket, thank god, because we got a heads up. Be warned.
"My husband and I have patronized the Sunday Baltimore Farmer's Market under the JFX for over a decade. We look forward to supporting local farmers by purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. We enjoy the feeling of community and the atmosphere of diversity at the market. All good feelings were marred, however, when we arrived at the parking lot adjacent to the market at 11:00 a.m. this past Sunday (October 3). Two parking attendants were busily ticketing nearly every vehicle!
In all the years we have been coming to the market, we have never once fed a meter on the lot. We have never seen anyone else feed a meter. But apparently, these are 24-hour, seven-day meters. And now, the city has decided to begin enforcing the parking rules--without any notice. Many long-time market patrons were left with both a ticket and a bad taste in their mouths. Could the city have at least posted a noticeable warning sign saying that parking rules are in effect during the market and that meters must be fed? The only way patrons know they are to feed the meters is the fine print on the meters themselves. And most of us assume that meters on a lot under the highway are free on Sundays.
I see this as a campaign to fill the city's coffers with ticket fines. This comes at the expense of alienating many of Mayor Martin O'Malley's most active constituents, who support Baltimore City in many more ways than coming to the Sunday market."
We didn't get a ticket, thank god, because we got a heads up. Be warned.