Innocent Of All Charges
First, sorry for the lack of posting. I'd like to say I've been too busy, but we all know that I probably could have found the time. I'm going to try to make up for it with a couple posts in (relative) rapid-fire succession.
On February 28 of this year, I made one of several trips to NYC I've been making this year for another acting workshop. Sometimes I tke the bus, but this time I was driving because a friend that I'd met at the 5-day workshop thing in Decemeber was going to the same workshop, and since he lives in Harrisburg, PA, I just pick him up and he pays for dinner. It all works out, since I can claim my mileage on my taxes but not food.
Anyway, on this day, I parked on the street where I usually do, paid the Munimeter (centralized parking kiosk that spits out a receipt to display - different cities call them different things), and put the receipt in what I thought was the right place. Well, when we got back to the car we had a surprise - two parking tickets. That's right - not only was I issued a ticket for a crime I did not commit, I was issued two. For $65 each. It made for one angry drive home, let me tell you.
The next day went online to see where to seek adjudication, at which point I realized that the NYC parking system is so antiquated that the parking tickets (which where handwritten carbon copies) were not entered into the system automatically, and might take a week or so to show up. So I waited a week and then another, and they still didn't show up. I began to realize why they haven't updated their system - if people waited an entire 30 days waiting for their ticket to come online, it might be too late to adjudicate them. So I did it by mail instead. I wrote on the back of the ticket my reason, included a photocopy of the receipt, and sent them off.
A couple weeks ago I received two letters, identical except for the ticket numbers, saying that I was eligible for a discounted fine of $43 for each ticket. It said that once it went to adjudication, this discount would not be on the table anymore. Weird, I've never had a municipality plea bargain with me over a parking ticket before. It felt like an extremely lame version of Law & Order.
Needless to say, I did not take them up on their gracious offer. And then, just the other day, I got two nearly identical documents in the mail, entitled "Decision And Order," which would be the title of the aforementioned lame parking ticket crime show. In them it said that I was found "NOT GUILTY" and owed nothing. Justice prevails. (dung dung!)
So, what have I learned? I learned that NYC's parking enforcement system has their heads pretty far up their asses. Someone who knew this could probably take advantage. That someone, upon receiving a $65 ticket, could mail in a request for adjudication. Even if they were caught dead-to-rights, they could probably make up any bullshit reason and mail off the ticket. Then, a couple weeks later they would probably get an automatic discount offer of $43. Blam! They are now paying a ticket at a level that is much closer to what it should have been in the first place, and with a couple weeks' delay.
Not that I would ever suggest someone actually do this. (dung dung!)
On February 28 of this year, I made one of several trips to NYC I've been making this year for another acting workshop. Sometimes I tke the bus, but this time I was driving because a friend that I'd met at the 5-day workshop thing in Decemeber was going to the same workshop, and since he lives in Harrisburg, PA, I just pick him up and he pays for dinner. It all works out, since I can claim my mileage on my taxes but not food.
Anyway, on this day, I parked on the street where I usually do, paid the Munimeter (centralized parking kiosk that spits out a receipt to display - different cities call them different things), and put the receipt in what I thought was the right place. Well, when we got back to the car we had a surprise - two parking tickets. That's right - not only was I issued a ticket for a crime I did not commit, I was issued two. For $65 each. It made for one angry drive home, let me tell you.
The next day went online to see where to seek adjudication, at which point I realized that the NYC parking system is so antiquated that the parking tickets (which where handwritten carbon copies) were not entered into the system automatically, and might take a week or so to show up. So I waited a week and then another, and they still didn't show up. I began to realize why they haven't updated their system - if people waited an entire 30 days waiting for their ticket to come online, it might be too late to adjudicate them. So I did it by mail instead. I wrote on the back of the ticket my reason, included a photocopy of the receipt, and sent them off.
A couple weeks ago I received two letters, identical except for the ticket numbers, saying that I was eligible for a discounted fine of $43 for each ticket. It said that once it went to adjudication, this discount would not be on the table anymore. Weird, I've never had a municipality plea bargain with me over a parking ticket before. It felt like an extremely lame version of Law & Order.
Needless to say, I did not take them up on their gracious offer. And then, just the other day, I got two nearly identical documents in the mail, entitled "Decision And Order," which would be the title of the aforementioned lame parking ticket crime show. In them it said that I was found "NOT GUILTY" and owed nothing. Justice prevails. (dung dung!)
So, what have I learned? I learned that NYC's parking enforcement system has their heads pretty far up their asses. Someone who knew this could probably take advantage. That someone, upon receiving a $65 ticket, could mail in a request for adjudication. Even if they were caught dead-to-rights, they could probably make up any bullshit reason and mail off the ticket. Then, a couple weeks later they would probably get an automatic discount offer of $43. Blam! They are now paying a ticket at a level that is much closer to what it should have been in the first place, and with a couple weeks' delay.
Not that I would ever suggest someone actually do this. (dung dung!)