Parking Ticket? Challenge It?
Published Wed, Nov 22 2006 12:46 AM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, Transportation
The city of Seattle collected parking revenue on at least eight days when parking should have been free. If you didn't pay, you got a ticket. What's the city's answer to that? Challenge it or pay it.
The Seattle Times covers the case...
Colette Turner, of Bellevue, claims in the lawsuit that she was ticketed in Seattle on Friday, Dec. 31, 2004, even though according to city law, she should have been allowed to park free that New Year's Eve day. "We're going to try to get the city to refund the money it made from the parking-meter revenue, reimburse people for the parking tickets they were forced to pay and reimburse them for any towing fees," said Turner's attorney, Dewelle Ellsworth.
According to the law at the time, people could park free on city streets the day after Thanksgiving, the Friday before a holiday that fell on a Saturday, and the Monday after a holiday that fell on a Sunday. Meters and signs did not list those days as free even though they were, and the city issued tickets, Ellsworth said.
...
City Attorney Tom Carr said as he understands it, the city had the authority to issue the tickets. He added, "When you get a parking ticket, you get a hearing and you can either challenge it or not. If people had challenged it, the court might have waived the payment."
That's not really good enough. The court "might have waived the payment"? When the ticket shouldn't have been issued in the first place?
Challenging a ticket that should not have been issued in the first place is inconvenient enough. Even if the ticket is waived, will the city also reimburse you for towing fees? How about for the lost time the challenge requires?
Will they reimburse you for the time your car was unavailable to you because it was impounded? How about damage caused to your car by the tow vehicle? Or when it's on the impound lot?
It seems to me that the city's attitude is to gouge the people any way they can. If they fight back well maybe the city has to give them a little money back, maybe not. And who cares about the ill will and inconvenience to the "little people" that's generated when Seattle gets it wrong.
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