Nyc Parking Tickets Are A Scam!!!

[judy]

I got a double-parking ticket last week, which I didn't think I deserved. I was sitting in my car waiting for a trucker to finish emptying his hand truck so that he could move up and allow the car in the spot I was waiting for to pull out. In NYC, when you find a spot, it's cause for celebration!

A traffic officer was across the street and I saw her standing threre, looking at me. I thought nothing of it. Before I knew it, she had that computerized little ticket writing gadget scanning my registration! I opened my window and said to her "What are you doing?" Long story short - she told me I was double parking, I told her I was waiting for the spot, called her a b**** and that was that.

So, I took myself down to court yesterday to fight this ticket. Another long story short - the judge told me that I was guilty!!!! I looked at him and said "What did you say?" while giving him "the look." He repeated his little speech about having 30 days, blah, blah, appeals, etc. I looked at him and asked him if he never waited for someone to pull out of a spot while they were getting their baby in, fixing their hair, putting away the cell phone, etc. I also said that this is NYC and that he knows how hard it is to park! I certainly wasn't double parking. I was waiting for a spot! I was really nasty at this point.

He repeated his nerdy little 30 day, appeal if you want, etc, speech - looked at him and told him that he should be ashamed of himself. He said "Well, I'm not." I said - "Then you should be!" I walked out and over my shoulder said "Idiot!."

I do have to pay the ticket and no have to decide whether or not I want to bother appealing it. I'm trying to find a law where it states how long you can legally wait for a parking spot to clear before it is considered double parking. I'm sure no such law exists.

I have to write a letter to some city office to see if such a law even exists. I may not bother by the time the weekend is over, but I am so p.o.ed.
What a scam! They all knew I wasn't double-parked, but the city gets a lot of money this way. I say it sucks!

Oh - and it costs $115.00!

If I didn't know I would have gotten arrested for it, I would have grabbed that computerized little thing right out of the traffic agent's hand and thrown it into traffic! I did congratulate her on getting in her quota of tickets this month.