See this message from a resident on the unit block of Seaton Place NW:
I want to raise a concern. I recently received a parking ticket although my car was legally parked (I have photos). While talking to a friend, I learned she too had received several parking tickets when she was legally parked. I plan to contest my ticket, but was curious if others had experienced a similar problem. This appears to me to be a systemic abuse of authority that can`t continue. If anyone has advice on how best to address this issue, I`d greatly appreciate it.
Here is more detail:
The reason was P269, No Standing Anytime. The comments say ``sign clearly visible front``. I was parked in front of a no parking sign indicating no parking behind the sign. I was parked on a zone parking street, but I have a current zone sticker.
I want to raise a concern. I recently received a parking ticket although my car was legally parked (I have photos). While talking to a friend, I learned she too had received several parking tickets when she was legally parked. I plan to contest my ticket, but was curious if others had experienced a similar problem. This appears to me to be a systemic abuse of authority that can`t continue. If anyone has advice on how best to address this issue, I`d greatly appreciate it.
Here is more detail:
The reason was P269, No Standing Anytime. The comments say ``sign clearly visible front``. I was parked in front of a no parking sign indicating no parking behind the sign. I was parked on a zone parking street, but I have a current zone sticker.
7 comments:
I received two tickets recently: one for expired registration (my fault), and a minute later another one because my expired registration wasn't properly affixed to my windshield. That seemed a bit outrageous -- I'd have been ticketed less with no registration sticker.
I've been ticketed for being too close to a bus stop. The sign was clearly visible more than six feet behind my rear bumper - in fact, there was a car parked between me and the bus stop! I sent the pictures in while contesting the ticket - and it was rejected anyway. This is a racket!
I received a ticket for parking too close to a stop sign. (on S street, near the corner of 3rd)There wasn't a sign stating "no parking from here to corner." I contested the ticket along with a series of cars that continue to park there w/o any tickets, but lost. I just paid the $50 to get it over it.
I have been erroneously ticketed on multiple occassions. I was far parked behind a sign for a bus stop, directly out front of my house. The next day I walked outside to find a ticket and a "No Standing Any Time" sign like the one pictured above. What I discovered was that the arrows on the sign were actually a sticker, and the sticker hadn't been there the day before, when I parked. I suspect that the neighborhood's problem is two-fold. I think a prankster is affixing stickers to the signs. If a one sign says the parking is legit, why would another sign suggest that you can never park there?
The other problem is incorrect enforcement of laws. I was once ticketed over $100 for having expired tags, even though it was 11 days before my tags expired. I fought and won, but I've lived in Bloomingdale for a year and a half and have paid over $2,000 in parking tickets. Most of them were my fault, but only because the DMV lost my title that I mailed them while they continued to ticket me for having out of state tags.
I was ticketed recently for parking one spot out of the "zone" on my street, where cars park all the time sometimes 2/3 even 4 cars out of the zone, those cars rarely receive tickets even when you call 311 to have tickets issued (you'd think the city would try to make easy $$).
At a meeting last winter/spring DPW Director William O. Howland Jr. (http://dpw.dc.gov/DC/DPW/About+DPW/Who+We+Are/Director's+Biography/William+O.+Howland+Jr.) Stated that it IS legal to park one space out of the designated parking zone, as long as it's still 25' from an intersection overnight (between 9 or 10:00pm and 7:30am) if you have a proper zone ticket - this is what I did - I am fighting the ticket citing his comment at that meeting and the DC Regulation that allows this (we'll see the outcome hopefully soon).
I think DPW needs to spend some time to educate it's workers on the proper issuance of tickets and the fair issuance of tickets. If you're going to enforce the law - do it across the board, not when you feel like getting out of the car to put a ticket on a window.
My dad was ticketed while here for my wedding. The ticket read that he was parked in a loading-zone and that there was a sign in back of the vehicle. However - he was parked in a designated parking space and the only sign that would have been behind him was about weight limits for trucks. There was another sign in front of the car indicating street cleaning on Tuesdays from March to October. He got the ticket on a Thursday in January (after normal cleaning hours). Not to mention the fact that we had secured a temporary parking permit for him which was correctly displayed on the dash. This ticket was completely bogus. Only debate now is if he should fight it from Wyoming, or if I should go in and try to fight it in person.
I would also be curious to know if this is the same parking officer...
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