Philadelphia's Malicious PARKING TICKET SCAM

In article .com,
Ceegardave wrote:
of cars legally parked at meters hoping for a hit. I've seen them hang
around one spot until the last few minutes tick off a meter and then
ticket the vehicle.

Which is an advantage over Washington D.C., where they'll ticket the
car _before_ the meter expires, expecting that the victim won't return
in time and thus won't know he's been scammed.
--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

It's not extortion. It's the backing up of the smallest law with
overwhelming force. Don't follow the small one and don't pay the fine,
they'll force you to violate a bigger one to continue living. Don't
follow that one, they'll escalate some more until they have an excuse
to shoot you or jail you.


No, it's extortion. In my case, there was no violation of the law, so there
was no law to be backed up with overwhelming force. If I'd have been guilty
of a parking violation, THEN it would have been a case of "backing up of the
smallest law with overwhelming force". But to write a ticket to someone who
has done nothing wrong, and put them in danger of losing their right to
drive to work unless they pay money that isn't owed? That's extortion.
IMHO -Dave

In article ws.net,
Ted B. wrote:


It's not extortion. It's the backing up of the smallest law with
overwhelming force. Don't follow the small one and don't pay the fine,
they'll force you to violate a bigger one to continue living. Don't
follow that one, they'll escalate some more until they have an excuse
to shoot you or jail you.


No, it's extortion. In my case, there was no violation of the law, so there
was no law to be backed up with overwhelming force.

The OP was wrong; parking in a handicapped metered spot is still
illegal without a placard outside the operating hours for the meter.
--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

"Matthew Russotto" wrote in message
...
In article ws.net,
Ted B. wrote:


It's not extortion. It's the backing up of the smallest law with
overwhelming force. Don't follow the small one and don't pay the fine,
they'll force you to violate a bigger one to continue living. Don't
follow that one, they'll escalate some more until they have an excuse
to shoot you or jail you.


No, it's extortion. In my case, there was no violation of the law, so
there
was no law to be backed up with overwhelming force.

The OP was wrong; parking in a handicapped metered spot is still
illegal without a placard outside the operating hours for the meter.

If the sign says it's legal then that should over-ride the blanket law. At
least in this case and all others before the sign is replaced with one which
clearly decribes teh operation of the handicapped/metered parking spots.

I live in NYC and occasionally visit Philadelphia. I do not get
parking tickets because I always carefully read and obey the
signs. I was amazed one Sunday in January 2004 to find my car
ticketed for parking in a space reserved for the handicapped at
some times, but not on Sunday, when the facility I was parked
in front of (801 Arch Street) was closed.

I've parked in a lot of east coast cities and the handicapped spots
have always been reserved for those with the appropriate sticker 24-7
although the meter may not be required during the weekend. Have you
got a picture of the offending sign?