Fixed Raises $650K More and Heads to Oakland
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
But if the city makes the mistake, they shouldn't own it? It's their own rules, on their terms, designed to confuse newcomers. I can't fathom how you would think this is fair.
No. If you actually read the article, they generally contest things on the grounds that there was a mistake or error in issuing the parking ticket that makes it invalid.
Likewise, the fine for fare-beating on mass transit is much higher than a transit fare, because it's very unlikely you've been caught on your first offense.
Parking is hard in the big city because it requires a lot of a very expensive resource (urban land)— maybe you shouldn't drive if you're unable to handle the responsibility.
(I personally am not very sympathetic to the many entitled drivers who feel free to park on the sidewalk, or in a bicycle lane, or a crosswalk, or by committing some other antisocial act, and am especially unsympathetic to those drivers who feel their ease of parking outweighs the need to build the necessary infrastructure for high-quality mass transit and safe walking and biking.)
I'm sorry, have you ever parked in SF? As someone who has paid more than his fair share of parking tickets, I can tell you that the cost of the ticket has next to zero relation to the ability to 'catch every parking violation'. SFMTA is very, very efficient at catching people whose meters have expired or who have parked more than 2 hours in a residential area.
Q: Why did the City of Oakland raise parking meter fees, increase fines and extend and parking meter enforcement hours?
A: The City of Oakland’s recent decision to raise parking meter fees and increase some fines was made in response to the most serious financial crisis ever faced by the City, and it accompanied significant cuts to vital public services, including police, libraries, parks and maintenance. Although City leaders recognize that this decision is unpopular and difficult for many residents, it was an unfortunate necessity given the magnitude of Oakland’s budget deficit.
So WHEN if EVER are those cities not in a financial crisis?
I've certainly gotten erroneous tickets in the past.
Secondarily, I'd support ending the practice of generating revenue by statistically extracting a large amount from a few people - people whose demographic doesn't overlap much with those who can pay for permanent garages or parking lots....This makes me happy.
Also if you've read the article you can see cities are not angels either. If you have seen what happens in traffic court when judges don't even want to hear 3 sentences of your evidence and just declare you guilty anyway. The appeal process after that is expensive. You waste a ton of time and money going to that court, while you have a job. And maybe needing to hire lawyers just so you can get heard.
It's an exploitive system that takes advantage of asymmetries and it deserves to be challenged.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/city-leaders-react...
Is it really that much trouble to put the state in the title? Or do people living there forget there are other places in the world?
I guess the question is whether Oakland, CA has enough prominence to be known widely outside the region. And I do think it's a major city in its own right, not just in its relation to San Francisco.