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One Dead in Fisherman's Wharf Nightclub Shooting
The Week Ahead: Bay Area Concerts 2/8 - 2/14
SFist reader Mike sent us the following narrative about a suspicious parking ticket situation that went down this afternoon. Behold.
Tuesday, August 25th, high noon 2nd and FolsomI see a traffic cop reverse his 3-wheeler about four car lengths in order to park behind a white Honda Civic on 2nd and Folsom. After nearly running into a black Towncar, the bike-helmet-clad cop immediately jumps out with tickets in hand. Noticing the meter is not expired, I walk over to inform Mr. Meter Maid.
Me: (politely) "Excuse me, sir."
Mr. Meter Maid: (abruptly) "Is this your car?"
Me: (surprised) "Um, no. I was just..."
Mr. Meter Maid: (now grimacing): "Then don't say anything."
Me: (shocked): "I was just going to say that it looks like there's still time on the meter."
Mr. Meter Maid: Ignores me and writes a ticket.
Me: (getting pissed) "Do you want to take a look at the meter? It still has 16 minutes on it."
Mr. Meter Maid: Pretends to not hear me, buys time by filling out the ticket, then walks over to the meter to see if I'm telling the truth.
Me: (confused when he goes back to writing the ticket) "Ok. I'm going to take some pictures and send them to your supervisor."
Mr. Meter Maid: Puts a ticket envelop on the car window and drives off to ruin someone else's day.I walk back to work feeling bittersweet. Head down like Charlie Brown because this guy is a jerk and someone who didn't deserve a ticket got one, yet grinning because I knew my revenge would come on SFist.
Thanks, Mike. Well done.
Anyone else see something like this happen?
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Maybe a time limit thing? If it's two hour parking or something it doesn't matter if there's still time on the meter.
Exactly. There's a dozen reasons you can get a ticket even when the meter is still going.
The submitter was just being a douchebag.
Agreed.
"Thanks, Hero Citizen, let's pat you on the back!"
Thanks Joel, let's pat you on the back for noticing the model citizen.
Yup.
In some cities if you pull into a spot with time left on the meter, and you don't add any additional money... you can be considered in violation.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of five other ticketablle violations that have nothing to do with how much money was on the meter. I'd guess that the OP is just another person who feels like it's their duty to be an ass to meter maids.
Yup. 2 hour limit, curbed wheels, space between them & the curb, expired registration are what I can come up with with 10 seconds' thought.
I don't know...I think it's pretty cool someone saw an perceived injustice, documented it and sent it to SFist for publication. Non-sarcastic pat on the back, hero citizen! Although, if you see me on my cell phone while driving, back off! In that case, you should mind your goddamn business and stop jumping to conclusions.
Is the meter man not allowed to reveal the reason for the ticket, I wonder? Had he just said, "Actually, the ticket's not for the meter. I'm not actually being the asshole you think I am," we'd all be cool, yes?
Either way, this post is right up my alley! ...on which I park within full accordance of the law.
Exactly. You and your entire department are already perceived as being petty authoritarian assholes with endless bureaucracy and a strong desire to make people's lives miserable in any way they can. Transparency and openness goes a long way towards making things work better.
Assuming the officer was in the right on this one I can see their point of view. They likely get hassled a lot and just didn't want to be bothered dealing with it. But in doing so they ignored an opportunity to be friendly, polite, and explain the situation adequately in an attempt to reverse stereotypes and, well, y'know, serve the public. Instead he comes off as a capricious dick bullying people at random because he thinks he can get away with it. Even if there was a legitimate violation.
"bullying people at random"
Pretty sure Lovely Rita here (understandably)saw it as a random person bullying him.
That or he was wary of getting jacked in the face and didn't want to deal with a confrontation:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?entry_id=45497&tsp=1
@Beth cool. I sense an injustice. You're being unnecessarily biased against meter maids. Why don't I show up at your place of work and hassle you?
Seriously. You're talking about nearly constant abuse from the public. You expect a more civilized reaction when some jerkwad with a camera and no knowledge of the situation starts spouting off about how you're doing your job wrong?
::rollseyes::
Beth - if I see you driving while on your cellphone, expect a Gatorade bath.
Agreed. Whenever I've seen an officer writing a ticket I politely ask what the problem is, and each time it's taught me something to remember if I ever get a car. For example:
- Someone tried to use a commercial zone for his pickup truck when he had residential plates (commercial signs are like 0A00000 instead of 0AAA000).
- An asshole neighbor called the DPT because the bumper was 3" over the driveway. Officer had to respond to the complaint.
- Most recently, the officer said that it's Sunday, there aren't any complaints, so he went looking for "fixit" tickets where the owner doesn't have to pay as long as he fixes the issue, such as old registration stickers.
So don't assume that the officer is being mean-spirited until you ask him what the ticket was actually for.Something similar happened to me last month (on 8th & Howard, not too far from this story)--I was issued a ticket for parking during street cleaning hours. Trouble is, the posted street cleaning hours were 4am to 6am, and the ticket was issued at midnight. I protested the ticket, and it was dismissed. Even so, I was mightily pissed at the dishonesty of the parking cop. He probably thought I wouldn't notice the time on the ticket.
Mike: pls peek at the ticket, and write down the officer's initials and badge number, and post it here.
We need to get these assholes FIRED.
Last week I parked my scooter at 12:40 in a 2-hour / neighborhood permit required section of South Park, which isn't too far away from 2nd and Folsom. When I came back out at 1:50 I'd been ticketed for being there over two hours. The wonderful DPT officer, L.W., cited me for being there since 10:30 AM. I wonder if this is the same guy.
I had something similar happen on my own street. I had parked and the run an errand and re-parked in a different location (down the street), but got a ticket. I complained and got the ticket revoked.
I was really baked and I forgot to move my car after time expired and I got a ticket.
Outside of that, I notice that if I don't park illegally, I don't get a ticket.
(don't be a stoned dumb-ass and you won't get parking tickets)
Forget it, Mike. It's Chinatown.
I have no opinion about the direct issue at hand, but I will say that it seems like we've finally found a enemy that we can all hate together!
(ps. nice one MisterPlow)
I remember coming out of my apartment to go to work one morning and seeing a meter minder writing a ticket for my car that was parked at a meter. It was before 9 am; I knew that because I had to be at work at 9, and I knew I wasn't running late. I pointed out that the meter time hadn't started yet, and the woman writing the ticket practically spat in my face, yelling at me that "It's past 9!" and showing me her watch. The time on the ticket read 9:10. I tried arguing briefly, but gave up when she continued to verbally abuse me. I then got in the car, drove to work and clocked in -- at 8:51.
That was over 20 years ago, and I'm still pissed about it!
My street requires a residential parking permit from 8AM to 6PM. One day I got home from work around 5:30 and parked in front of my house. The next morning I found a ticket wedged in between the fender and hood. The ticket was issued at 5:46PM and stated I had been parked over the two hour limit.
Trying to clear up the ticket was annoying. Basically it was my word against theirs. Fortunately when I appealed I furnished proof of using my FasTrak to pay a toll on the GG Bridge at 4:50PM that same day. So there was no possible way I had been parked for over two hours when the ticket was issued.
I ended up getting a parking permit just so I wouldn't have to go through something like this again.
I got a ticket about two years ago for blocking someone's driveway. Parking control officer showed up at my front door early in the morning and quite bitchily asked if it was my car and that if I didn't move it I'd get towed. I went out, the car didn't appear to be blocking anyone's driveway, but I saw someone leaving the house there and apologized to them before moving it while the cop watched.
It was kind of rainy so I didn't even notice the ticket that had already been applied to my windshield until after I moved it down the block and the cop was gone. Going back I apologized more directly to the person at the house who claimed that I hadn't been blocking them at all.
Eventually the ticket was dismissed after having to go in and argue my case in person because the rule is apparently that the homeowner has to request that a car be moved for blocking their driveway and when they checked nobody had complained, the officer was just threatening to tow my car because they felt they could get away with it. I was also informed that in most cases it's my word against theirs and they always side with their officers unless I can prove otherwise.
Guilty until proven innocent.
Part of the problem is that parking citations aren't given out as a fine to encourage proper parking, but is used as a means to generate revenue for the city. Whenever they need more money fees always go up; not because of a legitimate need to curb parking violations and the ineffectiveness of current fines.
Thinking all of this over it might make sense if DPT was required to provide photographic evidence of violations. Put the burden of proof on their shoulders. It wouldn't solve everything, but it would at least be a start. Is it so hard to carry a digital camera with a time stamp?
You think that your car is not blocking the driveway because you think that there is enough space for the owner to get in and out. But I am glad that it got dismissed since the owner of the house did not call in the complaint. What happens if the owner really did complain? Would it have been towed? It was sure good of the officer to go get you to move your car or else you would have gotten your call out of the impound.
I remember waking up one day, thinking, eh being on time is for suckers and promptly going back to sleep. Woke up about an hour later, around 9:15, realized it was a Tuesday and that I should probably have moved the car at the start of street cleaning (8am). I grabbed robe, keys, slippers and ran outside. I looked right, saw the meter mobile racing down the street (two of them even). I waved frantically, got in the car, and watched as they both waved and drove past.
But, you know, anecdotal evidence proves EVERYTHING.
the appreciate you freaking out in the face of their power
Pure evil!
Email the Mother-F*ckers. I hate these guys. They suck ass!
SFMTA Customer Service
mtacustomerservice@sfmta.com
I agree, non-sarcastic pat on the back, hero citizen! There's no excuse for the guy to tell a citizen "Then don't say anything."
Mike still bitter from when he got a ticket for something?
I have gotten two tickets in the past couple of years for "expired time" when there was still time on the meter when I got back (having kept a careful eye on my watch). I fear this happens for too often.
Appeals go NOWHERE.
Dude. My gf has a handicapped placard and has been ticketed before. For those not in the know, you don't have to pay anything and there is no time limit if you have a handicapped placard. You still have to move for street cleaning though. Anyways, the meter-maids are big negligent assholes in this City.
I've actually seen in person a parking control officer get a bribe from someone with a fraudulent handicapped placard, get your act together guys.
I routinely got parking tickets at 7:50 AM for parking meter violation when I lived in SOMA. My car, not the car behind or in front of me, parked there late at night and still there in the morning. I took pictures of the fact that there were no signs, nor tickets on other cars, brought them in as evidence, and they still made me pay the tickets, saying that some blocks have meters that start at 7, and other blocks don't, and some blocks *start 7AM meters mid-block without signage*.
Yes.
Luckily, my pet camel was already carrying quite a few straws from moving to SOMA, and he, his broken back and I moved back to the Mission straightaway.
Oh, and I forgot to say, I love the way Berkeley has receipts for their parking meters. Everyone's accountable.
Sounds like a good idea, but it also sounds like it would make a lot of trash. Trash that people would probably just end up throwing on the ground immediately thereafter.
Is it illegal to take a ticket from someone else's windshield to see what it was for? You will put it back after of course.
Hey, so long as you loot MUNI to pay for the Mayor's PR staff, they'll start relying on more and bigger tickets as "revenue" which is completely fucked.
the point of tickets is to punish people who are violating the law, not "raising money for the city." Thank the Mayor and the Supervisors for this rise of the uber maids. But dont blame them - they're probably not thrilled at getting yelled at for doing what their bosses tell 'em to do.
And remember, you all voted for the Mayor and the Supervisors, very enthusiastically.
There are two points that I want to comment on:
1) DPT and other city revenue raising departments are under incredible pressure right now. And if you get fired from a DPT job, it's going to be slim pickings as to just exactly what kind of job you're qualified for in this recession.
2) The burden of proof in SF DPT situations is definitely on the citizen, not DPT. I remember in Prague, I received a $9 parking ticket. They took 4 polaroids from 4 different angles to prove that I'd parked illegally. In SF, there isn't that burden of proof on the DPT. Especially in towing situations, once your car is towed, the evidence is towed along with it. For a $300 ticket, you think they could be troubled to take picture or two? Especially when picutres (especially in this digital age) costs pennies?
3) I lied. One more point as it relates to #1, and Abe Lincoln's wonderful maxim: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, ..." And the situation is, with DPT, it's not that you have to bat 100% with your integrity. You just have to make your numbers. For every guy that has evidence (ref: Fastpass evidence) that they aren't parking past 2 hours, there's the sap who didn't happen to cross the Bay Bridge in the aforementioned hours, and who has no evidence to the contrary. Guess what? You have to pay. From the perspective of the DPT-droid, you don't have to prove your integrity, you just have to make your number. It's simply Freakonomics. Follow the money.
NEVER NEVER just pay your tickets weather they are issued correctly or not, always dispute them.
I have legitimately earned the dozen tickets I have accumulated around the greater 24th street area for street cleaning(hangover) and for parking 2+ hours in a residential permit zone (the permit process has been a black hole in every neighborhood I've lived in)- Officer DJ, I thank you for your dedication.
But when I lived on the other side of the Mission, it was another story. I frequently received tickets for meters that hadn't expired, or for parking in a permit zone less than 2 hours. I had many of these dismissed because the times marked on the citation were off by hours or didn't actually meet the criteria for issuing them. To DPT's credit, I actually had one of their glorified golf carts follow me for blocks down 14th St- I thought it was some hairbrained attempt to pull me over until the Officer said politely that he recognized my car and had given me a ticket by mistake. I wasn't about to ask him the details, but sure enough, it never entered the system.
It's also possible that the car had a white chalk mark on the back tire, which means it should have already been moved regardless of money in the meter.
And I always find it funny how people see DPT as this evil monster, seemingly randomly issuing tickets unfairly, and it's a joke. If you break law, you get a fine, end of story. Same with not having a fast pass on MUNI...don't get pissed at a fare inspector, just pay the fare. Sorry for being the bearer of logic, but there it is a method to their madness AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND those fines help pay for a lot of city services.
Another nut (see above) logic? .... AAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNDDDDDD DPT is a bureaucratic mess .... huge mess .... the revenue they bring in is the GDP of small latin american nations ....
Note: curb your wheels ticket , last time I heard a auto (without wheels curbed) rolled away was what 1974??? ANNNNNNDDD those fines hurt business in SF ..... I shop in Marin and Emeryville , no worries about parking AAAANNNNNDDD its free ......
AAAANNNNNDDD its free ......
Yeah, you're only paying at least $4 to get there.
Here's a proposal. Get rid of all parking meters. No tickets for street cleaning, no tickets for curbed wheels, no parking permits, no time limit - park your car in one spot for a year for all I care.
Layoff half the meter maids. Keep the other half and VERY AGGRESSIVELY ticket double parking, sidewalk parking, and parking in bus zones. What the heck, keep the handicapped spots and aggressively ticket for parking there with no placard, like half the city doesn't have placards anyway.
I have no car, and would consider this proposal utopia. Think about it.
You wouldn't want to ride bike or even walk on the sidewalk on streets that hadn't been properly cleaned. Those fines are there for a good reason., I believe.
And while I'm not advocating double-parking or the like, I'd bet the "aggressively" ticketing double-parking would ultimately impede far more traffic(car/bike/bus/whatever) in the long run.
It's going to be an imperfect system no matter what.
I remember worrying about stuff like this. I bought a bicycle and got rid of my car. And no, I don't miss the parking tickets, traffic, car payments, insurance, oil changes, ...etc.
For the record. They are NOT cops or anywhere near that. Nor are they "Officers". So dont call them sir or officer.
Wow. I always knew those traffic cops were evil.
Seriously though, the abuse of power is not acceptable, and I'm so glad you stood up to him. If I were his supervisor, there would be some serious repercussions!
First of all, the pictures are unclear since the car he is citing is not being pictured. If you were the supervisor, you would hear the whole story first before issuing the serious repercussions right and not come to any conclusions? I thought the supervisor tries to work with his team members. That is why they have meetings. And which supervisor are you talking about, the officer immediate supervisor which is the sergeant or the sergeant's supervisor which is the captain who is the one who issues
As I was saying, the captain has the final say.
Seriously, on-street parking is one of the biggest government-subsidized public services we have (after roads themselves). If you really are gonna complain about an occasional $50 or even $250 ticket, please feel free to rent yourself a private parking spot and spare yourself the agony of being asked to play by the rules while using a subsidized public service.
Largo01 dp placards does not mean you van park anywhere. When you get your dp placard, it states you can not park in yellow zones, white zones, tow away zones, no parking zones. I have a dp placard and got a ticket for yellow zone and not curbing my wheels.
"I see a traffic cop reverse his 3-wheeler about four car lengths in order to park behind a white Honda Civic on 2nd and Folsom. After nearly running into a black Towncar, the bike-helmet-clad cop immediately jumps out with tickets in hand."
This reads like a fucking yelp review. I can't take this seriously.