The Manhattan Times

Gotcha!

by Luis Miranda, Jr.

I make every attempt to follow parking rules to the letter of the law. Even though double parking is an everyday occurrence in our neighborhood, it is rare that I do it, so I often find myself going round and round the area until finding a legal spot. I obey speed limits, even if it makes me look like one of those elderly drivers who only go out for Sunday spins.

In short, when I’m driving I try to be considerate. That’s why when I do get a ticket it makes my blood boils because I see it as an injustice.

Last week I parked in front of my nephew’s school. I went in for no more than three minutes and left a colleague from work in the car waiting for me. Obviously, one of the little “brownie” soldiers was anxious to get his next victim.

As my friends told the story, the parking agent appeared out of nowhere to issue a summons and fine. For a second, I could understand why people often feel moved to violence with these agents of the law. My violent fantasies quickly gave way to reality as I tried to reason with this public servant. He didn’t even look me in the eye!

One month ago, same story.

I parked behind a row of school buses as I walked my nephew to the door of his school. I returned to the car to find a traffic agent had popped out of nowhere – like a government agent impersonating Barbara Eden in “I Dream of Genie” – and was giving me a ticket. The other day I saw one of these agents waiting – like a vulture circling a carcass – for the “MuniMeter” receipt inside of my car to expire. They rarely get me with those because I always try to time it so that I’m back in my car before time is up.

I agree that we need to have order. Double-parking is annoying. If the city didn’t issues tickets, people would park anywhere and there would be vehicular chaos. But it is one thing to have rules and apply them fairly and quite another to make it so that fines are a new tax on those of us who drive.

It’s one thing to have ticket agents doing their jobs with the understanding that they are heading-off chaos but it’s quite another when they have quotas to fill and as a result have to act like the phantoms we all have learned to hate.

I, like the other parents at my nephew’s school, park for a few minutes while I make sure that he arrives in school safe and sound. We leave our cars in a No Parking During School Hours (8am-4pm) Zone, we don’t create chaos and we don’t stand around just chatting. What does it cost the brownies to hold off a few minutes before issuing their electronic ticket? They issue the fines to fill their quotas and not because they are trying to preserve public order.

I agree with the City Council’s recent initiative to provide a grace period for persons parked at meters. This would return civility and consideration to what has become a game of “Gotcha!” But what we really need is a redefinition of the parking agents’ jobs so that they understand that fines should be the consequence of an act of reckless incivility and not something to subject to quotas or a new tax in the middle of an economic crisis.