August 22, 2006
Park That Thing Somewhere Else
When we encountered cops parking illegally all over our fair city a few months back, we did what any self-respecting internet geek would: we blogged about it. Now, a resident of Arlington, a town notorious for an uncannily rapid response to illegally parked cars, was so steamed about a similar phenomenon that he created a blog devoted entirely to photo-documenting parking violations by the city's parking enforcement staff.
At first, we thought this site was way cool, since we love stickin' it to The Man via the interweb. However, upon further inspection, it seems like this guy is a little too, um, enthusiastic. Most of his pictures involve parking officials illegally parked while actually writing tickets, often only a few feet away. In a neighborhood where it is not uncommon to drive around for a solid 40 minutes looking for a place to park, requiring traffic cops to park legally at all times would pretty much paralyze the city's enforcement efforts. We agree that traffic cops should not be obstructing traffic, but a little slack is certainly in order.
Besides, if Arlington parking officers did always park legally, you just know a blog would spring up to complain about how they take up all the legal spaces that residents and visitors could be using.
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Hmm....ticketed for writing a ticket? That could start a domino effect of epic proportions.
But this reminds me of just the other day when I was out to lunch, a group of probably a dozen motorcycle cops parked along the 15 or so feet of no parking zone going around the nearest street corner. Kind of pissed me off a bit...have you ever been pulled over by the cops?
"Hey OK I was just doing 71 in a 55, not like anybody got hurt. It's a big open highway with nobody on it!"
"Well you got pulled over because speeding is against the LAWWWW!!!"
Yeah. Really makes me want to respect that line....
I'm not even sure if it's appropriate or correct to call most of those govt. vehicles "illegally" parked. I mean, is an ambulance parked "illegally" when it double parks in front of an apartment building while answering a call there? Extreme example, sure, but it's still an official vehicle temporarily placed in a location that will allow a government official to efficiently carry out his/her job, which in this case is ticketing cars that really are illegally parked. I'm sure the Arlington County Code that the blogger so thoughtfully links in the sidebar probably makes provision for that somewhere; if not, it seems like common sense.
Sounds like someone's just bitter about too many tickets for being 5 minutes over limit on their meter. They should get over themselves.
What a whiner. He needs to get a real job.
"In a neighborhood where it is not uncommon to drive around for a solid 40 minutes looking for a place to park"
40 minutes? What are you talking about? It's not that bad, unless of course you're just driving around the same block for 40 minutes.
I found that when I lived in Arlington, the parking enforcement was frustrating because of its apparent disparate enforcement. I would get tickets for parking for 3 hours in a two hour zone, yet a car was parked across the street in the same spot for several weeks without a ticket (and for some reason parking over two hours was double the fine that overstaying a parking meter was). Also I got a ticket warning for not getting a tax sticker within weeks of moving there (within the 30 day grace) yet my roomates parked there for two years before getting a ticket for not having a tax sticker.
this is just dumb. why not give speeding tickets to cops in a high speed chase? these are official vehicles, on official business. if these were their personal cars, on their own time it would be different. but its not...this guy needs to stop complaining and if he's getting tickets, tell him to obey the parking regulations!
great idea. lame execution.
Bill,
Where does it say what this guy's job is? How do you know he doesn't have a real job?
You should quit leaving comments on blogs and get a real job.
I just find it interesting that he only photographs or blogs about things in the dense, rich, white, north side of Arlington. He's clearly a carpetbagging yuppie who isn't from here, and precisely the type to whom I hope my paid public officials are giving headaches. People like him aren't the kind who actually contribute to Arlington as a community, they just want to find a place to park their cars. Get a bike, you jerk.
What a whiner. He needs to get a real job.
Spoken like someone who has off street parking.
Actually no, anyone who cares about parking needs to study philosophy, because they're wasting their god-given intellect in absolute BS.
Why can't the ticket writers park legally and walk their beat? At least in DC I've seen more than a few blocking crosswalks, bike lanes, driveways, entire one way streets, etc. etc. Just seems a bit ironic.
Many, many years ago, when I was a broke college student I took a part time job as a parking enforcement officer for a small Midwestern city. I could write a book about the year I spent as public enemy #1.
However, we were instructed to always double park when writing citations rather than take away a scarce legal spot.
Of all the things people complained to me about (and you would be surprised how many people wanted MORE enforcement), I never once had a person complain about me double parking my city vehicle.
Now that I live in DC, on a street where parking is a premium, I welcome the aggressive enforcement I see and have no problem at all when the parking enforcement vehicles are double parked as they do their job.