If you are a parking enforcement official, I apologize in advance

Clockworkmike

Clockworkmike

Ambassador of STACKS in WV SHACKS
Country flag
In my podunk town of 6000, we dont have paid parking but im used to it in cities as a burden everyone lives with. But i got sent to the "whopping metropolis of dogshit" known as Charleston, WV to work on a city project. Theres about 50 people on this job and the only parking is across the street at a public garage. However, this 7 story pile of garbage only has roughly 30 metered parking spots ( no attendants, no ticket in or ticket out system), the rest of the spots are monthly passes and where im floating in and out here from another jobsite, that's not a factor. So i have to park at the top, pay a measly $3 a day on an app called ParkMobile and enter in my plate, voila!

However today, the app set the leave time for 9am instead of 3pm and i didnt catch it. What do i see when i get to my truck at lunchtime? Ding ding ! A parking ticket written at 9:15am. This "city" has the least public parking ive ever seen , does nothing with the fees they accrue and then force you to use this broken app to park that will pull little stunts like this, basically tripling their fees. Its not like $12 is gonna break me up anytime soon but its the scam of how they pull it, that pisses me off to no end.

If anyone has metering enforcement in the family? Forgive me, but i would probably crack a smile if i saw one of these buffoons fall out into traffic here
 
I feel your pain - more in trying to find parking.
The few pay lots I know of in Jersey City near the project I am working are mostly full by 7:00 am.
They are machine or app as well, no attendant.

I need to find other nearby lots. I'm not there daily but its $19. for 10 hrs, the other options are 1hr, 2hrs, or 24hrs.
Reminds me I need to fill out an expense reimbursement form as I do get it back.
If I get a ticket its on me.
 
jtcnj said:
I feel your pain - more in trying to find parking.
The few pay lots I know of in Jersey City near the project I am working are mostly full by 7:00 am.
They are machine or app as well, no attendant.

I need to find other nearby lots. I'm not there daily but its $19. for 10 hrs, the other options are 1hr, 2hrs, or 24hrs.
Reminds me I need to fill out an expense reimbursement form as I do get it back.
If I get a ticket its on me.
Click to expand...
That sucks dude, making you eat the ticket! $19 is pretty rough too, basically i can park for a week straight for what it costs you one day lol

I remember VA Beach being like $10 a day parking on weekdays, $20 a day on weekends and $30 on a holiday. I ended up getting a seasonal parking pass for $90 for one week just to be able to come and go easily. Still saved money somehow lol
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
i REMEMBER being in Ocean City Maryland walking the roads. Once I saw a metered parking lot and cops in there writing tickets. One spot had 2 motorcycles in it. My question to myself then was who was the cop writing the ticket to? And with spaces at a premium, why take up 2 for 2 separate bikes?
Click to expand...
Yeah thats kinda senseless. 2 bikes isnt hurting a thing if they fit easily in one spot. You should pay for the spot not the vehicle
 
Also, I think I told this story once before.

Friends and I drove up to Syracuse on a Friday afternoon in like 1982 to go see Rush play a Saturday show at the Carrier Dome. Our buddy went to school there and lived in the dorm right next to the dome. We parked Gary's Z28 Friday and only walked anywhere we needed to go that night and Saturday. After the concert the 4 of us slept on Kent's floor. Sunday, we woke and grabbed our stuff and headed out to where our car should have been. Long story short, we had to go back to the dorm and call the cops as we thought our car got stolen. Nope, temporary no parking signs were erected Saturday and we had no clue they would then make our legally parked car, illegal. It got towed and impounded. This cost us a cab ride, and a fine/ fee to pay the impound guy ( who had to come open his yard on a Sunday) junk yard dogs and all. Then he almost wasn't going to give us our car because we had no Police release forms. LOL we hardly had any cash either and certainly no credit cards for 18 year olds. Thankfully he was sensible to listen to my solution. Get the police on the phone, arrange for us to pay him the fee and then he and the police could work out the logistics. He did and we high tailed it south to Maryland. Bye Bye Junk Yard Dogs
 
that SUX...however---3.00 a DAY!?!?! HEll man thats LUXURY -- I start a job Monday that is in downtown Tampa Bay Fl.
2.00 PER HOUR is the rate me boy-o .....no "day long" option and you have to PREPAY !
so if I THINK I will be there 8 hours ....but due to some B.S. created by the PM or one of the other subs being in our way or not ready.......and leave after 4 hours well.....Im out the $ ...and the fine is 25.00 for expired meter .........................
this project will go on for at least 4-8 days depending ............. 3.00 a day .........I should BE so lucky .....
 
eSGEe said:
that SUX...however---3.00 a DAY!?!?! HEll man thats LUXURY -- I start a job Monday that is in downtown Tampa Bay Fl.
2.00 PER HOUR is the rate me boy-o .....no "day long" option and you have to PREPAY !
so if I THINK I will be there 8 hours ....but due to some B.S. created by the PM or one of the other subs being in our way or not ready.......and leave after 4 hours well.....Im out the $ ...and the fine is 25.00 for expired meter .........................
this project will go on for at least 4-8 days depending ............. 3.00 a day .........I should BE so lucky .....
Click to expand...
Lol remember the location man...its WV. $3 is salary in some parts here :ROFLMAO: nah its actually fairly cheap and the money isnt the problem just the scam of how they flip $3 into $12 really easy thru that flaud app that can screw you up. If you park down stairs its $10 and if you get a ticket is immediately $30. They triple automatically. The meters on the streets only let you go upto 3hrs and its $4.50
 
Last edited:
or how its now ALL AUTOMATED and you buy 2 hours (to go to a site walk meeting) only to find you got charged for 4 when you check your card statement..... yep hat happened last month -- now -- like most I "let it go" because the hours it would take to argue the point WITH THE CITY OF TAMPA are worth more than the $ ....but man it pisses ya off
 
eSGEe said:
or how its now ALL AUTOMATED and you buy 2 hours (to go to a site walk meeting) only to find you got charged for 4 when you check your card statement..... yep hat happened last month -- now -- like most I "let it go" because the hours it would take to argue the point WITH THE CITY OF TAMPA are worth more than the $ ....but man it pisses ya off
Click to expand...

This is likely why Paul Newman lopped the heads off the parking meters in Cool Hand Luke
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
CITY is a 4 LETTER WORD
Click to expand...
agreed..........100%...................but gotta go where the work is ................they dont put 7 story parking garages that need striping and wheel stops in the middle of the county cattle pasture
they put them RIGHT IN DOWNTONW TAMPA and ----- ORLANDO -- and SARASOTA ..........so --- off we go........................me and my little band of PAINT PIRATES
 
LOL Paint Pirates.

Now 3 true stories from my one job I did in B'more city not far from a huge Catholic Cathedral, A huge Public library and 10's of thousands of people.

SO, we were mostly doing trim carpentry in a multi story pretty big house which was in the center of numerous connected businesses such as a bar, and bank and restaurants. For this particular job, we, painters, plumbers, hardwood floor installer/finishers, electricians all were in operation to renovate the place for an architect to open his office in.

I almost forgot this story until starting to write this. One day while chatting with the architect, something triggered me to tell him a story I heard about elsewhere in the city. The story went like this. There was a building up town that a man in a "Bobcat" /.Skid steer machine was pushing debris during a demolition project and he accidentally went too far from 5 stories up and he and machine fell to the ground and did not get badly hurt. The crazy thing was his response. Yeah, he said that was his son.

The next story was the BALLS of criminals, on 2 occasions we were confronted by thieves or would be thieves. First one came when a guy entered the building and was not recognized by any of the subs working there, he sort of acted weird and within 30 seconds of being in there, I seem to remember it being made known, ( haha Possibly by me) if he did not want something bad to happen to him he better decide where he mightrather be right about then. On a similar note, my friend who's job it was and I were out on the sidewalk cutting trim, the painters were up on extension ladders working on the windows, and in a matter of seconds, a guy asks Stu and me if we wanted to buy a vacuum, we said no and then he asks the painters up on their ladders. As soon as they tell him no, he turns and smashes the window of a parked car, takes something from inside and runs down an alley.

The last story happened out back of that same place where we did wind up parking our trucks and going in and out of the back of the building. Late one day we were waiting to have a concrete truck show up to pour a pad of concrete in the back. I had gotten tired of waiting and holding my few concrete floats and even a little hand brush broom we'd need to finish the concrete and like a dummy, only left them out of my sight for at most 2 minutes to go in and pee and use the phone to check on the delivery. When I got back outside, my stuff was gone. I looked around and saw a guy across the alley picking through some trash. So I went over and asked hey, did you see anyone take any stuff? He surprised me as he said yes and that he knew where he would have gone to take the stuff. He also offered that he could go get it back for me. Of course I would have wanted my tools so I asked what he'd want to do so.

Now for all of you who are patient enough to read my long story. I bet you will never guess what he wanted in payment, OH and yes he did retrieve my tools for me. His exact words were. " I sure could use a haircut." and when I said ok, how much would that be? He said, " I guess about $4 would do." Needless to say, I hooked him up. Oh and he even showed me a bump on his neck where he said the thief saw him getting my stuff then hit him with something but he got away.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top