Good Grief, John Boy - Part Eight
The City towed my car because I had unpaid parking tickets.
I had parking tickets because I work downtown. Within a five block radius of where I work, there are, as far as I or anyone else I've asked can ascertain, six 24 hour free parking spaces. Three of those constantly have cars in them, day or night. Those six are three blocks away from the wineshop. As those who have read this blog know, walking for blocks has not been my strong suit these days. All other spaces are two hour time limited for that block. So if you are a downtown worker and you've missed the free spaces or don't want to park blocks away from your job, then you spend the entire day leaving work every two hours to move your car and hunt for a space on another block. Parking tickets become an occupational hazzard.
I had unpaid parking tickets because I hate to give those fuckers my money.
I hate to give those fuckers my money because it's not fair. Michael at the wineshop loves this part, by the way. Whenever he tells this story, he says, "No wait, wait! Get this! Tell them why you didn't pay the parking tickets."
But it's not fair! We work downtown. We have to be there. Yes, I can take the bus to work, but the bus line to my house stops running at 6:30 p.m. Two thirds of my shifts end at 7:00 p.m. or later. To walk from my house would be long, tiring, and - with my knees, ankles, and back - quite painful. I could rent a space in one of the parking garages. The one down the street from me is $150 a month and has a waiting list for spaces. The one three blocks away has available spaces and is $115 a month. My first two months working at the wineshop, I spent $150 each month on parking tickets. I make $10 an hour.
Effectively this is an unofficial tax on downtown employees who are not served by the bus system. And the City has maneuvered us into this position. Over the 13 years that I have been in Charlottesville, three free municipal downtown lots have been sold to developers, who have ripped them up and built on them while one pay parking garage has been built. And it's not like you can say, "Oh, if we didn't time limit the spaces, there wouldn't be any spaces for consumers coming downtown to shop and spend money." We're there all day! Whether our cars stay in the same spaces or trade every two hours, the total number of available spaces stays the same! Plus, adding insult to injury, it's a tax that mostly prays on our misfortune, because most of the time you get a ticket, it's because things got too busy at work and you forgot or things got too busy at work and you couldn't get away. So the City has cops, cops! - people you can't shoo off or bash over the head with a baseball bat because they're armed and empowered to fuck with you - roaming around in their little cars, waiting for you to mess up.
It's not fair and it's boorish and stupid. We're working downtown. You want us to work downtown. We provide the goods and services that allow for downtown's commerce and thus downtown's survival and growth. Why then are you penalizing us? Plus, if our cars can sit, there are that many less cars driving on downtown streets all day. Wouldn't you want that?
Well, maybe you would, but you're not messing with us. The City is. They're fuckers, and I hate giving them my money. Hey, did I say I had a rational reason? Did I even say I had a good reason? Have I ever made a claim to being a mature, responsible, dependable, circumspect adult? All I'm saying is it burned me up to pay the tickets, so I didn't. And when you don't give them your money, they have empowered themselves to be able to tow your car.
So the City towed my car.
I had parking tickets because I work downtown. Within a five block radius of where I work, there are, as far as I or anyone else I've asked can ascertain, six 24 hour free parking spaces. Three of those constantly have cars in them, day or night. Those six are three blocks away from the wineshop. As those who have read this blog know, walking for blocks has not been my strong suit these days. All other spaces are two hour time limited for that block. So if you are a downtown worker and you've missed the free spaces or don't want to park blocks away from your job, then you spend the entire day leaving work every two hours to move your car and hunt for a space on another block. Parking tickets become an occupational hazzard.
I had unpaid parking tickets because I hate to give those fuckers my money.
I hate to give those fuckers my money because it's not fair. Michael at the wineshop loves this part, by the way. Whenever he tells this story, he says, "No wait, wait! Get this! Tell them why you didn't pay the parking tickets."
But it's not fair! We work downtown. We have to be there. Yes, I can take the bus to work, but the bus line to my house stops running at 6:30 p.m. Two thirds of my shifts end at 7:00 p.m. or later. To walk from my house would be long, tiring, and - with my knees, ankles, and back - quite painful. I could rent a space in one of the parking garages. The one down the street from me is $150 a month and has a waiting list for spaces. The one three blocks away has available spaces and is $115 a month. My first two months working at the wineshop, I spent $150 each month on parking tickets. I make $10 an hour.
Effectively this is an unofficial tax on downtown employees who are not served by the bus system. And the City has maneuvered us into this position. Over the 13 years that I have been in Charlottesville, three free municipal downtown lots have been sold to developers, who have ripped them up and built on them while one pay parking garage has been built. And it's not like you can say, "Oh, if we didn't time limit the spaces, there wouldn't be any spaces for consumers coming downtown to shop and spend money." We're there all day! Whether our cars stay in the same spaces or trade every two hours, the total number of available spaces stays the same! Plus, adding insult to injury, it's a tax that mostly prays on our misfortune, because most of the time you get a ticket, it's because things got too busy at work and you forgot or things got too busy at work and you couldn't get away. So the City has cops, cops! - people you can't shoo off or bash over the head with a baseball bat because they're armed and empowered to fuck with you - roaming around in their little cars, waiting for you to mess up.
It's not fair and it's boorish and stupid. We're working downtown. You want us to work downtown. We provide the goods and services that allow for downtown's commerce and thus downtown's survival and growth. Why then are you penalizing us? Plus, if our cars can sit, there are that many less cars driving on downtown streets all day. Wouldn't you want that?
Well, maybe you would, but you're not messing with us. The City is. They're fuckers, and I hate giving them my money. Hey, did I say I had a rational reason? Did I even say I had a good reason? Have I ever made a claim to being a mature, responsible, dependable, circumspect adult? All I'm saying is it burned me up to pay the tickets, so I didn't. And when you don't give them your money, they have empowered themselves to be able to tow your car.
So the City towed my car.
posted by - caj at 6:22 PM
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