rottydaddy
En-Route
Looking for some advice here about an impending court date... a silly matter, regarding a ticket for parking when street cleaning is in effect. The fine is $55.
I'm fighting it on principle, partly because in the last 15 years I've never even seen evidence of street cleaning in front of my building (not that this helps my case, I realize), or signs (not that this matters either), but mostly because as far as I can tell, the ordinances against parking, for the purpose of street cleaning, do not specify the location and time of the ticket.
I don't retain a lawyer, and I'm not looking for one... in fact, the court did not give me an option to either hire counsel or have a public defender appointed. I guess I could bring a lawyer, but it seems unnecessary. have a plan to deal with this, and I'm just sounding it out with you all.
I had my first hearing today, and simply told the judge that I had studied the code, and believed that the ticket was in error, so I was pleading not guilty. He asked me what proof I had ... i was dismayed that the city's court could not simply reference the city's laws, but suspecting that might happen, I brought printed excerpts of relevant parts of the code. Judge had me sit and wait, then go up to talk to the prosecutor, who sneered at this flimsy stuff, asserted that he himself had paid street-cleaning tickets stuck on his car on my block, asked me if i felt exempt because I worked for the federal government (weird, but there are federal buildings up the street from my place), and said he would not accept anything that didn't come from the city clerk's office. I asked him and the judge what, other than text from the city's own website, would be adequate... the prosecutor said "I'm not going to help you with your case!" and the judge said "bring what you think is best."
so... back to Square One; I have a trial date in about 3 weeks, and need to prepare a brief. I intend to rattle a few cages at the clerk's office, but can anybody tell me precisely what documentation will do the trick? The facts are: ticket is for parking on a block with no parking rules signs of any kind on my side, on a Monday, at 12:46 PM. There are signs pertaining to that day and time period on my street, but only starting a few blocks north of the block in question. they say nothing about street cleaning, only "no parking or standing Mondays 12noon-4PM" and a double-ended arrow, which means from one crosswalk to the other. Meanwhile, the ordinances listed on the website do not even jibe with the signs.
In fact, I can find nothing at all in the municipal code about the area in question (the block where my building is), except Wednesdays from 8am to noon.
I got this ticket in front of the place where I've lived for 13 of the last 15 years, and I've never seen a sign there, nor have I seen a street sweeper, except one, years ago, that turned west before getting to my block, in the wee hours of the morning. In general, the entire neighborhood is a disgrace, in terms of upkeep by the city. Cars lie abandoned there for years, the gutters are full of broken glass, used condoms, and refuse from the nearby Mcdonald's. etc., etc. I've seen city cleaning crews nearby sweeping trash and leaves into the storm drains, instead of tossing it into the large dumptruck idling nearby. None of that excuses me, I know, but my point is that I've seen no evidence of such a law for my block, which might explain my ignorance of the law (which I cannot find, LOL). Only other ticket I've ever gotten there was the ol' "within 50 feet of a stop sign" gotcha, which unfortunately is on the books. But I want to fight this one.
I figure if I lose, I'll take it to the media. This city, although obviously corrupt to the bone, is a bit sensitive about its image nowadays, so that might be worth doing. Several of my neighbors received similar tickets the same day or week, for parking on the same block. They might help me with that.
Are citizens really expected to consult the city clerk's office before parking anywhere there are no signs posted? And why should a citizen pay a fine for breaking a law that does not exist?
I'm fighting it on principle, partly because in the last 15 years I've never even seen evidence of street cleaning in front of my building (not that this helps my case, I realize), or signs (not that this matters either), but mostly because as far as I can tell, the ordinances against parking, for the purpose of street cleaning, do not specify the location and time of the ticket.
I don't retain a lawyer, and I'm not looking for one... in fact, the court did not give me an option to either hire counsel or have a public defender appointed. I guess I could bring a lawyer, but it seems unnecessary. have a plan to deal with this, and I'm just sounding it out with you all.
I had my first hearing today, and simply told the judge that I had studied the code, and believed that the ticket was in error, so I was pleading not guilty. He asked me what proof I had ... i was dismayed that the city's court could not simply reference the city's laws, but suspecting that might happen, I brought printed excerpts of relevant parts of the code. Judge had me sit and wait, then go up to talk to the prosecutor, who sneered at this flimsy stuff, asserted that he himself had paid street-cleaning tickets stuck on his car on my block, asked me if i felt exempt because I worked for the federal government (weird, but there are federal buildings up the street from my place), and said he would not accept anything that didn't come from the city clerk's office. I asked him and the judge what, other than text from the city's own website, would be adequate... the prosecutor said "I'm not going to help you with your case!" and the judge said "bring what you think is best."
so... back to Square One; I have a trial date in about 3 weeks, and need to prepare a brief. I intend to rattle a few cages at the clerk's office, but can anybody tell me precisely what documentation will do the trick? The facts are: ticket is for parking on a block with no parking rules signs of any kind on my side, on a Monday, at 12:46 PM. There are signs pertaining to that day and time period on my street, but only starting a few blocks north of the block in question. they say nothing about street cleaning, only "no parking or standing Mondays 12noon-4PM" and a double-ended arrow, which means from one crosswalk to the other. Meanwhile, the ordinances listed on the website do not even jibe with the signs.
In fact, I can find nothing at all in the municipal code about the area in question (the block where my building is), except Wednesdays from 8am to noon.
I got this ticket in front of the place where I've lived for 13 of the last 15 years, and I've never seen a sign there, nor have I seen a street sweeper, except one, years ago, that turned west before getting to my block, in the wee hours of the morning. In general, the entire neighborhood is a disgrace, in terms of upkeep by the city. Cars lie abandoned there for years, the gutters are full of broken glass, used condoms, and refuse from the nearby Mcdonald's. etc., etc. I've seen city cleaning crews nearby sweeping trash and leaves into the storm drains, instead of tossing it into the large dumptruck idling nearby. None of that excuses me, I know, but my point is that I've seen no evidence of such a law for my block, which might explain my ignorance of the law (which I cannot find, LOL). Only other ticket I've ever gotten there was the ol' "within 50 feet of a stop sign" gotcha, which unfortunately is on the books. But I want to fight this one.
I figure if I lose, I'll take it to the media. This city, although obviously corrupt to the bone, is a bit sensitive about its image nowadays, so that might be worth doing. Several of my neighbors received similar tickets the same day or week, for parking on the same block. They might help me with that.
Are citizens really expected to consult the city clerk's office before parking anywhere there are no signs posted? And why should a citizen pay a fine for breaking a law that does not exist?