Don’t Pay Parking Tickets – A Guest Blog by Mark Edge

June 21, 2010 by Ian
Filed under: Announcement, News, Personal Freedom

Here’s a guest blog from Mark Edge on his successful noncooperation regarding a parking ticket. Next time you get a parking ticket, consider demanding a trial, like Mark did. It bogs down an already overburdened system. Of course, risk is still involved and your mileage may vary. As you’ll see, Mark’s charge was dumped before trial, but I went to trial over a ticket on Apr 28th and have never received a verdict. Worst case, if you don’t want to noncooperate all the way and they find you guilty at trial, you will probably only need pay the $5 then – after you’ve really made them work for it. Please give this a try, Keeniacs, and post to the Free Keene Forum with your results or in advance if you’d like some input or support at your court appearance, should it get that far. This is an excellent first step for an activist new to saying “no” to government people.

When I moved to Keene in Sep06 I noticed right away that Keene has a problem with parking and Parking Enforcement downtown. The parking meters dissuade people from patronizing the businesses downtown. One morning my wife and I were going to go to Timolean’s for breakfast. When we parked, we realized that we didn’t have any change. We got back in the car and went to Friendly’s on West Street, were the parking is free.

Obviously, there needs to be some sort of system to disincentivize people who are not doing business from taking up the parking spaces of those who wish to, but Parking Enforcement, as I understand it, runs a large deficit every year. It costs more to send the little ladies with parking tickets around to fine people than they collect from meters and fines. That is silly.

Top that off with what I have often said, you don’t have to pay those tickets. This is only a theory, but I did test it recently. Here is the pivotal point of the theory: They, the little ladies with the parking tickets, can’t prove that *you* parked the car.

In Nov09 someone parked my wife’s car in a city parking space on Winter Street in Keene. I went to the space to retrieve the car and found a $5 parking ticket on the windshield. I decided to test my theory and went directly to the Police Station on Marlboro Street to dispute the ticket. The ladies there gave me a court date some weeks thence, for a car that I do not own!

I went to court and told them that I was disputing the ticket and they gave me a court date in Apr10, 6 months after the offense. I lived life normally with the calm assurance that when the time came I would win handily. Some point before Apr10, I got a letter telling me the case had been postponed until Jun10, further convincing me that Justice had reclaimed her terrible swift sword from the American Judicial System, if she had in fact ever lent it.

Jun10 did roll around to meet us and last week I got a letter from the Keene District Court informing me that they had Nol Processed my charges. My theory isn’t proven, but it is further confirmed. My friends, you don’t have to pay these parking tickets and further fund their system. You don’t have to go to jail and further validate their system while costing them price of a few baloney sandwiches. You just have to make them spend they exurbanite price of a trial to prove that you parked the car.

Comments

7 Comments on Don’t Pay Parking Tickets – A Guest Blog by Mark Edge

Dan on Mon, 21st Jun 2010 1:40 am

If you get a ticket for “Resident-Only Parking,” as is common in Massachusetts, write back that the law violates the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Constitution by discriminating against out-of-staters. It’s a non-frivolous legal argument. I did this twice while I was living there and I never heard back from them again. Either they got lost in the system due to their incompetence or they figured that I wasn’t worth the trouble.

CQ on Mon, 21st Jun 2010 10:41 am

I too asked for a trial for a parking ticket I received in Keene because I got a $25 ticket for parking in a “non metered spot” downtown. When I called the Keene Police Dept. asking for an explanation they could not tell me why the ticket was issed so I asked for the city ordinance for which I was in violation of so that I could go look it up myself. They did not know that either. How could you arbitrarily issue parking tickets based on an ordinance that you have no knowledge of? “I’ll see you in court” I told them.
Apparently the parking enforcement folks don’t like hanging out in court because on the day of the trial before the court session even began they were very eager to play “Let’s Make A Deal”. They dropped all charges and said “Next time when you have a dispute with a parking ticket just come talk to us and we will take care of it”. How funny.

xrazorwirex on Mon, 21st Jun 2010 7:28 pm

I’m from the country but live in Lincoln, NE, and whenever I get a parking ticket (I rarely venture into those areas anyways, fortunately) I just turn it back in blank. I thought I was being a badass but it turns out that they don’t bother people with out-of-county plates unless you get 3 or more tickets in a certain arbitrary window…. so meh…

TicketTrap on Mon, 21st Jun 2010 10:54 pm

What stories! I have tried to fight tickets in NYC on my own but had no luck and neither did the others in the same court room. If you bring a lawyer you have a much better chance. The lawyers and court room judges for the most part all know each other. It seems not all places are as high tech as others when it comes to processing tickets. In Philly, the patrol with scanning vehicles and if you owe tickets they will most likely track you down. In NY, they will get you eventually, especially when you go to renew a registration or license. Then the interest and late fees are added. If it works for you where you are… go for it. Do not give up your hard earned dollars so easy! It is why I put together the Ticket Trap web site – to help keep educate and keep your money in your pocket to spend where you wish…especially in the small mom and pop stores that need our business.

Gabe on Mon, 21st Jun 2010 11:39 pm

What does it mean that they “Nol Processed my charges”?

Sam Dodson on Tue, 22nd Jun 2010 2:07 pm

@Gabe – The prosecutor nullified the charges, effectively dropping them.

tony on Sun, 25th Sep 2011 10:45 am

I received a parking ticket that I have had no prior knowledge of. How could they do that. I have decided to appeal it, how inconvenient. http://outoftheblueparkingticket.blogspot.com/

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