At a time in my life in the distant past I was in charge of parking enforcement for a large university in Philadelphia. As bad as parking is in general in Philadelphia, the institution at which I worked had a reputation for having very few problems with parking violations. The reason was, I believe, that we did not bother with tickets (since as a private institution, we really had no way of collecting on them), but simply towed cars that were in violation.
As unfair as this may seem to many of you who have complained of “unfair” or “overzealous” treatment by “parking Nazis” (a term, by the way, that is unique to no university), it certainly resolves many problems. After all, most who are towed for parking illegally, don’t do so again. Moreover, the towing company gets paid and the university gets paid for unauthorized use of its property (there was an agreement between the university and the towing company to return a portion of the fee to the institution).
I have gotten my fair share of tickets. However, having worked in parking enforcement, I have little empathy for those who park illegally and get pissed afterwards when they have been towed or ticketed. Particularly in university settings, of which I am most familiar, I am astonished every time an illegal parker claims to have been wronged because “I only expected to be there a few minutes.” The property doesn’t belong to you and you haven’t paid to use it! At all the universities I have ever visited, there are transient parking lots near the center where those who are going to be there only a while can pay to park. If you need to unload, I think all institutions are willing to work with you. Claiming ignorance of this fact after you have been towed, in my opinion, is part of the learning process: It does’t get you any sympathy and it won’t get you out of the fee.
In Pennsylvania, posting signs on private parking lots is sufficient. If someone parks there illegally, they can be towed. This negates danielinthewolvesden’s clever evasion, in that any car that is towed by a towing company in the city of Philadelphia must be called into the city. If the licence plate is determined to have been stolen, the car cannot be towed and the police are sent to the scene.
I don’t believe in quotas for city employees who write parking tickets for a living, but I do question how their productivity can be judged otherwise. Do we as a society simply want to refrain from enforcing parking laws? Or do those of you who live in sections of cities where parking permit requirements might be appropriate disagree?
Thanks for checking, Rhythmdvl! And thanks to all others for your input. I was parked at the end of the row, right under the sign, and I’m pretty sure there was no sign above the one I read, but I’ll go back and check (and take a picture if there’s no “no parking” sign there.) If there is… then damn, I’m embarrassed I brought it up and will get myself a new pair of contact lenses! As I said before, I did see “no parking” signs on the parallel road on the north side of the Mall. Maybe I’m going from nearsighted to farsighted. FWIW, I was headed to the Library of Congress and just parked where I did because I wasn’t sure I would find anything closer-- I don’t know how easy it is to park on the east side of the Capitol. Plus, it was a nice day and I felt like a little walking. I should have left my car at home in Arlington and taken Metro. Or walked, for that matter.
There is not much explanation of the violation on my ticket. It only says “P259 NO STP/STD PM RUSH.” I have not called the number on the back of the ticket.
Homer-- No offense taken. But a couple of people here have agreed with me that a time-limited sign does not imply that you can’t park there AT ALL at other times. I completely agree with you about the frustration with people who park illegally and block traffic, and if I had any idea I was violating that rule I would never have parked there. That’s why I want to make my case-- I don’t want to be labeled as the kind of person who would flout that rule.
{complete tangent on college parking}
The University of Virginia had (IMHO) a very enlightened parking enforcement policy. Everyone was entitled to one grace ticket per year. That way you could be a hardass in enforcing the parking rules (a good thing, as O.Oscar pointed out), while still allowing for the occasional visitor to the grounds (who may not know where the best parking can be found) to just park anywhere, as long as they do it only once a year. Students can do the same thing-- I used my grace ticket the day I gave my thesis presentation. I think this is a pretty good compromise between convenience and enforcement, and probably helps the public image of the parking people. I believe the only exceptions are handicapped spaces, and possibly certain faculty spaces.
I drove to the College of William and Mary a couple of times and their parking office gave me a little pass and said I could just park free for 2 or 3 days in any marked space except for handicapped spaces-- both times I ended up in unimaginably good parking spaces. It really made an impression on me (see, I sill remember several years later!)
FWIW, I was headed to the Library of Congress and just parked where I did because I wasn’t sure I would find anything closer-- I don’t know how easy it is to park on the east side of the Capitol. Plus, it was a nice day and I felt like a little walking. I should have left my car at home in Arlington and taken Metro. Or walked, for that matter.