Help Dickerson fight the man! And a parking ticket.

Factual Questions
1

I am a resident of the wonderful and beautiful “World-Class” city of Denver, CO, and I just spent the afternoon enjoying the wonderful Art Museum of this wonderful city.

I parked a block away, and put in 1:14 minutes worth of parking into the meter, and returned approximately 1:30 later. What wonderful suprise did the friendly individuals at the City and County leave me? A parking ticket! Fantastic.

The ticket is for the amount of $20.00. There is a citation #, date, vehicle description, time issued, location, officer’s name, bureau, “beat” (What is that?), meter/space, badge, and a complaint signature, which is NOT signed. The ordinance is 54-514a, a meter violation, and the officer’s comments are: “Meter flashing EXPIRED & -0:00. No valid permit visible. Fine amount: $20.00”

After 1/22/03, the amount of the fine increases to $40.00. It then gives me a number for information or to dispute the citation. On the back, in large, inportant letters: FAILURE TO PAY PARKING FINES MAY SUBMIT MOTOR VEHICLE TO SEIZURE

Finally, more info on how to pay the ticket.

Oh, but rest assured, threemae has no intention of paying off this little revenue scheme of the City and County of Denver. This is where he needs YOUR help.

How can I go about contesting or otherwise avoid paying the ticket? I arrived literally 7 minutes after the ticket was issued, and I did pay for over an hour before hand.

What if I simply don’t pay the ticket? Assuming I don’t get another ticket in my entire life, what will happen? Will they send me more threatening letters? Will they put a boot on my car if I get a second ticket? Will they sieze my car? Auction it off to pay for the ticket? Will they put a lien on my house? Will they track me down, put me in jail until I pay the ticket? Will they send me to the big house for a decade? Will they send the Denver SWAT team to track me down? Will the SWAT team screw up the address and shoot one of my innocent neighbors to death? I don’t want my neighbors to die.

Finally, what if I contest the ticket officially before January 22nd (when the fine doubles) but I am still found responsible for the ticket? Do I pay $20.00 or $40.00?

If nothing else, how do I tie up the administrative working of the crual machine of the Denver Parking Violations Bureau to prevent them from actually making money off the ticket.

Then again, it would help pay for the new Convention Center, and might avoid forcing Denver to put a second mortgage upon their firehouses to pay for the Center.

Or I could just throw a brick through Webb’s office window.

But let’s avoid that recourse for a while. We’ll call that Plan C.

2

I’m confused. Sounds to me like the ticket is valid. You were 16 minutes late. Hell, even if you were only a minute late, you’re still late. On what grounds are you contesting it?

3

Jetgirl hit it on the head. If you came even a minute late, you’ve still got to pay. As said, failure can lead to seizure of car and in some cases (like one my brother had) you can risk losing your driving privileges.

4

Pay the fine you earned. Always remember

You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.

–Lyndon B. Johnson

5

Not to be obvious OR oblivious, but…

Who is “Dickerson”?

6

You usually have to pay and then contest it.

7

Something like this happened to me (of all people) today - the shop assistant asked me to leave the ‘10 items or less’ queue and join another; I only had 14 items in the basket, what was her problem?

8

Okay, I’m less annoyed at the ticket as when I wrote the OP, but I would still like to avoid paying the ticket. If somebody on this board got a ticket for speeding 58 in a 55, there would be no issue in giving advice on how to avoid the ticket. I guess I see this as a similar situation to that, and I would appreciate to learn how to avoid paying the ticket. I don’t have a current plan for contesting the ticket, but I loathe to give revenue to a city who, IMHO, wastes its money on useless construction projects and corporate wellfare and then decides to try to raise revenue through parking tickets. Soooo, if we could avoid much moral debate on the subject for now…

Dickerson, that’s my last name. I meant to write threemae, but Dickerson slipped out. Sorry. BTW, I’ve noticed your username, becase Dickerson is a wierd name to have.

My current line of thinking is worndering what the “Complainant Signature” means. Does that only apply when somebody from a parking garage calls the City of Denver to issue a ticket, or should all tickets be signed?

Other means to question the ticket lie along the lines of if all meters must have a Certificate of Accuracy or whatever attached? Can I take the ticket to the municipal court? If the issuing officer does not show up, can I have the ticket dismissed?

Thank you.

9

In this case, I would say you should pay the fine. You were late.

Several years ago I parked at a meter in Evanston, IL right next to the University. I put an hour of coins in the meter and went to conduct my business. I came back 40 minutes later to find an “expired meter” violation on my windsheild and almost 20 minutes left on the meter.

I had an out-of-state license plate and I was only passing through Evanston on my way to the East coast. I didn’t know what to do. I took a picture with my car, the meter w/time on it, the violation, and my watch (what the hell that was supposed to proove, I don’t know).

I drove to the city hall and asked the person behind the desk what I could do. She said I could contest it in court, in three weeks. Well I wasn’t about to stick around for three weeks to contest it, so on my way out of the building I ripped it up and tossed it in the trash.

Nothing more ever happened.

But see, my case was different. I didn’t deserve the ticket!! Plus, I had an out-of-state vehicle, so they may not have been able to do much.

10

Sounds like you’re willing to waste an awful lot of your own time on this. Isn’t your time worth more than this?

Eh, you missed it by that much. Pay it and move on.

PS- if you show up and use any of the scemes you’ve noted thus far, you will really piss off the judge (who’s heard it ALL before) and not only will you still pay the ticket, but the cost might go up.

11

I’ve heard that if you suck a penny… no wait, that’s not it.

Sorry about the moralising, it’s just that the general tone of your OP reads (to me) as if you feel that the ticket it unjust, which it clearly isn’t.

12

This may be some stupid after-the-fact reasoning here, but I’m starting to think that the meter may have been broken. I picked somebody up at their house at 11:15, drove downtown (about 15 minutes), put 1:14 worth of time on the meter, and came back around 12:30. But I’m not sure on any of this.

I called the PVB this afternoon and asked them to look at the meter. They said sure, and they’ve put the ticket on hold and will notify me of the result by mail once they check out the ticket.

SO, if they come back and say that the meter is good, I’ll just pay the ticket. I guess I just never realized that people were on the side of law, order, and human goodness when it comes to paying tickets. And yes, my time is worth more than this.

Again, thankyou.

13

Westword had an article on this that had an explanation on the parking referee process and how to contest a Denver city parking ticket.

It looks nearly impossible but you can read for yourself.

Personally, I think you should pay the ticket. Simply put, you were late.

-B

14

I got out of a ticket by writing a letter stating my case and the ticket was thrown out. If you had a valid reason for being late, it’s worth a shot. I think taking the action of appeal will exclude you from the fine doubling…if they decide you are at fault; the original fine will stand (i.e. no penalty).

15

If you do not pay the parking ticket, the DMV records it. In california, all unpaid parking citations are added to the registration fee. Part of the TVRP

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/vehicles/tvrp.htm

Think of it this way, how much is your time is worth? To challenge a ticket, you have to file for a court time, wait for the designated court date, go thru the court with evidence (not just talk your way out of it) and you still may have to pay the fine but now with added court fees. pay the 20 bucks, chaulk it up to lesson learned. nextime pump an extra quarter in.

16

It’s even worse in Denver- IIRC, they send you to… night court!

Oh, the horror…

17

Parking meters are there for a reason. What’s the point of paying a meter for X number of minutes if you are really allowed to park there for X + howevermanyminutes? What should be the time limit be? Howevermanyminutesyoucanpay + howevermanyminutesmoreyouaregone ? If you are so pissed at parking meters you shouldn’t have paid at all, you would have saved the cost of 1:14.

I don’t mean to flame, sorry. It’s laaaaate. And I have paid a lot of parking tickets, just cuz I clearly broke the rules. Cut and dry.

18

Pay it. And don’t wait until it matures. It’s not worth the ulcers. You will most likely not be able to renew your registration with outstanding tickets.

If you really think the meter is broken, go back to that meter and plunk in an hour’s worth of time and a hit your stopwatch. Enjoy a nice Chai Latte at a nearby Peaberry’s as the minutes tick away. Come back to the meter as time begins to run down and see how it compares to the stopwatch.

Hopefully there won’t be another ticket on your windshield.

19

threemae–

“Dickerson is a wierd name to have…”

I have found it even a weirder person to BE. Ancestry from the South; then Chicago area. Original ancestor in America: Philemon Dickerson.

I have only met one other nonrelated Caucasian with that last name.

20

“My current line of thinking is worndering what the “Complainant Signature” means. Does that only apply when somebody from a parking garage calls the City of Denver to issue a ticket, or should all tickets be signed?”

My guess would be that this is there in case a private citizen complained about someone parking in their driveway, etc.

“I don’t have a current plan for contesting the ticket, but I loathe to give revenue to a city who, IMHO, wastes its money on useless construction projects and corporate wellfare and then decides to try to raise revenue through parking tickets.”
“I called the PVB this afternoon and asked them to look at the meter. They said sure, and they’ve put the ticket on hold and will notify me of the result by mail once they check out the ticket.”

You should include spending money paying city employees for needlessly checking on a situation where a citizen makes a complaint in an attempt to avoid paying a citation he deserved. Also, increasing the paperwork and workload of city employees as they hold off processing this citation.

Is the “wonderful Art Museum” partially funded by the city?
Ask if you can perform community service in lieu of paying the fine if you don’t want to contribute to this revenue stream

Just say, “My bad.” and pay the ticket. You’re only getting even with the rest of the taxpaying public after all. And from now on, don’t be afraid to put another dime or quarter in the meter to add a little more time to what you think you will need. It’s not going to make the city that much in corporate welfare and it may help you avoid situations like this.