It was a Thursday evening. The wife and I had just had dinner in the Bishop Arts District. My food was a little unsatisfactory, but otherwise everything was hunky-dory, until we walked back to my pickup. As we strolled across the street I noticed the parking ticket on windshield, tucked neatly under the windshield wiper. I was confused. There were no parking meters there to have run out. There weren’t any no parking signs to be found on that side of the street. There was no red or yellow paint on the sidewalk and nothing indicating a fire lane. I was puzzled.
I took a look at the ticket and it said I had parked within 30 feet of a traffic control device, namely a stop sign. Indeed, I was within about 10 feet of the stop sign on the corner. Still, there was nothing indicating that I could not park there.
What was I to do? Well, I took some photos of my truck, the sign, the unmarked curb, the street showing zero no parking signs. The ticket was for $45 dollars, not a backbreaking amount, but it’s the principle of the thing, right?
I could have just paid it and have moved on, but I decided to try to fight it. It seems to me that if there’s nothing warning me I was in a no parking zone, then there should be no violation. I looked closely at the back of the ticket where it told me how I could seek adjudication for the violation. A few days later and I was headed to a Dallas city annex on Jefferson Boulevard.
Prior to that trip I had prepared my case. I printed out the photos of the crime scene. I went over my presentation in my head. I carefully thought out my argument and was prepared to make it sternly, yet courteously and professionally. With all of this prep work, I made my way into the traffic adjudication office. And there I waited. And waited. And waited. I filled out a form, gave the clerk my ticket and I waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Finally, a woman came out of the door and called my name. By the way, I was the only person waiting. I’m not sure why it took a half hour to bring me in for my hearing.
I was escorted to a small office where the woman had me sit down. She swore me in, verified my vehicle and citation information and asked me to make my case. As I started carefully outlining why I felt the ticket was undeserved, she sighed heavily, ran her right hand across her face and began typing on her computer. I took about 90 seconds to tell my side of things, including showing my visual aids from the parking violation site.
She informed me that this was a public safety issue and I should know that it’s against local ordinances to impair a traffic device. She further stated that just because the area is not marked or signed is no excuse. I replied that well, if that is the case I have no defense. I quickly added that it seemed odd to me that there are dozens of signs across the street and all around Bishop Arts telling you where not to park, except for that spot. She began typing again, not saying a word. She printed out a sheet of paper and stamped it with some official stamp of the court and informed me that I was liable for the fine. In other words, case dismissed. You lose. I went downstairs and paid my $45 ticket and went about my business.
My guess is that this illegal parking spot is one of many in the city, cleverly disguised to insure a steady revenue stream into the city coffers, much like a speed trap in other area. If parking enforcement writes 4-5 tickets on that space per day at $45 per ticket, that’s $225 per day. Multiply that by 365 days a year and that comes to approximately $82,000 annually from that one unmarked illegal parking space. Multiply that by who knows how many other phantom spots around Dallas and you’ve got a gazillion dollars coming in annually. It’s a pretty good racket.
And still the potholes go unfixed.
That’s what I’m thinking.
Rick Hadley
24/7 News
