- 'An End to the Southern Strategy, But No Post-Racial America' says David Love
- "A Question of Place": An essay on the power of community
- Just Equally Speaking….
- Eagles owe Philadelphia the 8 million it needs to keep libraries open
- who would like to see Verizon offer cable TV in Phila?
- Council Committee Passed the Freeze
- Carol Campbell Passes Away
- My first trip to the public library
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- What if half of Philadelphia didn't have roads?
No Way to Contest a Parking Ticket by Mail?
Submitted by Aardhart on Fri, 02/16/2007 - 6:06pm.
A friend got a $76 parking ticket last night where there were no signs posted or any other indication that it was no parking. Snow might have covered marking on the curb or street. The website says as follows:
"2. What if I don't agree with my parking ticket?
"If you desire a hearing to contest a parking ticket, you must request it in writing. If you request a hearing within eight days, late payment penalties will not be added to your original fine. All hearings requested after eight days will have penalties assessed and due if you are found liable."
Is there any chance to fight it by mail without taking time off? If not, this is just another example of the bureaucratic crap that is part of this city.
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I am pretty sure that you
I am pretty sure that you have to go down in person.
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http://benwaxman.com
"The problem with Philly is
"The problem with Philly is not that our taxes are not high enough - it's that our services suck." -- Ruby Legs http://youngphillypolitics.com/node/1926#comment-4935
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor.
Call them
to request an investigation, and also write a note with the ticket you send back requesting the same. Sometimes they will determine that you were given the ticket in error as a result of the investigation - and you don't have to go down for the hearing. I've had that happen a number of times.
Do any other areas let you
Do any other areas let you fight traffic tickets by mail?
Yes, they do
A few quick searches shows that New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and (I think) Boston allow appeals by mail. For Houston, it appears that you have to show up in person at anytime within 45 days of receiving the ticket. Even this would be a monumental improvement over being assigned a hearing time.
EDIT: Detroit's website provides no helpful information, just the addresses of the Payment and Information Centers.
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I support Michael Nutter for Mayor.
Hmmm. That would be an
Hmmm. That would be an interesting approach and a way to automate it.
You get a ticket and you want to fight it. You have to schedule a hearing within 45 days of getting he ticket.
You go to a website or call a phone number and you schedule a date. The system lets a day fill up to a certain number of hearings and then blacks out that date. It also verifies the window via the ticket number.
It also rewards the more proactive. If you get a ticket and call the next day, you have pretty good odds of getting a Saturday appointment some time in the next 45 days, whereas if you wait till 2 weeks before, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Why schedule a hearing?
Why schedule a hearing? What does the city need to prepare? The meter maid won't testify. Just make it first-come-first-serve. Many other cities allow this. Sure there will be busier times than others, but so what?
And you missed the main point. In most cities you don't have to go to a hearing AT ALL. Submit the evidence by mail, get a decision by mail.
The idea about scheduling is
The idea about scheduling is so that you run low the probability of "I waited here all day and they didn't have time to see me". Plus, it helps even out the workload.
And yes, mailing in is a possibility. I just chimed in with saying one of the cities you mentioned would be a good efficiency step also.
Sorry, didn't know the thread was only to allow comments supporting mail-ins.
No worries
I just figure that many of the complaints about Philadelphia government is about the hassle and inefficiency. Even with the BPT, it sounds like the hassle is as big a deal as money for many businesses. Houston doesn't appear to require appointments. Without ever having been to Houston or fighting a ticket in Philadelphia, I would wager that someone could be in and out faster in Houston without an appointment than in Philadelphia with an appointment, on a Tuesday at 10AM or almost any other time that Philly schedules appointments. But if we are going to improve Philly's system, let's do it right rather than go halfway.
I agree. I just don't know
I agree. I just don't know all the pros and cons, so I can't jump on the bandwagon. :)
Another great thing about...Houston.
No formal zoning code.