Predatory Parking Enforcement

Submitted by blkread t3_10msq1p in CambridgeMA

I've definitely received my fair share of parking tickets since starting to work in the MIT area. Most of the time ill even call bullshit on them. But they've really stepped up their game in the new year. I've received in the last two months: -Two tickets at 8:01 ( you can't even pay the meter until 8:00 and sometimes the app has to catch up) -one ticket when the meter isn't even expired (sent in an online appeal and was denied) -3 tickets with exactly ONE MINUTE overtime. I've actually seen them straight wait on a block and go back and forth a particular section to see immediately when people's parking expires.

The online appeal section is just a total sham; never had a successful appeal even with screen shots proving I had time in the zone. The app works about 75% of the time. Especially in low service areas.

When I have given enough? 800$ worth of tickets in the last year? (Granted it's actually still cheaper than parking in a garage).

I don't live in an area for easy public transportation unfortunately and tight on money. I am straight up getting pushed out of job I really like because I cannot afford to park. Pay the meter and still receive tickets.

Any advice on how to deal with this situation? Any advice on how to get these tickets overturned in a time/cost effective fashion?

How is it that construction workers are consistently parked throughout the day and I never see a ticket? They have special decals or something?

Honestly just looking for help!

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Comments

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cambridgecitizen t1_j65esqb wrote

Park at Alewife and T into MIT.

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erbalchemy t1_j669c16 wrote

This is the answer. Parking meters are not for all-day parking, and OP is abusing them. OP even admits that getting repeatedly fined for their behavior is cheaper than paying for legitimate parking and still complains that the fines are too high.

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sl2006 t1_j66cjtf wrote

We don’t know where OP commutes from. Alewife could be severely out of the way. OP should take mass transit period, or if they want to park without the stress and risk of a meter to do so in actual parking garage. We don’t know their situation and “just park at alewife and T in” is not a good response

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blkread OP t1_j6adigy wrote

I wouldn't say I'm abusing them. As I pay for them every 2 hours and move my car which is not against the rules. What I am saying is I'm receiving tickets for one minute over/receiving tickets when I'm within my limit. As for "complaining fines are too high", I don't think I am. I am saying their parking enforcement is predatory. Basically it sounds like because public transportation is not possible for me; sounds like I will have to find a new job/pay for a garage which are very expensive.

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ocamlmycaml t1_j66d5hk wrote

Yup, 20 min T ride >> hassle of tickets, finding parking, etc

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TheSlayer696969 t1_j663w7i wrote

When are they going to start ticketing everyone who parks illegally in the bike lanes? Especially Harvard square, that is an absolute nightmare to bike through every day. It's ridiculous that you can be in a legitimate spot one minute over and get tickets mailed to you, but bike lane parkers for 5 minutes get away with it.

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taguscove t1_j6567st wrote

Cambridge parking enforcement is the best run department in the city of Cambridge. A model for all the others

Treat the tickets as a cost of driving in cambridge. Bikes or escooters are also quite effective

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commentsOnPizza t1_j65uk2y wrote

Cambridge takes in $5.5M in Parking & Traffic fines and spends $10.2M on parking management (https://budget.data.cambridgema.gov/#!/year/default). A lot of people think that cities rake in cash from parking tickets, but parking enforcement really doesn't pay for itself. The reason cities do it is because the alternative can be more problematic. Imagine the cries from residents complaining that out-of-town people are taking up all the parking on their street. Imagine the cries from businesses complaining that a few residents are taking up the metered spots in front of their shop so no one can get to their shop (ignoring the fact that most customers in Cambridge wouldn't be coming by car anyway).

Everyone hates aggressive enforcement, but they also hate parking being unavailable.

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IntelligentCicada363 t1_j656evh wrote

As with most motorists that is not the answer they want. They want to hear how they can keep breaking the rules without having to pay for it

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waffles2go2 t1_j65g58z wrote

But the logic is pretty magical!

You become the victim for breaking the law.

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a11y__cat t1_j65mxcv wrote

I mean I returned to my car before my meter ran out and a meter maid was staring at the meter waiting for it to run out. It’s one thing if the time is up, but just staring at one car waiting for time to count down is unreasonable. (Said as someone who bikes, uses the T, and drives. Depends on where I’m going and what the weather says. 🥲)

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cranberrydarkmatter t1_j68jc0j wrote

Let's say you're a parking enforcement officer and you notice the meter is a minute from expiring when you walk by it. It seems reasonable enough to me for someone to wait the minute to do their job.

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a11y__cat t1_j68jup4 wrote

A minute sure but he’d been there a while (I watched him standing there while I left the building and was walking up the block) and there was still 5 minutes on the meter. Was he just going to stand still for 5+ minutes instead of checking the other cars in that line? I totally get if it’s about to flip and you notice it, but it’s giving speed trap for going 1 under/over the speed limit vibes.

Again, I was heading to my car and he was actually in my way to get to the entrance so it just felt unnecessary. If I drive (in this case it was for a doctors appointment so seemed unfair to everyone that I take the T) I pay attention to signage and meters. Sometimes the meter maids are just being extra.

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a11y__cat t1_j68jzga wrote

I am not complaining if I’d been over time or anything, it’s just a bit unnecessary to wait that long for a specific car. Especially when there are so many cars around and likely someone is actually overtime or parked in a no parking zone, etc.

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AMWJ t1_j6i6y1n wrote

I don't drive, but that doesn't seem unreasonable to me at all. I would venture to predict that upwards of 95% of cars that are unmoved 1 minute before their meter is up will still be there after the meter's time has run up. And, if that happens, it is their job to ticket the car.

So, if there was a 95% likelihood that your job needed you in one minute, wouldn't you wait there?

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a11y__cat t1_j6jmn2f wrote

If your job is to ticket people who are already breaking a parking law, then you waiting to catch someone one second after the meter flips is NOT your job. They’re failing to ticket cars that are not moving for hours in favor of randomly targeting specific cars. But if you do your job by just waiting until you can do a specific task rather than looking for something that can be handled at that moment, then I don’t know what to say. But if I stared at something that would eventually become work rather than looking for something that is currently work, I’d be fired. 🤷‍♀️

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loobfoob t1_j65chu6 wrote

I've had the same experience! Got a ticket at 1 minute over the limit on a meter I paid WHILE I WAS IN THE CAR. I drove away without even knowing I had gotten a ticket until they mailed it to me. Appealed it and was denied, and at the trial I pointed out that how is it possible they were not targeting me when it was literally a minute difference from my parking receipt, and was told by the judge that it was a lucky coincidence since the maids didn't have any way to know when my parking expires. I call bullshit.

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commentsOnPizza t1_j660aol wrote

This actually sounds like they didn't ticket much last year. $800 over the course of a year is 32 or fewer parking tickets, yes? So that's less than once a week. If you're parking at a meter every day from 8am to 4pm, you should probably be getting multiple tickets per day. Even if you refill a meter and even if you move the car and pay a new meter within the same zone, you're still parked illegally.

I'm actually kinda shocked that it was only $800 in tickets if you're parking in metered spots every day.

I'd probably talk to my work about the parking situation. Maybe they can pay for a garage for you or increase your salary so that you can afford it.

I definitely understand hating a $67/mo expense. I think the problem is that if there's an easy way to get around parking enforcement, then everyone would start using the parking in that way and there'd be no parking for anyone. Businesses in the area don't want you taking parking that people visiting their establishments could be using. They'd rather 5-10 people use that metered spot shopping than you as one person using that spot for the whole day.

I'm also curious about the cost. Cambridge's meters are $1.25/hour so 8 hours would end up being $10. Assuming you work a standard work week, that's $200/mo for the meter + $67/mo in tickets. It seems like you could probably find a garage for nearly what you're paying.

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alternativetowel t1_j665ilc wrote

I see you don’t work in Kendall if you think $200/mo will get you a garage 🙃

In all seriousness, OP, you should probably take the advice to park in a public garage farther out and take the T the rest of the way. u/commentsOnPizza is right that metered parking spots are not for commuting in for work.

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commentsOnPizza t1_j66cdfb wrote

I didn't say $200 and OP specified MIT, not Kendall. I know that 55 Franklin St is $375/mo. OP said that they're paying $67/mo in tickets, but that seems shockingly low considering they're illegally parking every day and Cambridge tends to keep track of re-fed meters. Plus, OP said that they're often using the parking app which has an additional $0.50 fee per transaction so I was low-balling the $200 since they might be paying an additional $1-2/day bringing it to $220-240 + 67 in tickets = $287-307.

Yes, a garage isn't as cheap, but when you add it all together, it's not like it's crazy out of the price range. It's not like street parking is $20 and the garage is $375. If you were paying $300/mo and needing to set alarms to re-up meters and such, $375 to have stable, legal parking doesn't seem crazy.

Heck, for a lot of jobs, you're going to have to pay for more than 8 hours of parking between walking to the office and getting back to your car at the end of the day and your lunch break. It might be 9-9.5 hours. At 9 hours, we're talking $225-275/mo plus tickets = $292-342.

Something doesn't quite add up with OP's math for me simply because it seems like they're still paying a ton for parking while putting themselves in a really stressful situation. Plus, the idea that OP is only getting 2.67 tickets per month while illegally parking every day seems crazy. OP has said they see parking enforcement circling areas so they aren't parking in an area where they'd be noting that their car hasn't moved and should be ticketed even if the meter has time on it.

It seems like the 55 Franklin St Garage would cost 0%-40% more, depending on how accurately OP kept track of parking tickets (the $800 number just seems really low). Even assuming that $800 number is accurate, we're still talking $267/mo if they're always feeding the meter perfectly on-time and wasting a lot of time waiting for that perfect timing all the time. Imagine someone scheduling a meeting and you're like, "sorry, I have to leave the meeting, my meter expires in 5 minutes. I'll be gone for 5-10 minutes." So, they're probably using the parking app for $1.50-$2/day in additional fees. That's $297-307 right there. If they need more than 8 hours, they're going to be paying at least an additional $10/mo for another 24 minutes to cover a very short lunch break.

I'm not saying it's as cheap, but when you add up all the costs, it starts getting pretty close. It's probably easier to ignore the 50-cent app fee and the $1.25/hour, but it adds up. I guess part of it was just curiosity about whether OP was working an irregular schedule or something because the math didn't seem to work out well in their favor. In the rosiest regular-work situation, the garage is 40% more expensive (8am-4pm with a 0-second commute to work, no lunch break, and never paying app fees). Maybe I should have written out the more realistic case where they feed the meter sometimes, use the app other times, have a lunch break, and have to actually get to their work/car. It seems like OP has to be spending at least $300/mo or 80% of what a garage space would cost.

I'm also just curious what they're doing. Are they parking, feeding the meter, then using the app to get another 2 hours in the same parking space, moving the car at lunch and feeding a new meter, then using the app to get another 2 hours in the same space (we're at 8 hours so far, but assuming a 5-10 minute walk from car to office and a 45 minute lunch break we've only covered 7h5m-7h10m of work and haven't left time to get back to the car at the end of the day). Are they then leaving work early or moving the car again and feeding a new meter? And when you're doing those switch-overs, you're going to have to either have overlap or risk a ticket - people can't time getting to a location precisely. One has to assume you'd need to burn at least 12 minutes covering the overlap during a whole day (another quarter). It just seems like such a production that it feels like there's information missing - like that OP only commutes into work 1 or 2 days a week or that OP only works a couple hours a day. Otherwise, a realistic accounting of the costs just doesn't seem to be that much cheaper. The ticket issue is more an annoyance compared to the rest of the production and costs. I mean, 9 hours of parking (8 hour work day plus time to get to/from car, time to cover car movement during the day, and lunch) + 12 minutes of wasted meter time + 2 50-cent app fees + $67 in tickets is $317. Part of me wonders if OP is even noticing the money they're spending because it's coming out $1.25-1.75 at a time. They've noticed the tickets, but they seem to have missed the huge amount they're paying the meters.

It's why it seems like there's more information to complete the picture on why a garage is so much more expensive. Yes, it might be more expensive, but it seems like OP is going for something that's at least 80% as expensive (and probably even more) while having a ridiculous amount of stress about it.

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kiwi-cucumber t1_j65hiuw wrote

Not sure why other posters are giving you such a hard time, the process is a joke.

I had 2 late last year where there were 3 spots. At the front, it said “no parking, tool truck, 1 spot”. I parked in the middle, behind a tool truck. They’re saying that since there wasn’t an end sign, it counts as a place I shouldn’t have parked.

I had even called the parking office when it happened and they confirmed it was allocated as just one spot, but since their cones get stolen they don’t always put out an “end” sign.

I’ve appealed with photos (denied) and did a hearing yesterday where they told me I had to appeal again (the hell was the point of the hearing then?)

I’m debating between writing it off, or emailing city council suggesting they reinstate using cones, since the parking officials seem to be falsely ticketing without them

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Hypothian t1_j65ivt6 wrote

jaded Gen Xers and Boomers on Boston area subreddits are always giving shit to people who complain about inefficient programs, basically just because theyve always been there, they work fine, follow the rules, etc etc

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alternativetowel t1_j664kzp wrote

Email city council. Please. If they’re going to be this absurd about enforcement, then they at least need to fix the appeals process. Most people can’t afford the time to deal with the endless appeals either.

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danieltkessler t1_j670rw6 wrote

If you work at MIT, you can get a campus parking pass for something like $175/month. Otherwise, there is a parking garage near Kendall with better prices. Don't use Hayward Garage because the prices there are crazy.

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blkread OP t1_j6adu0x wrote

Thank you! I believe because I am a subcontracted worker I cannot receive the MIT parking unfortunately. That would be ideal. Thanks for the other garages though, super helpful to know!

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FurbiesInsideMe t1_j68he1z wrote

Agreed it has felt like a predatory shakedown lately. In November my wife parked with her residential parking sticker in a residential spot on our street. The city erected a handicapped sign right on top of her spot - which has always been a residential spot the 6 years that we’ve lived here. She came out to her car the next day after having parked it, or the day after, and had gotten a ticket.

Are we responsible for continually monitoring our parking spaces to make sure the rules don’t change? There was no warning or notice here.

She had an virtual appeal with the city the other week. I wasn’t there for it but the lady evidently told her it “wasn’t likely” to get overturned. They were going to inquire with the DPW as to when the sign was installed.

I have other stories…

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FurbiesInsideMe t1_j6jdrpp wrote

Update, we lost the appeal. The city did not investigate with the DPW as to when the sign was installed.

Watch out, folks, Cambridge can install a handicapped or a Loading Zone sign on top of your parked car with a moment’s notice

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MaybeMabelDoo t1_j66d628 wrote

Park at a train station conveniently placed between work and home.

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stunkindonuts t1_j67mz1x wrote

They've definitely gotten more intense lately. I just brought my car to my place and am awaiting the registration to change over so I can get a permanent pass for street parking. In the meantime, I've been using the guest pass for our apartment. I neglected to move my car in the required 24 hours for the guest pass... Ticket. They never check for this rule, so frankly I just forgot out of complacency. Next day, move it at 9:45 or so. Go to move it the day after around 10, and got a ticket at 9:49. I know it's someone's job to do this, but.... Bruh

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technicolourful t1_j64yj82 wrote

Have you tried parking legally?

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blkread OP t1_j651iw1 wrote

Hah! Yeah if you read the post at all you'd realize I do park legally. Thanks for being a kind stranger when I needed advice.

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technicolourful t1_j651x6i wrote

You just admitted to having three parking tickets because you were over the time limit.

“Why am I penalized for breaking the rules; I only broke them a little?”

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theotherlittleguy t1_j655g5l wrote

Alternatively, the meter maids in Cambridge could chill. I've gotten parking tickets for not having a resident permit on the block I live which they put on the windshield in FRONT of my resident permit and still had an appeal denied.

​

Cambridge parking enforcement is just a shakedown. These meter maids are useless

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becausefrog t1_j6594vt wrote

It's really dependent on your neighborhood. My neighbor has been parking without a permit going on 5 years now. In all that time he's only gotten 2 tickets. He can't get a permit because it's a company-owned car.

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whymauri t1_j67f1vj wrote

My roommates car broke down in Riverside with NY plates and was left parked for 7 months through the winter without a single ticket. Not one lol.

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waffles2go2 t1_j65f4tu wrote

>These meter maids are useless

Yeah, we should defund them so people could leave their cars for free on the streets forever!

That would solve this problem!

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IntelligentCicada363 t1_j655z7v wrote

Car drivers opinions of themselves: the most persecuted group of people in the history of the universe

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dyqik t1_j66e8nm wrote

If you park at meters near the previous meter you parked at that day, you are parking illegally for the whole time you are there, whatever the meter says.

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Kazzlin t1_j66nkkb wrote

They got me while I was over at the machine paying. It took a little longer than usual, because the first time I ran it, it didn't print out a ticket.

The bastard saw me get out of my car and go over to the machine. He knew I was paying. But when I got back to my car, there it was. And he'd somehow disappeared into thin air, so I couldn't protest.

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whymauri t1_j67f5ma wrote

If you appeal and wait the many months it takes for them to get to you, inflation will give you a discount. Big brain move.

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jb52376 t1_j67ho5y wrote

I’ve had similar issues in Cambridge parking in front of my apartment where it’s residential permit parking. I’ve probably spent close to the same in the past year on parking fines. One of the tickets was for not having the permit stuck to my windshield, because I had the permit displayed on my dashboard instead.

I also think it’s interesting that they can look up license numbers to check if the permit numbers match the car to make sure people can’t share permits, but they can’t look up license number to see that I have a valid permit.

Cambridge. Tough on parking.

It feels like the city is trying to extract money from the working and student population who can’t afford fancy garage spots, and don’t live in a location or have a job where they can rely on the T. This is also why they sweep the streets so often.

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Hypothian t1_j65j3g1 wrote

I dont drive as much as I used to, but when I drive into areas where legal parking is hard or even broken, I put an old ticket on my windshield. Oftentimes meter maids or cops will just look past your car. Worked several times in the North End where parking is shit.

1