Pay to park and get towed anyway.
Published Mon, Jun 8 2009 1:56 PM
That’s the way it works in Seattle according to the Seattle Times…
…tourists or those simply unfamiliar with downtown streets are being hit the hardest by the tows, thanks in part to pay stations that allow drivers to purchase parking through 6 p.m., despite signs that say otherwise.
That’s right. The pay stations (you know, those places where you pay for your parking) accept money from patrons in exchange for the right to park until 6 p.m. But, and here’s the kicker, if you park in the locations you’re paying to park in between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., your car will be ticketed and towed.
Yes, there are signs warning you that if your car is parked there from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. it will be towed, but the city is still collecting money from parkers during those hours. Normally, when you pay to park, you are purchasing a license to park. Here, if you pay to park, you may not be – unless you park somewhere else using your receipt.
Pay stations have lowered maintenance costs, break down less often and allow drivers to use several forms of payment, said Rick Sheridan, spokesman for the Department of Transportation.
Along with street signs, an electronic message says "See signs for restricted hours" when a pay station is "awakened" for a transaction.
Sheridan said pay stations theoretically could be reprogrammed to stop accepting payment at a certain time, depending on when tow-away zones are enforced on different streets.
But, he added, "that would make them lose their convenience factor."
So, considering that the pay station is automated, and issues you a receipt that a reasonable person from out of town might assume is a license to park, shouldn’t it only accept money for times when you can legally park? Programming the automated pay station to avoid that sort of confusion is the morally right thing to do… unless you’re working for the city. Then it causes the pay station to lose it’s “convenience factor.”
Convenient for the city. A nightmare for the tourist. No wonder I’ve grown to loath Seattle (and no, this hasn’t happened to me).
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David responded with:
 | The purpose of government is to collect [money] from citizens and pay government workers. (Memory's slipping: I can't recall offhand which French philosopher said [approximately] that, wi9th "taxes" where I typed "money".) |
David responded with:
| Hmmm... I note that Jerry Pournelle adapted the comment differently,
"The purpose of government is to pay government workers and their allies; which means the real purpose of government is to collect the money to pay government workers and their allies. Just as the purpose of the school system is to pay members of the teachers unions." |
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