Yesterday, I did something that I haven’t done in over six years.
I know, I know – the door is wide open for some jokes. I walked right into that one, but I’ll leave you guys to it…
So what did I do for the first time in six years yesterday?
I paid a parking ticket…
It all started when I got my first ticket for “no left turn.”
I was about 17 years old and I didn’t want my parents to find out! So I went down to City Hall and booked a court appointment to try and fight the ticket and hopefully ensure my parents never got word of my traffic woes.
About a year later, I went to court and low-and-behold, the police officer didn’t show up! The charge was thrown out, and I left with a huge smile on my face!
I’ve had nine speeding tickets in my life, and I’ve never been convicted. I’ve had 3-4 other moving violations and I’ve never been convicted of those either.
About six years ago when I first started in real estate, it occurred to me that I would likely be the recipient of many, many parking tickets. Realtors drive a lot, and they’re always pulling over to do something “quickly.” It doesn’t matter what it is; seeing a condo, dropping off keys, picking up paperwork….getting a coffee, etc.
So after my first month in the business and 4-5 parking tickets, I started booking court appointments for parking tickets as well!
And you know what happened?
Do you really wanna know what happened?
NOTHING!
Two years and about 70 parking tickets passed before it ever occurred to me, “Hey wait a second, I’ve never been called to court for these parking tickets! What’s the deal?”
So I started to do whatever I wanted with my car as it pertains to parking, stopping, and starting around the city. I basically made the city my own personal parking lot!
What was the alternative?
As a Realtor, I drive around the city at all hours of the day with clients in my car, stopping to view various properties. If I had to drive up and down the street looking for a “legal” parking spot, not only would an two-hour outing take three hours, but my clients would probably enjoy the experience a lot less!
So I made the conscious decision to simply park wherever I want, whenever I want, and book court appointments for the parking tickets I receive.
After my fifth year in real estate, I had probably racked up about 400 parking tickets, and I had never ONCE been called to court.
Enter my friend, Greg, and his entrepreneurial spirit.
About a year ago, Greg launched the website http://www.parkingtickets.to/. I wrote about this website on my blog last year.
For a nominal fee, Greg takes your parking tickets and goes down to 55 John Street and stands in line, fills out the forms, and books your court appointments for you. His success was well documented, with a lot of media attention and fanfare.
But alas, I believe the party may be over!
A lot of people are starting to claim, “What the heck? Why am I getting court appointments for these tickets? What gives?”
It’s almost as if we thought that this train would keep on moving forever!
On Monday afternoon, I pulled into a private laneway and left my car to run a quick errand. When I came back, I saw a parking officer’s car was parked behind me, and there was a parking ticket on my winshield.
First of all, I was mildly perturbed by the fact that the “cop” had issued me a ticket for “parking in a public laneway” when the laneway was actually private. There’s nothing we can do, of course, since these wanna-be cops can do whatever they want with no recourse.
But even more dumbfounding was the fact that this “cop” had parked his car behind mine in the same laneway! I guess since he’s a “cop” he can park wherever he wants! He can park illegally, because his job of writing tickets is so goddam important! These guys park next to fire hydrants, they block traffic, and we’ve seen the media about them staking out hospitals and writing tickets to people who are just going inside to visit their loved ones.
So as is quite natural, I overreacted, and did something that I hope you don’t judge me for. Actually, wait, I do give you permission to judge me, since I pour my thoughts onto this public forum every day, and judgment is sort of the idea…
I took out a piece of paper and wrote, “Hey Loser, Get A REAL Job.” Then I took the parking ticket that he had issued me and the piece of paper, and I put it on his windshield.
Take that!
Of course, I first wrote down the infraction number so that I could book a court appointment for the ticket, which I did yesterday along with five or six others.
But I also actually paid a parking ticket yesterday, which was the first time I had done so in six year! I’ve been so busy this year that I let one fall through the cracks, and not only had I been convicted (January ticket) but my appeal window had run out!
The bottom line is: the city is cracking down more on parking tickets and these notorious court appointments, but the process is still far from perfect.
If I were to get ten parking tickets, and I booked ten court appointments, and I was called to court only once, I’d consider this a victory! I’ll gladly pay the $30 for that one ticket while the other nine tickets fall victim to a bureaucratic mess down at City Hall.
I use http://www.parkingtickets.to/ all the time, and if I happen to get a court date in the mail, I’ll just skip it, and pay the small fine.
Sure, I’ll no longer be able to tout my “perfect record” of being 400-for-400 in defeating (avoiding…) parking tickets, but I can continue to park in odd and random places when need be, and if I have to pay one or two tickets out of every ten, I will gladly do so.
Perhaps one day, the system will take a step backwards again, and the good folks at City Hall will spend more time cutting their cuticles and having food fights than actually looking after the City’s affairs and outstanding debts.
I guess it could be worse. See below…
[youtube KAKjJxe8Vmk]
Meh
at 11:17 am
Are you serious with this one? You act as if you are fighting off the evil city who is trying to impose unfair rules on you.
Most places are no-parking for a reason: blocking the flow of traffic, blocking a tight street etc.
You are completely self righteous to think you have the right to park anywhere you want. Simply put, it’s lazy.
I’ve seen houses all over the city with my agent (driving separate cars every time) and not once have either of us had to park illegally. We’ve never even had to walk more then a block.
You’ve just convinced yourself that finding a parking is hard to justify your laziness.
Also, I don’t understand how you can degenerate another profession. Real estate agents command some of the lowest level of respect of any profession out there.
http://news.harrisinteractive.com/profiles/investor/ResLibraryView.asp?BzID=1963&ResLibraryID=34350&Category=1777
And to think you had a big post a while ago about how you were different from other agents..
David Fleming
at 12:20 pm
@ Meh
Sometimes, I like to shake things up a bit. This blog isn’t fun unless it’s controversial, and for every comment like yours, I will probably get one to the contrary.
I’m not sure what this has to do with being a real estate agent. I’d still park wherever I want, even if I was employed as an envelope-licker…
Potato
at 12:25 pm
Not likely going to change in the near future, but you’re largely visiting residential buildings for your job… Why is there so little visitor parking included in these buildings?
Geoff
at 12:38 pm
I think Meh went a little far, he’s parking illegally, not abducting children. But yeah, I kinda hope Newman here comes out next week to find his car being merrily towed away because he thinks he’s above the rules. The sad part is that the tickets aren’t enforced better. What we need are the boot patrolers like from Parking Wars on A&E to kick some boot!
DEW
at 1:03 pm
Allow me to come to David’s defence. I agree with (most) everything he describes above. I think that those ticket-writers are the scum of the earth and just the sight of them on the streets makes me angry. The city uses parking tickets as a cash-grab and a source of revenue. Its pathetic. I thought your story was funny. Although I dont think I’d ever have the guts to do what you did. Still funny though.
JG
at 1:16 pm
I dont know whats funnier – the blog – which was good! I should have practised that art when i was driving. I have approx. $1500 in parking tickets still with the city i need to sort out –
Or the harrisinteractive link!
Too much. Let the rants begin.
Meh
at 1:40 pm
To disparage another person that’s just trying to make a living, when it’s ENTIRELY David’s fault, is absolutely pathetic.
Don’t like parking cops hassling you? Don’t park illegally!
It’s really that simple. People act as if parking in Toronto is hard. It’s EASY to find a parking spot.
fidel
at 4:06 pm
Parking should be free, it’s the people’s land. Why contribute to Miller’s social experiment fund? Fight every ticket, screw the popo’s
LM
at 8:06 pm
I wonder what agents do in the UK (London).. Illegal parking is a zero tolerance offence- those parking wardens are EVERYWHERE..there, a mere parking ticket is a result. More often your car is either clamped or towed. Getting it unclamped or claiming it back from the pound can take half a day, and at today’s exchange rates (which are actually in the Canadian dollar’s favour if you compare vs historical FX), it costs around $370 to get your car back! Three cheers for Toronto and an underresourced City Hall!!!
David Fleming
at 11:14 pm
Sweet! Great reaction and discussion! As I figured, it’s about 50/50 across the board.
I’m sorry if I offended “Meh” and others, but I try to express myself as truly and freely as possible on this blog, whether it’s about real estate or licking envelopes…
I wage war against parking cops. There, I said it. I think they are the scum of the earth, just as other people think that real estate agents are the scum of the earth, or politicians, or actors, or humanitarians…
I hate that the City of Toronto hires more and more ticket “cops” each year to drive up revenues. This army of mobile pencil pushers stake out hospitals, and ready themselves around downtown corners at 3:59PM to pounce when the “No Stopping” goes into effect.
The irony is, parking cops will pull over to the side of King Street at 4:15PM, blocking a whole lane of traffic, only to run across the street and issue a ticket! What gives? Doesn’t this defeat the purpose? Isn’t it hypocritical?
As “LM” points out, the under-resourced City Hall makes it easy for the public to weasel out of paying tickets, and the system in place allows us to waste even more resources by going to court to fight meaningless, insignificant parking tickets!
However, if ever there was a reason to fight a parking ticket (aside from being lazy and entitled, like me, as “Meh” pointed out), it would be the situation I described the other day. I was parked in a private laneway, and a parking officer wrote me a ticket for parking in a public laneway. I had zero recourse, and the ticket officer can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants – including park in the laneway behind me! THAT is when you want to fight the ticket! Take a photo of the laneway, show that it is private and not public, and have the charge thrown out! Damn that parking officer for issuing that ticket when he knew very well that it was a private laneway! But he has his quota to fill, right? Oh boy, that opens another door…
Destructicus
at 1:43 am
Having worked a summer working for a design team who prepped condos for showings I spent a lot of time in a truck. Traffic cops aren’t supposed to ticket trucks when they’re picking up or on delivery. That being said… some traffic cops are just jerks.
Some traffic cops are very pleasant people who love their mothers, give generously to charities, all while being model citizens in their communities.
Some just don’t care if you’re working hard to put food on the table. If one chooses to view the world in absolutes, this behavior could be deemed as “absolutely pathetic”.
I wouldn’t call David “absolutely pathetic” for having a beef with people who choose a line of employment where exacting judgment over others is the sole task. I question whether that’s sadistic.
A self employed individual is in control of their own experience, and only their own experience. They have no authority over anybody. If the conversation is about which job carries greater nobility I side with he whom works with people, not above people as an authority passing judgment.
That said… Choosing your own convenience at the expense of that of others isn’t exactly noble. I can understand why that could rub people the wrong way, especially people who get in line for a left turn instead of cutting in right at the intersection.
Meh
at 12:09 pm
You wage war against them? That’s like going up to a random person and punching them, and then when they punch you back you say ‘I’m sure glad I punched you, you were going to punch me!’
Don’t park illegally, and you won’t have to deal with them at all. Also the less people that park illegally, the less parking cops the city will need to hire.
You are the reason they need to hire more and more.
Meh
at 12:48 pm
And you didn’t offend me, I just find this all frustrating that you’ve managed to convince yourself of this war on parking cops and totally managed to blind yourself to the people that actually matter:
All the people in Toronto you inconvenience on a daily basis by parking in their way!
This is even more ironic because of the post you made a while ago about someone parking in your spot.
What if the owners of that private drive blocked you in for hours?
LC
at 8:00 pm
I tend to agree with Meh.
Perhaps if traffic cops were equipped with tow trucks people would start obeying the rules.
Krupo
at 8:27 pm
One of my friends got “pulled over” by a mounted cop. Fortunately escaped with a warning though. Hilarious.
Tanya
at 11:54 am
You are actually being quite rude and inconsiderate to your fellow citizens parking “wherever you feel like it”. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen realtors park on the SIDEWALK in front of a house for sale when there is a legit spot an arms throw away. Or at least if you are going to park illegally just do it on the opposite side of the road from parking where traffic can still get past, and not block sidewalks for people with strollers and whatnot. There are parking regulations for a reason – both the aesthetic nightmare of cars everywhere, actually impeding other people from getting place, endangering others lives by parking too close to the intersection and impairing drivers sightlines. I could go on…