Geek Soap Box

So, a few weeks back, I had to attend a conference in Miami with one of my beloved coworkers.  Since we were flying there together out of Newark Liberty International Airport, we decided it would be best for me to head over to her place in Lodi, near the airport, and leave my car there so I could more easily get home upon returning.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to your humble blogger, Lodi has one of those arcane requirements that, to park on the street at certain hours, you have to be a certified resident of the borough or else be subjected to the unmitigated evil otherwise known as the parking ticket.  Apparently, it even says so on the Lodi PD Web site.

All residents parking vehicles on any borough street must have a residential parking sticker affixed to their vehicle or will be summons under ordinance 194-16. This ordinance applies to the hours of 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM on all days unless otherwise suspended by the Lodi Police Department.

Well, that’s great, thanks for telling me now…too bad it isn’t obvious that one must visit the local municipal Web site anytime one travels anywhere outside the confines of the home.  And not as if the regulation is posted anywhere on the street where I left my car.

So a big, fat $50 ticket awaited my return.  And — figuring that it was unlikely I’d be back there anytime soon — I quickly disposed of it in true “flight the power!” fashion.

Big mistake.

This weekend, a stern warning from the Lodi Municipal Courts made its way into my mailbox, threatening all sorts of nasty punitive actions ranging from suspension of my license to being held in contempt of court and having a bench warrant issued for my arrest.  A bench warrant?  For a parking ticket?  Really?  In the largest parking jurisdiction in the world, the entity for which I used to work didn’t even go that far.

Is my $50 (now $60) really worth all of that effort?  Is such a series of laws, from the unposted requirement to arrest, really necessary?  What is the rationale behind the residency requirement, anyway?  Is it a byproduct of older, morale laws about having evening visitors in the home?  Is it to keep parking spaces open and available (not that you could actually go anywhere really once parked in the middle of nowhere)?  Or, is it just another means for the government to lord over and squeeze every last taxpayer of every last drop of revenue possible?

I relented and paid the ticket, but Lodi can take that payment and stick it where the sun don’t shine, as far as I’m concerned.