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Odds of successfully appealing a Somerville parking ticket depend on the hearing officer
By adamg on Thu, 05/19/2011 - 7:06am
Somerville Voices uses records obtained from the city to show your odds in getting a parking ticket dismissed depends on which parking clerk you get assigned to. Unfortunately for people with tickets, the clerk who dismissed closed to 100% of all tickets no longer seems to be on the job; also gone, however, is the one who dismissed fewer than 10% of appealed tickets. Also, in general, the clerks are a bit more likely to dismiss appeals made in person, rather than online.
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Comments
Somerville parking tickets
Got one in February...apparently, you can't park on their precious street from 8-10 PM without a resident sticker or visitor permit...something I didn't know or see posted on any sign in the area in which I parked. Got notice of a ticket in the mail (not a physical ticket) notifying me of a "violation."
I appeal the ticket, telling them that the only sign I saw was "2 HOUR PARKING 8 AM - 6 PM EXCEPT RESIDENT STICKER." I say "that sign implies that I can do what I want without any sticker after 6." The lady actually had the gall to tell me "you misread the sign."
She dismissed the ticket anyway, but Christ, what a bunch of chicanery.
Reason for ticket dismissal
Why were no tickets dismissed because the meter maid made a mistake? I've heard plenty of verifiable stories of people getting tickets they honestly didn't deserve, like permit tickets when they have a sticker, or violating the 48 hour rule when they drive to work every day.
Where does it say that?
That no tickets were dismissed because the meter maids made a mistake?
I think there is a law that says towns can put up parking regulations at the entrance to the towns and don't have to put up signs on every street. Many signs also have small disclaimers like 'other restrictions apply' and those restrictions are sometimes things like overnight parking bans, snow bans, 24/48 hour rules etc.
The Reasons for Dismissals
The Reasons for Dismissals pie chart in the linked document shows 6933 courtesy dismissals, 533 apologies, and 229 broken meters.
Courtesy means the city admits no wrongdoing, but dismisses the ticket just this once to be nice.
Maybe apology means the city apologizes for a mistake, but it could also mean the ticketed person admitted they parked illegally but were sorry.
Oh ok.
Yea I think apologies mean that the city was wrong and issued tickets in error. This happens a lot with cars that get tickets but have permits.
Clarifications
It appears the story is not quite as scandalous as this write-up implies.
http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/somerville/2011/05/20...