Lovely Rita

I'm feeling really angry at the police right now. See, me and the police usually get along pretty well, but when it comes to parking meters there's always this friction between us. I always get to my meter one second too late. Once the guy was there writing my ticket as I approached the vehicle. I tried to persuade him to let it go, but he didn't speak English very well. He indicated that he couldn't take the ticket back, even if he wanted to, because it was entered into the system or something.

It happened again today, this time in Queens. I'm parked on a small side street off of Main. I wasn't really worried about a ticket because hey, this wasn't exactly Midtown. There were plenty of spaces available, and it was the middle of the afternoon. Nope. There was the ticket smirking at me from my windshield, 3 minutes after the meter had expired.

Where are these guys hiding? Is it just by chance, or is there some kind of system? If the former, perhaps I should read moreh nevuchim or accept the fact that I have bad Karma. If the latter, then those dudes should be finding better ways to spend our tax dollars than fining good guys like me for taking up space on a lightly populated road for 3 extra minutes.

I understand the theory behind the quick-response. If you develop a reputation for not responding quickly, then it becomes more tempting to leave you car in the spot past the time, and then it becomes much harder to find spots in the first place. That's just bad for everybody.

But on the other hand, we do have cases where there's a well-balanced medium between the letter of the law and the more realistic practice thereof. Think about speeding tickets. If speeding tickets worked like parking meters, we'd all be paying fines every time we went 2 miles over. But the system still works, because it's based on multiple factors - how busy is the highway, what time of day/night is it, etc. The point is, you are in control. You are given a certain amount of leeway beyond the printed speed limit, and at the end of the day the law keeps you from driving recklessly without inconveniencing you.

Why can't parking meters be like that too? If someone leaves a meter empty for an hour, that person is clearly irresponsible. But if I'm sitting in a restaurant finishing up lunch with my friends, and I know my meter is running out soon, why should I have to run back and fill the meter any more than I should have to drive 5o mph when everyone else is going 65?

True, there has to be a standard. Also, cops don't necessarily know how long a meter's been on empty. But if they do, I think they should use their discretion and cut us some slack.