I have recently moved to Halifax and I am having no luck finding a job but all kinds of luck finding parking tickets on my fucking windshield.
I’m not sure how many ticket gophers the city of Halifax employees but they are quick and idiotic. A terrible characteristic combo. I was the only car in a 40 car parking lot last night and I got a fine. 1 car, 39 vacant spaces and I got a fine. Idiots. So, here is my idea – instead of dropping off wads of cash at town hall on semi-warranted fines I suggest spending fines at local businesses. A simple stimulus plan that would benefit the local economy and may produce jobs. Here is the system – businesses either support it or don’t, ones that do get a stamp with an ID number and use it when people spend 75% of their fine in their shop to make it legit. Why 75% of the fine? To make it more enticing for people to spend at shops and not drop off money to city hall that does not fix pot holes but pays for gophers to drive around like lazy shits while I can’t get a fucking job!!!!!! Just an idea.
PS – I will never, ever pay these parking fines unless this system is used. haha.
—Rodney
This article appears in Feb 12-18, 2009.
My advice to you–get out of Halifax as fast as you can!
Where did you move from and where is the car registered? You will be happy to know that the city of Halifax has no agreement with other provinces to transfer tickets out of province (parking tickets, not moving violations).
So, if you have parking tickets in another province, don’t worry – they wont try to make you pay them when you register your car in Halifax.
And, if you get a ticket in Halifax on an out of province plate, don’t worry – they won’t send them back to your province to put on your file for collection. I only found this out after paying a few of my tickets on an out or province plate while I lvied there.
This may have changed since 2007 but thats what the HRM lady told me back then. Plus, you can always play up the tourist thing at the parking ticket place. That worked for me a few times “What? a parking ticket? We don’t have meter’s in NFLD, I swear.”.
My parents got a fucking ticket for parking one of their vehicles on the side of the road by their house in a small neighbourhood OUTSIDE of the city! It wasn’t even on a main road, it was on their little fucking street out in the sticks! They’ve been parking one of their vehicles out on the road for YEARS (because the driveway is kind of small) and this is the first time this happened! Maybe 1 car/hour drives up their street! What the fuck!
Driving and parking are privileges, not rights, people. If you get a parking ticket, it’s because you were parked somewhere you weren’t supposed to be or because you didn’t feed the meter. Either way, it’s your own damned fault, not the meter maid’s. If you don’t like getting parking tickets either: A) Park someplace where you’re allowed to and walk your lazy asses the extra block or two; or B) Don’t fucking drive. Plain and simple. Bitching about parking tickets is probably the lamest form of bitch their is, because it’s YOUR FAULT! No one else’s.
Illegal is illegal, regardless if there is one car going up the street an hour Selina (they wont ticket you for nothing, your parents were obviously parking illegally). Know what? I’ve been driving in this city for over 10 years with all it’s crazy “parking ticket” laws, and I’ve never been ticketed once. Hm, maybe because I don’t park anywhere near downtown and when I do, only on weekends. Otherwise, I find other ways of getting downtown, such as Park and Ride (2 bucks is cheaper than 2 points off your license and whatever the fine is now) I honestly like all these laws, people who are too dumb to change their habits or park in designated areas because they’re too important or don’t want to pay a meter, deserve to pay for their idiocy.
I’m thinking parking overnight in most of these parking lots is illegal???
Hey Never Wrong, I’d love to not have to drive, but like me and the thousands of people each day who don’t live in the city to work and support it, it’s not an option. There is no metro transit where I live, not even close and I’m not even that far from the city. But I have to drive because there is no other option.
Then people wonder why Bayers Rd and Chebucto are being widened, it’s because the piss poor government doesn’t give two shits about commuter transit other than good old fashioned automobiles.
So while driving and parking may be privileges, it’s impossible to support yourself with a job, education and generally support the economy with this system if you live outside the city and there is no metro transit unless you own and drive a car.
Bastard Fish: I have no issue with people commuting to and from the city on a daily basis. I myself would rather live outside the city and commute in. My issue is with people who piss and moan about parking tickets, which are their own fault. People park in stupid places because “they’ll only be a minute or two” and when they get a ticket, they lose it! If you get a ticket it is your own fault and no one else’s. Hell, I got one a couple months ago, because I was in the gym longer than expected and my meter expired. Whose fault is that? Mine, because I knew exactly how much time was on my meter and when I needed to be out by. When I saw the ticket, all I did was laugh. I can’t get mad at anyone for it, because it was my own fault. As for the widening of roads in this city to accomodate cars, I’m ok with that, so long as it doesn’t involve people losing their front (or back) lawns or any portion of their property. They made an “extra lane” on Chebucto and traffic is just as fucked up as ever. If people are so concerned about getting to work on time, do like I do and leave earlier. I’m 15min early to work almost every day, because I leave earlier than I have to. Gives me extra time in case of bad traffic and if not, I get to enjoy my morning coffee a little before I start working. The bottom line is that people need to accept responsibility for their own actions and not try to blame it on someone else to make themselves feel better.
Why doesn’t this city have places to which we can lock our bikes? Why do I have to lock my bike to sign posts and telephone polls? This city is not bike friendly. And hell, park and ride would be fine if the transit system in this city was efficient. But it’s not.
In any event, you’d think with all of the parking tickets that they’re shelling out at City Hall that they’d be able to install some bike racks and perhaps build more bike-friendly roads. And the pot holes are dangerous for both bikers and drivers.
Get on it, Halisacks!
Here’s an option for you Bastard Fish. The city has several Park N Rides so you don’t have to take you car downtown. You should look into that
Thanks Never Wrong, that I agree with.
BRoc, how thoughtful of you for telling me to look into something I have already been doing for half a year. But before you go on to make more condescending and frivolous remarks, maybe you should consider that some people may have obligations with others their schedules that prevent them from always using the park and ride.
Rodney, if you do like these people are saying, and stop parking illegally, you can spend all the money you would have been fined for at any shop you want to! Put your money into small local shops instead of wasting it, and the time of the meter maids, by parking where you’re allowed.
Never Wrong – you’re…well, you know…
Parking enforcers have been known to fudge tickets in the past.
Dr. Fever – there are no points on your licence for parking tickets, only moving violations.
OP – You might have been parked in a private (e.g. Impark) lot – they enforce their meters 24/7.
Deifenbaby— Park and Ride is efficient for going downtown with a 20 or a 1 going by the mumford terminal every 15 minutes. If you’re not, I’ll agree, it’s not so much, but then parking is better outside of the downtown core. To your bike issue, this city will never, I repeat, never, be bike friendly. Too many hills and old streets that were designed with large vehicles in mind. I’d say it would be a better idea if a majority of the population was more centralized in the downtown region, it would be more viable. A bike stand at each major bus terminal is unfeasible, even at most retail areas. Not to mention that those bikes would be prone to petty crimes such as theft and vandalism. A good example of the petty vandalism is the bike lockers at the Cobequid terminal. Never used, and mostly vandalized (need I mention that Lower BagTown asked for that locker). Oh, and by the way, one cyclist per thousands of motorists does not constitute a need for better/more cycling lanes. Although I appreciate the fact that bikes would remove congestion in the tighter areas of the city, and improve air quality, even only nominally would still be better. Cyclists, unfortunately, will always be an afterthought.
Thanks Mike– shows you how little I actually have violations (man, that sounded arrogant)
haha (Fever)
Re: the OP’s post. It’s a good idea, but I like to see people having to pay back their parking tickets. If they had to spend that money in a local store, they’d get something they would want – thus they didn’t lose anything.
To the other comments: if you park illegally, even for just a minute, don’t complain. It’s your own fault. Suck it up.
I think above all else, that is the bottom line. If the sign indicates no parking, don’t think your righteous attitudes will prevail. Shit like this comes back to haunt you in some form.
There are park and rides pretty much on all the edges of HRM. I used to commute from the valley for a little while and I’d park at the park and ride in Sackville. It was free, and using a bus ticket was a lot cheaper than paying $14/day to park downtown.
I love how you have to have the ticket with you to pay the fine. They put a barcode on the thing that you need to scan or you’re SOL.
If I can pay at my door for food these days, why can’t those damn machines connect to a server and store the ticket based on license plate?
if it’s raining and you fold the ticket at all, you’re more than half-way fucked for trying to pay it because it’s some kind of waxy fax paper.
I got a stimulus package for ya right here!
Break the law, get a ticket, it’s not as if Halifax is the only city that has parking infractions, gotta wonder if some people were born under a freaking rock. Wake up and smell the fines, driving in the city 7 years, got one ticket (and it was my fault parking in a private parking lot overnight), I guess reading the signs might be useful !!!!!!!
There are many places where it could easily be worse. The idea is actually not a bad one if it can be implemented properly. That said though, people park in some of the worst spots *coughsbus stopscoughs*. In the city outskirts, a lot of people park on either side of a narrow residential street, limiting to one the number of cars that can pass through the tiny hole, which isn’t illegal technically, but still a huge pain in the ass. Then there are those who park at intersections. Don’t be surprised to find your vehicle damaged by large vehicles trying to turn onto that street.