City of Dallas Screws Its Own Citizens for Revenue

Times are tough. I wrote earlier in this space about a parking ticket I received at a meter that did not go into effect until an hour after I got said ticket (a ticket I successfully fought). But the city still needs cash. A story:

For 6-plus years we’ve lived in our quiet Far Far Far North Dallas home. We’re almost out of the county, but not quite. I came home around lunchtime (not for a nooner, unfortunately) and pulled up in front of the house, right behind my wife’s car, both of us parking against traffic flow. Our street sees almost no traffic other than residents, and pretty much everyone parks however they feel. We all know each other here (it’s a very friendly neighborhood) and nobody cares. As I pulled up to the curb, a City of Dallas PUBLIC WORKS & TRANSPORTATION employee (not a cop, BTW) was going along the street in our neighborhood ticketing cars for parking the wrong way against the curb. Since I was right there, he asked me to just turn the cars so they would be parked the right way (which I did immediately) but several of my neighbors (the ones I couldn’t reach on the phone) got his ticketful opprobrium. This isn’t a public safety issue — it’s just a revenue collection issue. Before this, I’ve never seen code enforcement, Public Works, etc. coming around and writing citations.

Personally, I’d love to see everyone ticketed for these set them for jury trial. It would clog up the metro courts so much that this preposterous ticketing would actually lose money for the City.

So, Fellow FBvians, beware. The City of Dallas has decided to adopt the philosophy of parking Nazism that has proved so successful in the People’s Republic of California. Kudos to you, City of Dallas!