Here's the deal. Back in February, my buddy and I travelled to Boston, MA and stayed with friends of ours in Providence, about 45min. away from Boston. I'm moving to Boston in a few months so this was our opportunity to check out the city and relax for a week. Anyway, we got 3 parking tickets in Providence. The first ticket was issued the very first night we were there and we parked on the street in front of our friends' house. Apparently, there was a city-wide ordinance that was passed restricting parking on some streets during certain hours. However, there were no posted signs saying do not park or any indication that we were not supposed to park in that area. Ticket #2 occurred a couple nights later when we parked on another street, also unmarked etc. Not only was the city ordinance not posted but the ticket said we were parked at 1am, at which time we were still in Boston at a bar and we did not return to Providence until about 3am. We wrote letters responding to each of the first 2 tickets that said we would not pay them on the grounds that there were no posted signs or any thing to let us know of the city ordinance and we also included our receipt from the bar in Boston, proving that we were not physically in Providence at the time the ticket suggested and therefore it should be dismissed. On our way out of town, the final morning in Providence, we stopped at a cafe for breakfast. We parked in the alley behind the restaurant and there was a sign that said no parking, except for that particular business. Anyway, we came out after breakfast and lo and behold.. another frickin' parking ticket! This one said that the end of our car was sticking outside of the alley, which was not true. We wrote a similar letter, explaining that we were not sticking out and that we didn't agree with the ticket and therefore would not pay it. The rental car was under my buddy's name and yesterday, he received a court summons to appear for a court date - TODAY in Providence, RI and that if he could not appear he would either have to pay the tickets or have warrants issued. My friend lives in Seattle so obviously he cannot go to court to protest these tickets. He is worried about the warrants so he's going to go ahead and pay the tickets but also send a nasty letter regarding the crappy Providence Parking Enforcement and Judicial system. I'm also going to write a letter expressing how idiotic their system is and how it is ridiculous that my buddy received a court summons one day prior to the actual court date. I personally think we shouldn't pay for anything and just tell them to fu#$ off, but he definitely doesn't want anything negative on his record, even if its in another State that he most likely will not visit again. Anyway, I know its not a big deal in the grand scheme of things and that a couple unpaid parking tickets won't get either of us in trouble unless we were to get pulled over in that State.. I just needed to vent a little about how stupid the whole situation is. Sorry for the long post, but thanks for allowing me to vent. Anyone else found themselves in a similar situation before?
Come on, man...It's freaking Providence, RI...What the hell else is there for a cop to do?? It was either give you a parking ticket or go check on those strange lights that Old Lady McGillicutty saw from her front porch that night... I don't know if I could live in New England...driving for two hours and being in a completely different state is just too weird...
Dear Scum or Madman, Thank you for your amusing letter. Parking tickets, huh? Pfffft! I say again, pffft! I have decided for arbitrary reasons not to pay for these "violations" in the same manner that your so called Police force as arbitrarilly decided to write them. You see here in Texas (a real state), bullsh*t begats bullsh*t. If you think that I am going to pay a f***ing red cent to you, you're crazy. In addition, since you live in a place that is not big enough to deserve to be called a state I don't feel it is necessary to pay you. Since I shall never choose to visit your "state" again, I doubt I will here from you in the future. Toodles!
Providence cops are terrible. My family had 2 cars stolen when we lived there. One of them, my dad found by driving up and down streets in the ghetto. Our car and several others that also had broken windows on the street with it and were also reported stolen were all ticketed for being parked on the street overnight. What a bunch of crap.
Hmmmmm ......wasn't that episode of Seinfeld where the foursome got arrested for violating the good samaritan law set in Providence?
Like they are going to serve warrants on the other side of the US for 3 friggin parking tickets. I'd tell them to go blow themselves.
No, but if he gets pulled over in his hometown, the warrants will show up and he can be arrested and extradited to R.I.
Typical Ignorance out of Texas Yeah, Blast me if you will, but regardless of what you saw, you broke the law. Writing letters... thats just plain cute of you. are you expecting a Christmass card in return?? ok this makes me laugh. I lived in Rhode Island for a couple of years. It is a funny place. It is however not funny because it is a small state, or it is backwards. it is funny because it is completely corrupt. the mob runs it and everyone is in on the joke. Ask yourself why they wrote those tickets?? ask yourself why they sent a letter when they did?? your are an easy $100 Rental car. nuff said. the Mayor of Providence is in jail right now. Does that say anything to you? back when he was in office he used to forgive all the parking tickets of every graduating student at RISD (an art school) it was part of his blatent disregard for rules and the joy with wich police give tickets to out of towners. I got rid of my NY plates after like a month. I got tired of being pulled over and BTW Providence has never been 45 minutes from Boston. its usually close to 2 hours. and you should have just parked your arse on a stool at Trinity. god I miss that place. then hit Lupos for Regge. and again, please tell me you REALLY wrote a letter. Priceless!
I live in Newton, MA ( about 6 miles from Boston ). It takes me about 1 hour to get to Providence in light traffic. I suppose if I drove really fast I could get there in 45 minutes. During rush hour, I could see it taking 2 hours.
Ignorant Texans, huh... Like Mama used to say, I hope you freeze in the dark, yankee. Au Contraire mon fraire, it is QUITE funny to me because it is a small state. Look, it's so cute. It's like mini-Mass. Sorry, but if I can hit golf ball from one state border and clear the other side in the air, it's not a real state (IMO). Codell, I kinda doubt that someone will get extradited from Seattle to RI for Parking Tickets; my boy here got a speeding ticket in LA and has been pulled over since here. Any of the law dogs got an opinion on this one?
Well, first off, I don't live in texas you tool. Secondly, go ahead and flame me for not knowing the political climate/corruption in Providence. Man, I feel really stupid now. thanks. Thirdly, for someone as all knowing about the area, I'd get my facts straight. Its 50 miles from Providence to Boston, my man. We were making the drive from Prov~>Boston at about 10-11am each morning and driving back at around 2am. Both times, there was little to no traffic. Check for yourself dumbass Fourth, yeah I wrote a letter. What other reasonable action would you have me take? Sure, it may not make one difference to anyone but at least I had the satisfaction of venting my frustration with the whole thing... Lastly, piss off..
