What can I do? Perhaps legal advice

[Baked]

Originally posted by: effowe

I see you're as as the OP. Again, he wasn't there loading/unloading the car, he was too lazy to park in the proper lot and walk to his dorm, he got penalized. Pay up and shut up. He won't win the appeal.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Baked

Originally posted by: effowe

I see you're as as the OP. Again, he wasn't there loading/unloading the car, he was too lazy to park in the proper lot and walk to his dorm, he got penalized. Pay up and shut up. He won't win the appeal.

I wasn't too lazy - how about you READ THE POST before assuming I am a jerk and making an idiot of yourself. I appreciate constructive criticism; however, maybe you could hold back the insults!

I had to UNLOAD groceries INTO my room (for a staff program) and then hop back in my car and drive elsewhere.

Parking services is not open after 5PM, but from my understanding (given that everything was very crunched in the actual manual) I didn't need authorization after 2:30PM on a Friday. Additionally, at the end I interpreted this for the entire use of Loading/Unloading service - apparently that was wrong - but at the same time their manual was not clear about all of this.

It does say that police can green log that car, but once again, I interpreted the 2:30PM, and the 30 minute rule to apply for all unloading/loading.

I wasn't being malicious or lazy or anything - If they interpret the manual as some of you do, then it is quite simply unclear and easily misunderstood; therefore, it should be fixed.

-Kevin

 

[Oceanas]

There is a ton of good info already about whether you were in violation of the rules or not (which you were), but this is all that matters concerning your appeal.

The Parking Services Appeals Hearing Officer reviews all written appeals. Citations received for parking in fire lanes, on yellow lines or curbs, in roadways, handicap areas, handicap access areas, bus lanes, air intake lanes, or metered spaces will not be viewed favorably in the appeals process except in genuine emergency situations as determined by the Appeals Hearing Officer. The issue of an appeal is whether or not the cited rule was violated. It is no defense to "not mean" to violate a rule, to "see others" violate it, to "not realize" it was violated, or to have "violated it in the past without penalty."

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Oceanas
There is a ton of good info already about whether you were in violation of the rules or not (which you were), but this is all that matters concerning your appeal.

The Parking Services Appeals Hearing Officer reviews all written appeals. Citations received for parking in fire lanes, on yellow lines or curbs, in roadways, handicap areas, handicap access areas, bus lanes, air intake lanes, or metered spaces will not be viewed favorably in the appeals process except in genuine emergency situations as determined by the Appeals Hearing Officer. The issue of an appeal is whether or not the cited rule was violated. It is no defense to "not mean" to violate a rule, to "see others" violate it, to "not realize" it was violated, or to have "violated it in the past without penalty."

Hmm that is a very good pointer.

It seems that I am more arguing that, according to the rules set forth in the manual, I was not in violation of any because, from my interpretation (which is a very legit interpretation) there was no rule violated.

Certainly if the rule had been clearly stated everything and hadn't been jammed all into one section, I would have abided by it - but because it was unclear in the manual I was not able to follow the rule the way they intended it.

I don't intend to try and argue against you guys, and I very much appreciate the help - I am just trying to understand how they can say that each rules has a single clear interpretation.

-Kevin

 

[roid450]

edit:
nvm

 

[KK]

Find out who is on this committee and slash their tires, kill their animals, put laundry soap in their swimming pools, or round-up their lawn.

j/k, I would never condone any of those actions.

 

[newnameman]

You are way misinterpreting the rules. Look again:

Loading/Unloading
Long-term parking is prohibited at loading docks, and other areas commonly used for
loading. Thirty minutes is the maximum time allowed for loading and unloading. A
current Virginia Tech parking permit and prior authorization is required to use this
service.

Look carefully at the bolded section. You are permitted to park for thirty minutes, only with prior authorization. If you were parking in a loading dock, as you admit you were, you lose. End of story.

Now, you keep citing this section in your defense:

Resident permit holders may park in most faculty/staff areas near residence halls
after 2:30 p.m. on Fridays for loading and unloading. You are allowed to park for a
maximum of 30 minutes without calling into Parking Services. However, Owens lot,
Dietrick Dining Hall lot are reserved exclusively for faculty and staff 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.

But this applies only to "faculty/staff [parking] areas" which a loading dock most certainly is not. So it is not relevant to your case.

 

[imthebadguy]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I'd steal school equipment. Take enough that the debt has been payed off. Deceitful practices deserve the same in return.

not a bad idea.....look for unsecured projectors

 

[lizardboy]

Originally posted by: imthebadguy

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I'd steal school equipment. Take enough that the debt has been payed off. Deceitful practices deserve the same in return.

not a bad idea.....look for unsecured projectors

Guy I knew in college who worked in the computer lab stole half the ram out of the PC's and sold it around campus. AFAIK he never got caught, which says a lot about the lax security they had in those days. (Early 90's...he was taking 4MB of the 8MB that came pre-installed, he made a killing when Doom II came out and required 8MB to run).

 

[jpeyton]

Campus parking enforcement officers give a rat fuck if their citations are legal. They have large incentives to issue as many tickets as possible. There are ZERO repercussions if they issue a bad ticket.

If that happened to me, what I would do in retaliation is not something I'd write about in a public forum.

 

[zeruty]

Originally posted by: Oceanas
There is a ton of good info already about whether you were in violation of the rules or not (which you were), but this is all that matters concerning your appeal.

The Parking Services Appeals Hearing Officer reviews all written appeals. Citations received for parking in fire lanes, on yellow lines or curbs, in roadways, handicap areas, handicap access areas, bus lanes, air intake lanes, or metered spaces will not be viewed favorably in the appeals process except in genuine emergency situations as determined by the Appeals Hearing Officer. The issue of an appeal is whether or not the cited rule was violated. It is no defense to "not mean" to violate a rule, to "see others" violate it, to "not realize" it was violated, or to have "violated it in the past without penalty."

So it sounds like the entire case needs to be proving that you did not park in the Dietrick lot.
If you prove you parked in the loading zone, you'll probably get that violation instead.
You just need to stick to the charge, parking not in a spot, in the Dietrick lot.
Are there security cameras? Witnesses? Such as witnesses saying you were in your building at the time you allegedly were parked in Dietrick?

 

[I Saw OJ]

Throw a brick through one of their windows and call it even.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Loading/Unloading
Long-term parking is prohibited at loading docks, and other areas commonly used for
loading. Thirty minutes is the maximum time allowed for loading and unloading. A
current Virginia Tech parking permit and prior authorization is required to use this
service. Authorization, recorded on the Parking Services green log sheet, can be
obtained by calling Parking Services 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday,
or the University Police Department at any time during the day or night. (We do not
green log in Owens or Dietrick Lots at all and we can not green log in Engel Lot after
4:30 p.m.) Please have your license plate and permit number available when you
call. After the vehicle has been loaded or unloaded, it should be moved to a legal
parking space. Vehicles in violation of this policy will be ticketed and/or towed at the
owners' expense. The policy is enforced 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Students, faculty, and staff who need to load/unload on a regular basis may have
their department request a Temporary Departmental Loading Permit. A Virginia Tech
parking permit must be displayed along with this permit. Request forms can be
obtained from Parking Services and should be filled out by the departmental liaison,
supervisor, or course advisor.
Resident permit holders may park in most faculty/staff areas near residence halls
after 2:30 p.m. on Fridays for loading and unloading. You are allowed to park for
maximum of 30 minutes without calling into Parking Services. However, Owens lot,
Dietrick Dining Hall lot are reserved exclusively for faculty and staff 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.

To me that says that I am, provided it isn't for long term, allowed to unload/load in the loading docks from the very first sentence. Additionally, at the very bottom, it then states that we are allowed to park for a maximum of 30 minutes without calling into Parking Services (They close at 5 so had I needed more than 30 minutes, I would have had to call the police department).

I have a Resident type Parking Permit which is displayed in the proper location (hanging from the mirror) in my car.

Additionally, though the ticket claims that I was in the restricted Dietrick Lot, I was not - that would not do any good for me to be parked in there - it simply doesn't make any sense. My rhetorical question would be "Why would I park illegally, further away from my dorm, when I could park legally (up to 30 minutes) right outside my dorm?"

Thanks so much guys - I appreciate the critique and any advice you can give.
-Kevin

Well it's pretty clear. To park in the loading dock legally you need prior authorization. You can ALSO park in the faculty/staff areas after 2:30 for loading and unloading. But this exemption only applies to faculty and staff areas, not the loading dock where you were cited. So you did break the rules.

 

[Gamingphreek]

This really sucks on a lot of levels. I honestly and truly simply misunderstood the section on this - obviously I wasn't paying enough attention.

There is no point in me appealing and trying to get off on a technicality that I wasn't where they said I was. I was in the wrong this time, regardless of how unclear the rule may have been.

At the same time, resident parking is about 3/4 of a mile away. I have a hard time believing they expected me to park all the way out there, drop of some groceries, and then walk back. If that is the way it is, then so be it - but it seems very unreasonable.
-------------------------

The last ticket I got was 100% bogus:
About a year ago, me and a few friend went to dinner for a birthday. We got back (I drove 1 person) and parked the car in the resident parking area as it was a Sunday night - by resident area, I mean I was literally underneath the giant sign with an 'R' on it. One of the other cars from our group parked right next to me.

Wednesday I get an Email saying that I received a ticket that day and had to move the car or it would be towed. I thought there was some kind of mix up, so I walked all the way down to the lot to find out what happened.

I got there and noticed my door was unlocked - thinking my passenger merely forgot to lock the door, I didn't think much of it. I looked and it said that I "had failed to display my parking permit". I looked up, and my permit was gone - upon further inspection, it was placed neatly in the side pocket of the door. I thought someone had been jerking with right there, so I walked all the way to the parking services building then.

When I got there the person said they wouldn't take the ticket back because I was parked in a Faculty Staff spot. I assured them that I wasn't - but they flat out refused to do anything but said I could appeal if I paid the ticket first.

Agitated, I walked back to where my car was parked and took pictures on my phone of my Car, my car with the resident sign, and all the surrounding cars which did not have tickets. It was now over spring break and I couldn't appeal (to my knowledge) because they were closed and I was away. I got back and tried to pay to appeal and had to pay $10 more (in addition to the $30) because it was late. They said they don't normally let you appeal when it is late and that I was lucky they were doing this.

I appealed and received a letter saying that I was in violation of policy and that my fine was upheld.

Very angry now, I called and requested a second (and final appeal) in front of a committee. I told them it was exam week, but they couldn't do anything about it and scheduled it right in between 2 of my exams. I walked into the room, and very politely stated my case, showed the pictures, and presented written letters from my friends who had parked next to me that I was in a Resident lot.

That committee could not have treated me more rudely. One of the women there talked down to me as if I were something less than a child asking mocking questions and snickering under her breath. When I said that Monday and Tuesday had passed without a ticket, she snapped back, "So you don't think its possible to get tickets other days?".

Needless to say, my appeal was denied and I was out $40 - not to mention that the entire ordeal took away from my studies.
----------------------------

I realize I was wrong here, but hopefully this explains a little bit where I am coming from.

Thanks so much for all the help everyone - I really appreciate it - even though I ended up being in the wrong,
-Kevin