Once again, it has been a while since I have had the chance to sit down and write my blog even though much has been going on around us. That said, I am making my October 10^th resolution to make a much better effort to contribute to this space on the website.

My purpose today is to express my frustration with the City of
San Francisco, and their lack of competence when it comes to dealing with parking tickets - in particular, reconciliation of fine collections.

So here is the story: I was in San Francisco earlier this year on official BigJock.com business, and my meeting in the lower Hayes
Valley took longer than expected. Naturally, I got a ticket because my 2-hour spot ran 15 minutes over and there was a $40 tag neatly placed on my windshield.

Well, to the delight of The City, I didn’t get around to paying the ticket right away and the fine multiplied, steeling at $100. Instead of paying the ticket, and then having to deal with DMV as well, as my car registration would be due in a short time, the ticket appeared on my DMV registration renewal.

Because ofArnold and his cuts, my registration fee was “only” $278, and the $100 ticket made it an even $378. I paid my penalty and fee and received my 2008 sticker in the mail, along with a note stating they recognized my ticket has been paid.

Of course, the next week I get a letter from City Hall demanding the $100, or else. So, thinking this would be the end of it, I make a photo-copy of the DMV note and drop it in the mail, showing that the ticket had been paid and I am a good citizen.

Well, 2 weeks ago, another letter appears - again asking for the $100. I decide to pick up the phone and call to state my case. Hahaha! Joke is on me, my friends. I challenge you to call any department of City Hall and have something resolved in short order. Fighting my way through the “sorry sir, they are out on break,” and the long wait-times on hold, the end result was a request for me to BRING IN THE LETTER. Right.

I don’t think they can put “The Boot” on my car for one ticket, so all I can say is screw ‘em. I’ve done my part. I’ve paid the ticket and attempted to reconcile it for them by sending a copy of an official State of California document, but apparently the two departments are not in communication.

Anyone else have similar stories? We’d love to read and chuckle/cringe along with you!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Gay Community Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.