# Toronto-Parking Ticket Capital of the World



## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

In its quest to feed its insatiable spending habits, Toronto's gone parking ticket crazy. Yesterday, I caught a parking goon in the process of writing me a ticket in the 30 seconds it took to leave the car and walk to the parking meter and back. After I argued for several minutes that the receipt in my hand actually entitled me to park there, the guy writing the ticket then complained about how hard his job was and how much paperwork I had created for him to "undo" the ticket.

It isn't just my imagination either, Toronto Mayor David Miller has announced an aggressive ticket writing policy to help him implement his aggressive spending policy.


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

i really think it's high time that everyone be "armed" with a video camera so record stupidities
not to mention how it would be useful in court when fighting said ticket

this has disaster written all over it in a court of law
you could make policy by arguing that your receipt entitles you to parking and could make miller put out a statement or thru channels to reduce such aggressive parking enforcement

wanna bet it has something to do with new quotas?


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

These new solar powered parking ticket dispensers are always too far away from
your car and you are right that there doesn't seem to be enough time to get a
parking receipt, Perhaps the city should bring back the individual meters,
At least then you'd also know where on the street you are legally allowed to park.

(I wonder if anyone has gotten mad enough to paint all the solar panels with black paint yet)

D


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

That's hilarious - you can't accuse that employee not having zeal...


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

You're right. We needn't spend any more money in Toronto. Let's stop repairing that pesky fiscal black hole, the Gardiner. Just don't be driving underneath it and stop driving over it. And let's skip fixing the deteriorating roads... get a SUV, or better still a tank, and a few bumps can be easily handled. Let's cut back the TTC budget, too. We need less public transit, not more. Let the streetcars rot where they are. Stop laying new tracks - it's dirty, it's noisy, and it interferes with motorists who need to get from A to B. And let's skip maintaining the 400 series highways and all of the city's arterials feeding into it. After all, they're only roads. Tanks don't need roads _per se_. So much waste!

Stop work on the ROM, the new Opera House, and the AGO. Culture is totally over-rated and it's obviously useless as a means of enjoying life. Let's stop this anxious, neurotic nonsense of striving to be world-class - everyone knows Toronto is a stinking dump and the sooner we drop this hideously expensive pretense, the better off we'll all be.

Finally, let's declare open season on parking ticket officers. Once we've culled this city of this pestilence, think of the savings. Park your tank where you want. Carry locked and loaded weaponry - handy for arguments you might encounter with your fellow citizens.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

A tank would be nice...It'd protect you from all those falling plane parts.

D


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## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

Max said:


> You're right. We needn't spend any more money in Toronto. Let's stop repairing that pesky fiscal black hole, ... So much waste!....


:lmao: 

You thoroughly out-did me, Max!
I was going to say "Don't drive a car downtown!"
Geez, I'm lame. 

Macfury, if it makes you feel any better, car drivers in Ottawa feel that _we_ have the most overzealous parking ticket officers on the planet. I will assume many citizens feel that way about their respective cities.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Max: These are all wonderful projects, but there isn't enough money available to complete them all at the same time, while treating citizens fairly. The fiscal black hole is the result of taking on too many projects. Driving and parking are legal activities-aggressive ticketing isn't a fair way to deal with overspending.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

I understand your anger and why it made you give in to an outburst... but putting a neurotic, over-zealous ticket officer onto Miller and the city government strikes me as ludicrous. The city has been starved by the Feds and the province for years and your assertion would have us believe that it's actually all Toronto's fault - I find that laughable. The black hole is a result of _all_ of the related governments pretending it's someone else's fault, or worse - pretending that the hole doesn't exist.

At any rate, sounds like the ticket officer should find another job. They are already one of the least-liked people in the city... this guy sounds like he's about to lose it. Be thankful you don't have his life and move on. I've had run-ins with these folks before and my patience has certainly been tested. But I try not to blame them for the city's problems.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

I think Mayor Miller should be charging a toll for all those commuter planes that fly
over Toronto, I see them all the time flying over the Beaches and up the Don Valley.

That might help with the pay raises that they are looking for.

D


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

The officer is not to blame in general-he's received his instructions from the mayor. But my comments about the deficit aren't an extrapolation--the mayor identified aggressive parking enforcement as a revenue source to deal with the deficit about 5 weeks ago. 

But you've gotta know when it's time to let go of a potential $30...


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

nevermind, how about a toll for entering toronto via gardiner and black creek drive and the exits from 400 entering toronto
that oughta cough up a few bucks
toronto toonies....

can the city collect tolls on the 400 series highways entering the city?


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

I don't consider myself a fan of the mayor but he has to seek money from somewhere... he's backed into a corner. The way Canada's major cities have been funded is indeed a growing concern, although I am not convinced enough people understand the issues. More practical funding formulas are necessary for the cities - not merely for the citizens of those cities themselves, but for the economic life blood of the country as a whole - especially in a global climate of rapidly-emerging economies bent on aggressively expanding and capturing new markets in the process.

What used to work for our cities is no recipe for what will work today and what will likely work tomorrow. In their run up to power, Harper and co. have talked a great deal about doing something to rectify these imbalances, but so far I've not detected anything but cheap lip service. Right now it seems they're bent on courting Quebec and snubbing Ontario in the process. That's good old politics, which is to be expected. I await real talk on economics - and hopefully, some wise decisions to flow from that.


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## RevMatt (Sep 10, 2005)

I've said for years that TO should just refuse to pay for Provincial highways. Harris gave them to the municipalities without asking if they wanted them or providing a way to pay for them, so mayors everywhere should just return the favour. Hand 'em back to the Province. They are called "Provincial Highways" after all...


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

I agree in principle, except that the relations between the various levels of government over this single issue are so poisonous already. No one wants to accept any measure of responsibility, but finger pointing is easy enough to come by. Be cool if our elected leaders actually could get down to acting like grownups to solve these problems.


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## RevMatt (Sep 10, 2005)

Silly Max. We only ever elect politicians, not grownups!

But yes. Some real thought would go a long way.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

True enough. I better start upping the meds again... don't want these delusional episodes to get the better of me.


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