Recently, I walked toward my car after a great day of teaching. As I approached, I noticed a piece of paper tucked under the windshield wiper. Assuming it was an advertisement, I was shocked to discover that it was a parking citation. My first thought was, “Really, on Third Avenue? There aren’t even meters on this street.” I perused the ticket trying to locate the reason for the infraction. It read, “Parked within five feet of a driveway.” No way. Is the city of Durango that desperate for money? There were no painted curbs where I was parked. A woman moved her garbage can that morning so I could fit in the space. I thought maybe I just happened to be the victim of a grumpy parking meter person, and decided to simply pay the $15 fee as a donation to the city of Durango. Maybe the parking meter persons work on commission and this one needed some extra income to feed his children. I could contribute to that.
Now two weeks later, I have seen a parking meter person staking out Third Avenue and 12th Street, obviously targeted as new sources of income. I tried looking up the five-foot driveway policy, but I haven’t been able to locate such a law. Log onto the city of Durango’s web site and look up parking policies; you will not find any such policy. However, maybe it is hidden in the small print somewhere in some archived parking policy.
I must admit, however, that this new parking citation activity has provided us with some rather humorous moments. Several of us have taken to handing out tickets to each other in the morning after passing each others’ cars. We are currently working on creativity. Recent ticket violations have included: parking too close to a tree on a Monday, parking a half-inch over the curb, parking too close to an ant colony on Thursdays, parking under a bird nest, etc. Oops, maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned these trespasses; I might be giving the city new ideas for their obscure parking laws.
MJ Bilgrav
Durango
