Open Letter to the City of Duluth Parking Violations Bureau

I’ve always thought that parking enforcement officers get a bad rap. After all, no one likes getting a ticket, so the anger has to be directed somewhere. But at the same time, no one appreciates finding full parking lots where there is lax enforcement of time limits. The Urban Dictionary unfairly (or so I felt) defines a parking inspector as “The most pathetic type of person existing on the planet.” It’s not the parking inspector’s fault that you stayed beyond what you paid for, I thought. Other people need to park too, you know. I was generally on the side of the enforcement officer.

And then something like this happens. I had a 7 PM appointment and pulled into the parking lot and purchased a 3-hour parking ticket at the large lot in front of the Dewitt-Seitz building. The place was busy and I thought I’d be safe with a 3-hour parking permit. In any case, by the time it expired, it would be almost 10 PM and parking is unlikely to be an issue. I thought.

At 10 PM, I realized that I was out of time and came out to my car after a wonderful dinner with a friend. A ticket had been issued at 9:54 PM. When I checked my parking receipt, it showed that I had parked at 6:45 pm and so the spot rental was set to expire at 9:45 PM. Nine minutes after the parking sticker was set to expire, someone thought it necessary to ticket me for a parking time violation.

Okay, so I overstayed my permit by 16 minutes (it was 10:01 when I got to the car). But, isn’t this being a little unfairly overzealous? I understand the need for enforcement when Canal Park is busy. Really, I do. I want to ensure that parking spots are released to the people who are willing to pay for them when parking is hard to come by. It’s only fair. But by the time I got out at 10 PM, the lot was mostly empty. There were maybe 20-30 cars in the lot and most of the spots were empty. Yet, the parking enforcement officer felt the need to ticket me for being 9 minutes past the time I had paid for? Does that seem reasonable and friendly and good use of resources?

Why do they even have parking enforcement officers prowling the lot at 10 PM? Really? It certainly isn’t to ensure that there is space for people to park their cars. The only way the city can justify having parking enforcement in the lot that late is if the officer issues enough tickets to cover their salary. This is what gives a city the reputation of being unfriendly to tourists and out to make a buck at the expense of any individual who falls victim to carefully laid traps.

A second definition on urban dictionary claims a parking inspector is, “A person employed to be a pain in the ballsack and only really exists to raise revenue for councils.” I am slowly beginning to believe that common sense and fairness are giving way to this definition of a parking inspector.

Thanks, City of Duluth. I have paid the ticket online and your parking inspector has made one more friendly step towards justifying his or her salary. I hope everyone sleeps well when they get home for a job well done.