<p>Citygirlsmom, I think you failed to read my last post. Furthermore, someone asked of me if i had time to spend an evening in court, so I gave them an answer with an explanation. Excuse me for not making up a different explanation in fear of appearing 'smug' to overly sensitive members of an internet forum.</p>
<p>So, how swell,all those cops sitting in a courtroom, with nothing else to do?</p>
<p>Yeah, well,nost cities can't afford to have cops sitting in court all day so some body can whine about a legitimate ticker</p>
<p>nice citizens we have here, I would rather my cops be on the streets dealing with stuff than having to sit in court so some body can get out of paying a legitiamte fine, but maybe I have different priorities that others and see my tax dollars spent more wisely</p>
<p>chocoholic, thank you for the thoughtful advice. I truly, truly appreciate it and this gives me some confidence going into the court room. Thank you!</p>
<p>I am sorry, I surrender, go fight the ticket and get away with it, waste court time, tax dollars and whatever to prove that you are deserving to get away with breaking the rules because of a test</p>
<p>I prefer my tax money to be spent in real ways, not so people can get away with stuff because they feel entitled</p>
<p>AJ1018
I sent you a P.M.</p>
<p>AJwhatever, this is education and you are entitled to go and plead not guilty. .....I really can't see any judge feeling sorry for you but, hey stranger things have happened. I have seen plenty of judges get impatient with such lame excuses....I am in traffic court often for my work.</p>
<p>You should be thankful that you live a very privileged life such that this is the ground on which you have decided to stand and fight!</p>
<p>Go forth and feel oppressed over your parking ticket. When you are done with this fight, go volunteer in a homeless children's shelter, battered women's shelter or feed the hungry and take up a real fight for real victims. We need more people like you fighting those battles!</p>
<p>AJ,</p>
<p>Although it sounds like you deserved the ticket you're within your rights to plead your case. Some courts accept a 'guilty with an explanation' plea in which case you can admit you parked there for more than the allowed time but that you only did it for your AP tests, that since they just put the meters in there's no place to reasonably park, etc. Who knows, the judge may see it your way.</p>
<p>After this experience maybe you can lead a group of local citizens to petition to have the meters removed or the time increased on them to be more reasonable. That kind of leadership gives you good experience, might be something you can use on college apps, and might result in a lot of happy students/parents.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Even if I had arrived 'earlier' for a spot in my school's parking lot, there inevitably would still be kids who had to park in the surrounding 2 hour zones. In fact, the 2 hour zones were only set up THIS YEAR after the parking situation in my school reached new heights of awfulness. In a way, it truly is unfair.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Does the school not provide bus service? If bus service is provided it is not really unfair. That makes driving to school a privilege and not a right as transportation is provided, regardless of whether it is the most convenient or cool way. I'm just saying, I wouldn't lay the "it's truly unfair" on too thick. The judge probably won't like that.</p>
<p>I am going to take up this cause, in fact, starting with a letter to the local newspaper and some fliers in my school. I'm sure I'll get strong support from my classmates, and together with some parent backing maybe we could get some things changed. </p>
<p>P.S. Atlmom, I have committed hundreds of hours to community/public service, and continue to make it a priority in my life. Thank you though, for your advice/encouragement in telling me to take up the cause of a more pressing issue. Personally, it's always been a dream of mine to become some sort of public servant as an adult, but I worry about financial and familial obligations standing in the way. Thus is the reality of America, I suppose. Thanks for the encouragement everyone!</p>
<p>Good luck seriously! I hope you have a compassionate judge. THen take the advice and have the laws changed, get more parking for your school etc. Our school just charged a large amount to be able to park at the school so kids started driving less, more buses used or parents dropping them off. Now we have a Lot half empty, or is it half full?</p>
<p>AJ, absolutely, if you feel that you have a reasonable defense, go and fight the ticket. The advice that you're getting here, though, is simply pointing out that your defense is unreasonable. But it is your right to find that out for yourself, and who knows, you may win.</p>
<p>I did want to address one of your statements, though:
[quote]
In fact, the 2 hour zones were only set up THIS YEAR after the parking situation in my school reached new heights of awfulness. In a way, it truly is unfair.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And you state that this was done solely to generate revenue for the town. Do you know this? Obviously you don't live near the school. Do you have any idea how inconvenient it is for people who live near your school to scrounge for parking each day, since it's taken up by high school students? To be unable to have visitors while school is in session since they will have no place to park? My guess is that it took several years worth of petitions and town meetings for the residents around the high school to get restricted parking so that they could park in their own neighborhood. (Similar actions occur around train stations when commuters park all day and residents are left out.) </p>
<p>If you really want to learn about the democratic and governmental processes, learn how and why the restrictions were put into place. Believe it or not, not all restrictions on teens are put there just to make their lives miserable!</p>
<p>Or imagine being an elderly person who has to walk blocks because some teen needs to park there, or a mom with little kids schlepping groceries</p>
<p>High school students who very likely should be car pooling, taken public transportation, etc...sorry this is a pretty spolied generation in many regards who often just sees their own inconvience, and not society as a whole and their impact in it</p>
<p>"Yeah, well,nost cities can't afford to have cops sitting in court all day so some body can whine about a legitimate ticker"</p>
<p>when the cops don't show up, you don't have to pay the ticket...that's how most people get off.</p>
<p>Atlmom, you seem to have misread my previous post. I noted that one must live a life in accordance with ideals of compassion and kindness. All of the examples you provided would have horrible consequences for other people. </p>
<p>I can see we're not getting anywhere here...the gap between generations and morality is just too large. We young folk are growing up in an era where we have to fight for our success, because of unprecedented competetion in all aspects of life (be it college admissions, the global economy, etc). Therefore it is crucial to fight for every dime adn every liberty we can have, and to accept no law as absolute if it can be violated to gain an advantage over our stiff competition.</p>
<p>so fighting a legitimate ticket is a way to get advantage over competition?</p>
<p>guess some pick and choose their battles a bit differently</p>
<p>maybe instead of fighting a stupi ticket, take that time and go to an interesting meeting, and gosh darn,maybe take that passion and energy and help someone </p>
<p>and to think that you are a special generation and have to fight for everything, well I note that all you say you are fighting for are purely selfish reasons</p>
<p>past generations fought for others- civil rights, women's rights, freedom, guess they were just not as challenged as this generation who often doesn't look beyond their own noses</p>
<p>thank goodness for the rest who do step up and look beyond their own selfish needs, those are the kids I am grateful for</p>
<p>don't think you have it so tough....and think that this competion makes this generation so special and entitled</p>
<p>When my first child was born I lived 1.5 blocks from a school. There were many times of the day when I could not park in front of my house or even on my street due to students parking. Imagine trying to unload your groceries with a infant. Can't leave the baby in the car down the block while you unload. can't leave the baby in the house while you go get the rest of the groceries.
I know how frustrating it can be to get somewhere and not find parking. But if the area around the school wanted 2 hour parking it was probably due to neighborhood complaints. The problem is not with the police but with the school not providing enough parking for its driving students. At one school I know they restrict driving to school to seniors due to lack of available parking.
I would expect my kids to pay the ticket. Next time they would leave earlier.</p>
<p>random story--
i was driving to an AP test a few years ago. turned onto a road near the building i was taking the test in, and there's a school bus sitting there with its stop sign out. i waited behind it for a couple minutes....nobody got off, nobody got on. i didn't want to be late so i pulled around it and turned into the parking lot.</p>
<p>two weeks later, a letter from the police shows up in my mailbox at home giving me a warning for passing a stopped school bus. the bus driver actually wrote down my license plate number and sent it in.</p>
<p>live and learn :)</p>