What? You mean, I'm supposed to park in between the white lines?

The level of stupidity in this world never ceases to amaze me. And, it seems to all be concentrated in Glendale. Or maybe it's just that the GNP takes pride in airing our city's stupidity... (you'd think they'd want to make the city look smart rather than dumb).

Thankfully, the columnists wrote some decent columns last week - or maybe I say that because I'm partial to the Beatles (which Mr. Kimber wrote about - no idea how that ties into education but...) and Ani wrote a halfway decent column about Father Movsessian.

But, then I flip to the opinion pages. Ugh! Remember how I posted that in America, we need someone to tell us something before we realize it's wrong!?!?! So, Ms. Ann Marie Smith (which I hope is not a psuedonym for a person I know with a very similar name.... because THAT woman I like!)... vents to the GNP for getting a parking ticket. Initially, I was intrigued. I hate parking tickets as much as everyone else. Especially those really senseless ones (as in, why on earth can't I park here?!?!)

But Ms. Smith goes on to complain about getting tickets for parking crooked. I hope all idiots who can't park between two white lines get fined!!! You don't need "a sign" telling you to park between the white lines. And yes, it sucks when the person next to you is parked crooked but maybe if the police enforce this continuously and uniformly, people "next to you" won't park crooked. (Not to mention, if you park crooked next to a crooked parked car, then if the crooked parked car leaves, YOU ARE STILL CROOKED - and therefore, you are now the problem car in the lot!)

I am sure Ms. Smith is frustrated because she was forced to park crooked. And, I will even give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she herself is not a bad parker and would have parked straight had the cars next to her parked straight... and that I can, then, understand her frustration. But next time she writes a letter, she should avoid statements like:

"There are no signs clearly posted to state that you must park perfectly between the lines or get a ticket."

I keep rereading that - I don't know if I should laugh or cry. All I know is that as annoying as the "T" (public transport) in Boston might be, I am grateful for not having to deal with all the crooked parking idiots of this world!





City needs to back off petty parking tickets

I feel it is petty, wasteful and harassing to give tickets at city parking garages for cars not being perfectly aligned in the lined stalls — especially when others have parked slightly crooked and the only open space is crooked.

There are no signs clearly posted to state that you must park perfectly between the lines or get a ticket.

Why should I park in the city garage to risk a $35 parking ticket?

What would the area businesses do if many people abandon shopping in this area because of this ridiculous harassment?

The city garages are the only one I know of with this type of petty enforcement.

The city should either post visible signs at each stall to warn patrons of the ticketing policy. Or it should just be decent and let people support the Exchange and Brand Boulevard businesses without this burden.

ANN MARIE SMITH

Glendale