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This job could be just the ticket for the right person
By adamg on Thu, 09/26/2019 - 5:15pm
The city of Boston is looking to hire 11 "parking meter supervisors" to patrol city streets and municipal lots looking for vehicles that merit you issuing parking tickets or that need to be simply towed away, all while acting in a "courteous and professional manner" as you explain the law to people who are getting a ticket or watching their car be hooked up to a tow truck.
Successful applications have to have at least two years of experience "accurately collecting and recording information and courteously responding to complaints and informational requests" - but that includes not just jobs such as customer service reps and traffic clerks but waiters, waitresses and receptionists.
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Comments
Those jobs are usually set aside
For cousins, inlaws and campaign sign holders...but times could have changed.
my dream job would be the
my dream job would be the minutiae of meter maid with the authority of a State Cop
The City has to post open positions publicly...
That doesn't mean the jobs aren't set aside for people with connections.
If you follow Boston’s 311
You would see that BTD is not doing their job. If they were there would be know need to report illegally parked vehicles. #doyourjob
Hire a hundred people because
Hire a hundred people because they pay for themselves and much more and there are an unlimited number of criminal drivers in Boston. Think of the millions the city could collect from the losers who park on the sidewalk alone.
The real issue is police
The real issue is police enforcement; traffic enforcement is second order.
Hire more police to enforce basic traffic laws in the city, or better yet...get the cops who are already on the job to actually pull people over.
100% agree with this. Hire
100% agree with this. Hire cops whose sole purpose is going after motirists who commit moving violations.
Parking Enforcement Officers don't handle drivers
Are you really that clueless when it comes to automobiles, or is my theory of a traumatic driving experience in your youth true?
...they handle the ones who illegally park?
I mean, I guess someone could be pushing these cars into illegal parking spaces, but other than that, presumably someone is driving them to those locations, and we might call that person a driver in common parlance.
They ticket the car
Not the driver. In fact, it is the owner of the vehicle, who isn't necessarily the driver and doesn't even need to have a driver's license (I owned a car for 4 months before getting a license), who is responsible for a parking ticket.
The worst thing for me is that I think getting more parking enforcement officers is a great idea. My commute via bus to Forest Hills via Washington Street has been slower recently, which probably has a lot to do with the cars parked in the bus lane. But driving and parking are distinct things
What a remarkable piece
of unnecessary pedantry.
Speaking of remarkable pieces
Look at who I was originally replying to. He certainly is a piece of something when it comes to the vast majority of Boston adults. At the end of the day, that he cannot figure out the difference between traffic enforcement and parking enforcement is on him.
You knew exactly what they meant
and you even said you agreed with their point! The rest of it is just pedantry about using "drivers" to refer to "the people who drove their cars to a particular spot and then left them there illegally", which, again, is pretty common parlance. At this point you're just splitting hairs so you can feel like you got one up on someone you don't like, but hey, I guess we all need hobbies.
Here's exactly what he meant
"I hate cars and drivers. Here's another chance for me to say that."
That is a far cry from saying it is a good thing to have parking enforcement, which doesn't affect him since he doesn't own a car or, it would seem, wants to interact with someone who owns one. It was a troll on his behalf and I stooped to his level.
Honestly please consider charging Kinopio some form of rent
They mentioned increased ticketing of criminal/loser motorists that park illegally and drive on sidewalks, whats so trollish or hateful about that?
And again the pedantics about ticketing the car and driver just further confirm that you had no point to make.
It's the phrase "criminal motorists" that triggered me
And as a regular reader, you know he does that shit all the time. No, the average driver is not a "criminal motorist", not by a longshot. He could have made his point a lot better. Heck, half the drivers in Boston could have made the same point in earnest. He doesn't add to the conversation, only snipes like he did this time. I caught him in a slipup and mentioned it.
I guess my point is that Kinopio is a troll. Why this is a concern to me I don't know. Probably not the healthiest thing.
But to the point, what's your point?
I mean it's criminal to drive and park a car on the sidewalk
And anecdotally it happens enough that the city could be handing out lots of tickets for it. That was Kinopio's original point in asking for hiring of even more traffic agents, thats enough to trigger you?
As a regular reader, yeah I'm pretty aware of his shtick and how he lives rent free in your head.
My point is that you're a self-aware troll that makes baseless personal attacks and pedantically moves the goal-posts when things aren't going your way.
Cite the relevant criminal law please
As long as we're being pedantic, someone seems to not understand the distinction between "illegal" and "criminal"
And therein lies my rage
Were Kinopio to have just griped about the scourge of illegal parking, I would have agreed with him, but he can't let a story about motor vehicles go by without calling drivers criminals.
Reckless/negligent driving is criminal
https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/parti/titlexiv/chapter90/sect...
https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/08/nc/citable-civil-motor-vehi...
Driving on the sidewalk is reckless/negligent, which is a motor vehicle crime. Please tell me how cars driving on the sidewalk isn't a threat to public safety.
Something something pedantics, amirite? Next.
Every time I pull into my driveway I drive across a sidewalk
Do I commit a criminal act each time? Is it reckless driving?
I would imagine that a fair bit more than the wheels going over the curb would be the totality of reckless driving.
Depends, did you drive recklessly/negligently?
Obviously you're allowed to traverse over a public sidewalk from your private driveway, taking care to yield to pedestrians, which is obviously not reckless or negligent and obviously something infrastructure like curb cuts are designed for. Obviously.
Now of course if you failed to yield or ran someone over, crashed into another vehicle when pulling onto the street or mounted a curb and drove down the sidewalk to park? Not so much, thanks for playing!
Yeah you would think you would've imagined this when conjuring up your strawman but here we are.
I’m confused
Which one of us was the strawman? Was it the guy that decided that any car parked on a sidewalk (which, to be clear, is dickish behavior) was an example of reckless driving, maybe?
I mean driving where cars aren't supposed to go is reckless
Gotta drive on the sidewalk before you can park on the sidewalk.
Its a public safety threat, pretty simple.
Sigh
You gotta stick to your guns, I guess, no matter how much common sense gets in the way. I guess a rigid ideology has some benefits. Someday I might find out that they are.
It's criminal to be in the US illegally
Yet some constantly like to remind others that it is a civil infraction. Interestingly, so are parking violations.
Driving on the sidewalk is a different matter. And yes, to park one would have to drive the car. I would say that people are being pedantic about that, wouldn't you?
As far as your troll accusation, I'll accept that I'm as much a troll as you are, and honestly, despite how much I bitch to you about thing, I'd be hesitant to lay the claim. You do the same shit I do. I have never changed one iota of my first claim in my response to Kinopio. No goalposts moved. I've also explained why he got under my skin, so if you cannot comprehend that, that's on you. The man (or woman) never contributes positively to discussion. He spews hate in interestingly disappears. That's his game. I'll dig my own grave, but I own what I write, or admit that I'm wrong.
Sigh... cite the relevant criminal law please?
Sigh... Not this again.
It's criminal to enter the US illegally. Simply being in the US illegally, for example, by entering legally on a tourist visa and overstaying, is illegal, but not criminal.
Congress could, of course, have chosen to make illegal presence a crime, but chose not to do so.
10 seconds of Google
This happens to be for Oregon, but similar is true in most states.
http://www.shortlawgroup.com/blog/2016/02/what-is-the-difference-between...
I stand corrected
Suffice to say, many treat unauthorized presence in the US as being akin to parking in a handicapped spot.
Wow pedantics AND baseless personal attacks
Kinopio makes a pretty tame and honest take about traffic enforcement and you employ gold-medal levels of mental gymnastics because he/she/they said something mean about cars or whatever.
Oh and the jab about a traumatic driving experience is so hilarious, yes lets make up some juvenile narrative and disparage others because of the mental impacts of road violence, so funny.
Wait, is the bus lane not working as well now?
Are people just parking in the bus lane during the closure period without penalty? That has got to be stopped ASAP.
REPORT THEM ON 311 APP, take
REPORT THEM ON 311 APP, take a pic and upload it. I UTTERLY DESPISE THOSE Forest hills Double parking PPL. Does transit police ever do anything either other thandriver around the city(serious question)
If it's a legitimate problem
If it's a legitimate problem then yes I guess. I definitely don't want hundreds of people looking to tag anyone who is one minute over their parking meter.
Now that we have digital
Now that we have digital meters that can show how long ago they expired, we should change the law so staying 1 minute over doesn't cost as much as staying an extra hour.
And now that it's easy to issue digital cameras to all meter maids and link the photos to the ticket, they should be required to take a picture of the meter to show that it's actually expired, and you car is in the space. No more writing tickets a few minutes in advance because they guess you won't be back in time.
Robots
They can't come fast enough. Much rather deal with a robot vs human 'parking inspector'.
Maybe, but...
How do you bribe a robot? (Can of oil?)
Easy
With blackjack and hookers.
Recently I watched a guy
Recently I watched a guy freak out at the parking officer who just ticketed him, getting all up in his face, and the officer very nonchalantly told him, "Catch me outside this uniform" and walked away.
And give them some new tow trucks
There are these super fast enforcement vehicles in use in other places to quickly move illegally parked cars. See, for example, this <1 minute tow: https://youtu.be/yOVn_-9-3u4
Can you imagine if we deployed these to pick up every car that's left double-parked in a bike lane or bus stop or bus lane in Boston?