| |
For the past several weeks, I’ve been taking the MBTA (Metropolitan Bay Transit
Authority) Blue Line’s subway train from the East Boston/Revere Suffolk Downs station into Boston to the
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) for some physical rehabilitation.
Parking in MBTA parking lots was a bit problematical for me because of the long walks from
the parking lots to the stations. Instead I’ve been parking just outside the MBTA Blue line stations, either at the
Orient Heights Stations in East Boston or at the nearby Suffolk Downs Station.
At the Suffolk Downs station, parking on the side of the road nearest the station
is limited to “Residents Only”. Curiously, there are no East Boston residences nearby. On the other side of the
street, parking in limited to “2 hours”. Since my physical rehabilitation only takes an hour and the transit time
between the Suffolk Downs MBTA station and MGH is only about 15 minutes each way, I normally don’t have a
problem keeping to the 2-hour parking time limit.
But, a week ago, my physical therapy session took an extra ½ hour and I found a $25
parking ticket on my car’s windshield when I returned. The police officer who issued the parking ticket must have
come by my car almost immediately after I parked and then returned almost exactly 2 hours later, since I had
overstayed my allotted parking time by ½ hour or less.
Since I was indeed guilty of a parking violation, I returned the parking ticket along
with a check for $25 to the traffic court the next day.
In my mind, the question was not whether or not I was guilty of a parking violation –
I was – but why were the parking rules in effect at all?
The “Residents Only” parking restriction (see the left-hand photograph
above)at the Suffolk Downs station makes no sense,
since there are no residences on either side of the road for a considerable distance.
The “2 hours” parking limit (see the right-hand photograph above) on the opposite
side of the road could not possibly be
because of nearby businesses because there are none. True, there is a nature
reserve of sorts - the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation - on this side of the road, but we are talking about a day
in early November, when there are few if any visitors to the Reserve, as evidenced by the nearly empty roadway
adjacent to the Reserve. Besides, on-street parking is net needed, since “Parking {is} available in lot inside
entrance gate.” (Ref. 1) So why hassle anyone parking outside
the Suffolk Downs MBTA station?
The answer to this question is simple – the object is to get money into the city of
Boston’s coffers. Crime control is not the issue. Public safety is not the issue. Serving public and business
needs is not the issue. Elimination of traffic problems is not the issue. So, the next question naturally follows.
Is handing out frivolous parking tickets, the best utilization of Boston’s law enforcement personnel? Boston has
a reasonably high crime rate and its traffic woes rank the city as one of the worst cities in the U.S. in which
to drive. Wouldn’t Boston’s law enforcement personnel be better utilized in addressing these and other real
problems?
A favorite way of raising money through the improper use of laws and law enforcement
used to be the old-fashioned high way speed trap. Florida was notorious for this offense and one of the most
egregious perpetrators of this misuse of the law was a 1,260-foot stretch of busy highway a mile outside of
Hampton, Florida. Hampton used the speeding ticket money collected to build up a huge police force -- an officer
for every 25 people in town. It was reported that this police force let drugs run rampant while they sat out by
the highway on lawn chairs, pointing radar guns at everybody who passed by. Somewhere along the way, the place
became more than just a speed trap. Some say the ticket money corrupted Hampton, making it the dirtiest little
town in Florida. The speeding tickets were such a cash cow, they proved to be Hampton's undoing. A local sheriff
described it as "serve and collect” instead of “serve and protect.” It became cash register
justice.[2] We here in Greater Boston don’t need to have
a similar state of affairs exist.
I respect laws and their enforcement when both have useful and meaningful purposes. I
respect neither when they are employed for objectives other than for which they were intended, such as enriching
the public coffers for no good reason. Citizens rightly lose respect for laws that punish the innocent. Citizens
lose respect for law enforcement personnel when they are perceived to be working against the common good and against
common sense. We don’t want unnecessary laws and police to enforce foolish laws simply with the object of making
money for our municipalities. In this case, Boston should simply install parking meters and quit the charade of
providing parking for “Residents Only” when there are no residents or of limiting parking to “2 hours” when there
is an overabundance of parking spaces.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
- Belle Isle Marsh Reservation, https://www.mass.gov/locations/belle-isle-marsh-reservation
, Accessed 14 November 2017.
- Speed trap city accused of corruption, threatened with extinction, Ann O'Neill, CNN,
9 March 2014.
|
|
