More parking problems -- the cops are a menace
I stopped in front of the Windisch-Hunt Art Gallery to see if there were any toys dropped off for the Toy Drive, I was making my rounds to pick up from various places. I parked in front, ran in for a second and when I exited, there was a cop, not a meter maid, a cop, ready to write a ticket.
The City of Miami Police are now stalking people in the Grove looking for problems. Are they short on money this month? Are they trying to raise money for the City by writing 1000 tickets a day in Coconut Grove, raising money for the City but scaring off customers for the tax-paying businesses?
This has happened at the gallery in the past with the meter maid. A person is lugging a $10,000 painting out of the gallery and is being ticketed by the meter maid because for some weird reason, this area is marked with weird signs that say "loading zone," "tour bus zone," "no parking", "yes parking," and "stand on your head parking." And of course no one has a clue what is going on. Because the signs are very confusing -- maybe on purpose?
I just assumed that loading an expensive painting into the car or picking up toys for a toy drive comes into the category of "loading" and/or "unloading."
I had to stop at the La Fenice Salon on Rice Street next for a toy pick up, but I skipped it today. I wasn't ready to park in the garage and drag a load of toys down the block when a quick run in and out would have done it.
But anyway, the Gallery at 2911 Grand Avenue and La Fenice at 3333 Rice Street are two of the many participating merchants in the Toy Drive. Please contribute. I'll manage to pick up the toys and deliver them, even if I do get a parking ticket in the process. Focaccia (3111 Grand Avenue) is another place collecting toys, but they have parking, so I can get the toys easily there.
The City of Miami Police are now stalking people in the Grove looking for problems. Are they short on money this month? Are they trying to raise money for the City by writing 1000 tickets a day in Coconut Grove, raising money for the City but scaring off customers for the tax-paying businesses?
This has happened at the gallery in the past with the meter maid. A person is lugging a $10,000 painting out of the gallery and is being ticketed by the meter maid because for some weird reason, this area is marked with weird signs that say "loading zone," "tour bus zone," "no parking", "yes parking," and "stand on your head parking." And of course no one has a clue what is going on. Because the signs are very confusing -- maybe on purpose?
I just assumed that loading an expensive painting into the car or picking up toys for a toy drive comes into the category of "loading" and/or "unloading."
I had to stop at the La Fenice Salon on Rice Street next for a toy pick up, but I skipped it today. I wasn't ready to park in the garage and drag a load of toys down the block when a quick run in and out would have done it.
But anyway, the Gallery at 2911 Grand Avenue and La Fenice at 3333 Rice Street are two of the many participating merchants in the Toy Drive. Please contribute. I'll manage to pick up the toys and deliver them, even if I do get a parking ticket in the process. Focaccia (3111 Grand Avenue) is another place collecting toys, but they have parking, so I can get the toys easily there.
posted by Tom Falco at 4:00 PM
YOU MAY NOT LIFT THE PHOTOS & TEXT. IT'S COPYRIGHTED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. YOU CAN HOWEVER SHARE A STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA BY USING THE LINKS HERE.
For linking to this one story, just click on the time it was posted & just this story will open for sharing - only through social media. Not copying and pasting.
21 Comments:
I've repeatedly e-mailed our our great Grove representative, Mr.Sarnoff (and others) about this very issue, also about parking, etc, and certain other issues.
Of course, no replies, Miami City money talks. So who cares.
Grape, you are very honorable for helping to get toys for kids. But if the cop did not see you loading, why would he not ticket a car in a loading zone?
Officer saw me park in front of the UPS store when I was getting my mail. Waited until I went inside then ran and starting 'writing' his ticket.
No warning and definitely not here to 'protect and serve'.
We have cars barreling down Virginia and police officers double parked in front of Olav's causing traffic issues.
Ridiculous.
Merry Christmas!
They should switch to writing speeding tickets instead.
Miami is not friendly to pedestrians and regular people who park and walk to shop.
Not to mention the damn cabs that park all over Virginia St. taking up all the parking spaces or doublepaprking so cars can't pass so they can chat with each other.
Carry a sign that you can put on your dashboard that says Loading and put your company name on it.
We have run in places like Kinkos, Starbucks, and no place to park.
The city is going nuts giving permit violations as well. I suppose they want to raise money for their budget short falls. The government should be ashamed because they caused this and do we have to put up with them?
Grape - So after all the hubbub on this blog about increasing police presence and being ticketed, you went and parked in a space knowing full well that you shouldnt be parked there and then were surprised to get a ticket? Is this really happening? I feel like Im in the bizarro world where common sense does not exist. So did you get the ticket anyways? You never mentioned if you actually got a ticket or not.
And Anon @ 1040 - If the officer waited until you went inside, how did you see him "run" and then start writing a ticket? Do you have x-ray vision? Or maybe you were just conducting a sting operation?
Blind Mind, I think the point of the story is that the signs are confusing and people don't know when they can park and when they cannot.
It's not confusing. If it looks like you don't have to pay, then you can't park there. Bike or pay; simple.
There's a few hundred thousand people fighting for a few hundred spots in the Grove, Beach, Sunset, Miracle Mile & Downtown. Why is it so difficult to swallow that there can't be any free lunches!
Because you ARE allowed to park there at certain times and days, the signs are confusing as to which days and times.
To Anonymous December 10, 2008 8:42:
The cops are watching people buy the parking tickets, putting them in their windshield and then walking over and ticketing them because people think you can park there. the signs are very confusing. people are paying. the cops are being asses.
The cops are laying in wait. This is not the usual meter readers, something vicious is going on. I've never seen it like this before.
Anon @ 749am - It is not confusing. The signs say "No Parking", "Loading Zone", or "Tour Bus Zone". Unless you are a tour bus or a commercial truck loading/unloading, you cant park there. Ive lived in the Grove for 8 years and this has never been an issue. Just dont park there. Its really quite simple.
"Linda" - Vicious? Gimme a break. A lot of the commenters on this blog are the kings and queens of exaggeration and conspiracy theories. Its quite amusing how all of the comments that support these rants all seem to come from "anonymous" or some other unlinkable name, almost like one person is writing all of them. Hmmm...
I agree with Blind Mind. It's rather childish to park illegally and then rant and rave when you get the inevitable ticket. I always put change in the meter, even if I'm just dropping something off.
Yeah, parking is a hassle in the Grove. If you have a better idea for how to allocate this scarce resource, I'm sure that the Village Council is all ears.
Try Commodore, you can't park in front of the school, you can't park in front of the Commodore Inn, you can't park during the day in the valet parking spaces, then there are the loading zones for certain hours on certain days, nothing is clearly marked on these signs. The only thing that is clearly marked is the sign on surface lots that you can pay $6 to park even it is only 15 min. We want to support our businesses but I am not parking 4 blocks away to run into a store for 15 min.
Blind Mind I'm not anonymous. made a special trip to read the sign. Saturday morning a shopping day you could have brought a double wide though these streets. The police were parked out front with an I dare you to just stop for even a minute to unload and it took just that to write all the tickets of those who made that mistake. The sign reads tour bus underneath it loading zone. With a business district that depends on deliveries I thought it was both a tour bus stop as well as a loading zone. NO
not so, definitely confusing.
Grape,
why don't you start a petition through the blog, to send to Sarnoff.
Perhaps they can do a free parking for the next 3 months in the Grove. It's a great marketing tool and might even bring more people in to help our businesses.
In the meantime, the commish could look like a saviour, understanding the needs of Grove merchants during these tough times.
I have to agree with BlindMind, why is everyone upset that they didn't get to park in a metered parking space for free and without a ticket. It is like anywhere else, if you don't pay, you risk getting a ticket.
I avoid having to search for a parking space and pay for a meter by walking from my home to the "center grove" to run errands, go shopping, get a cup of coffee, etc. It's a great way to actually enjoy the locale we live in and drop in to the local businesses that need our support.
People ARE PAYING for parking. But the parking spaces are very confusing the way they are marked. So even with a paid ticket in the windshield, they are getting ticketed.
Doesnt matter if you have a ticket on your windshield if you are parked in a loading zone or tour bus zone. You cant park there, period. Blind Mind is right. You knew you werent allowed to park there and did anyways. Therefore, you get a ticket. You did get a ticket right? Or did you tell them you were Tom from the Grove Grapevine and they gave you free champagne?
We should eliminate parking meters entirely. It would greatly increase the perception of Coconut Grove and make it a worth destination. The increased business--and the taxes yielded thereby--would more than offset the income from meters. Does anybody know the meter income anyway? I was never more impressed by a downtown than in La Jolla, California. There they allow two hours free parking on the street. For longer times there were plenty of off street garages. The parking attendents drove around marking the tires with chalk so they could see how long you'd been in a space. We should copy La Jolla in the Grove.
Post a Comment
<< Home