OT: Parking Ticket at Spring Game in University Lot
I took my son to the recent spring game. Before the game I got an email from U of M that pointed me here:
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/041610aaa.html it says for the Michigan Spring football game "Parking: The lots around Michigan Stadium owned and operated by the University of Michigan are free and open to the public. "
I parked in the same lot I pay to park in for games in the fall. It is owned and operated by the University of Michigan and is near the stadium (but not next to it). According the the note from the University, parking there should be free during the spring game but of course since it was Ann Arbor, I got a ticket anyway.
I appealed to the parking referee and got the following response:
"Thank you for your statements. Your inquiry has been reviewed. It has been decided that the citation in valid. The statement refers to the lots adjacent to the stadium, of which this is not one."
I guess I need to have an argument with what "around" the stadium means. I have no satisfaction from anyone at the U either. Anyone happen to have Brandon's email address?
Why does Ann Arbor continue to piss people off and discourage them from visiting? It's one of the reasons I no longer live there.
I find it interesting you don't name what lot you parked in. As the University appears to claim it wasn't one of the ones adjacent to the stadium, I'm going to go with their vote.
oh and add in the fact the city went back and repealed approximately 97 parking tickets for people who actually did commit 'parking where you shouldn't' violations, i would think they gave it a decent review.
I'm not sure if the money goes to the city or the university, since I don't know where you parked, but if it goes to the city, you really ought to just pay it. The city needs the money. When Pfizer closed down, the city lost its largest source of revenue, and has been hurting.
This is ridiculous. The city is not using parking tickets as a way to make up for losses from Pfizer. Does the money from those tickets even go into the general fund?
The complex was recently purchased by UM for additional research space. I don't know if UM pays property taxes to the city, but the city will see additional revenue from new highly paid researchers spending their money and living in the city. It may not be direct to AA's pockets, but it will get there.
I think many people would agree the city unfairly takes advantage of the students and visitors because they don't think the students or visitors will bother to fight the tickets. He ought to pay it if he was in the wrong, which is not clear due to the ambiguity of the university e-mail.
the city of ann arbor for all my parking tickets for nearly four years straight.
Re: the game... their email was certianly vague, but you dont want to go to court to contest that. Besides, im sure i paid more to get the BTN to watch the spring game on tv then this parking ticket ... and you got to watch the game live.
Use this opportunity to teach the boy that nothing in life, including parking in non-adjacent lots, is free.
While you dont want to pay an attorney to contest the city's language re: parking lots, i bet if you didnt pay the ticket, they'd still let you back into AA. The AA police got rid of the wanted signs a few months ago.
you could probably challenge it in court, hire a lawyer, and probably win. But that seems like a pretty empty victory to me. I once got a ticket on North Campus that actually was filled out before my meter expired, but the cop put the ticket on my car a minute after expiration. Life's not fair. Roll with the punches.
It does not take a lawyer to fight it but would be a pain in the ass. But as I remember as a student they don't tow until the 5th or 7th ticket? I'm not sure what the penalty is if you don't pay but I'll probably go that route at this point. I have more than one car so keeping that one out of Ann Arbor will not be a problem.
I tried that when I was a senior. Problem is, your car has a license plate number. The state has a database that will allow the city to find your mailing address. They increase the late fees, add additional fines, and threaten bench warrants. Unless you plan to live "off the grid," you probably can't beat it by laying low.
I caved when my $20 in tickets cost me $80. But if you want to see what happens if you just continually don't respond, please let me know how it works out.
Way to be. I have 8 or so parking tickets that were issued to me when I would make trips to see my friends in East Lansing. Haven't paid a one.
and the reason that was stated on the ticket was "Michigan Bumper Sticker." Never paid that one...
Parking ticket in Columbus is still distant second to getting tazered by riot police in Wisco on Halloween of 2003.
but man, the memories....
April 27th, 2010 at 10:38 PM ^
Did you ask him not to taze you, Bro?
I parked in the Red Lot and was worried but luckily nothing happened.
the guy with the wolverine hat thing that I asked if it was okay to park in Red Lot, were you?
Oh wait, that was a different thread...
and you got nailed because of it. I don't know anyone who's lived in this town for more than three hours who hasn't gotten shafted with an unfair parking ticket at least once. Sometimes you can beat them, but it's not frequent. You have my sympathy, but I agree with the others that you probably should pay up unless you feel like spending $$ on a lawyer on principle. You should definitely send a letter/email to Brandon, not in the expectations that he will get the ticket wiped, but because the AD needs to be aware of A2 city policies that piss off fans.
I hope that the city isn't using parking ticket revenue to replace what they lost from Pfizer. They'd end up with a CBD looking like a ghost town if they tried to write that many.
I'm sorry for your ticket, and I don't think you should have to pay it if the email was too vague. But, please leave Mr. Brandon alone. He doesn't have time to worry about your personal business, he's busy running our athletic department, which, sorry to say, is way more important to me that your parking ticket.
edit: WTF, this should have gone as a comment, not a reply...
soon Brian will have to change the name of the blog to MGoTrafficCitations.
The problem here is that the parking guide referred to lots around the stadium, while the official response to the complaint said it referred to lots adjacent to the stadium. Those two words aren't necessarily the same thing. But unfortunately, I don't think you're going to get anywhere with this.
Here is a link to the annarbor.com article. I'm not sure if it will help you or not, but take a look:
http://www.annarbor.com/news/95-parking-tickets-voided-after-u-m-footba…
We went to Dominick's after the game and I got hit with one on Tappan. Silly me, I thought meters weren't enforced on the weekends. Apparently, so did the other 50 or so vehicles that parked there.
I was on a date and went to a hockey game and could not find a place to park. Everyone was parking in the "no parking here to corner" so I thought the most I would get was a ticket. Well they rolled out a fleet of tow trucks and towed about 50 cars including mine (nice impression for a first date). I should have known better and that one was my fault.
But NEVER NEVER try to use common sense with parking in Ann Arbor. I've gotten tickets with commercial plates while loading and unloading (within the 15 minutes). It's a major revenue source and they take it seriously.
"..went to Dominick's after the game and I got hit with a Tampon."
Long day - I think it's time to go home now.
was it used?
that they brought the wood.
/funwithscreennames
I agree and this has me stumped.
The city has one of the highest property tax rates in the state and the huge bureaucracy to support it. I give money to the University, the Band, and spend money every time I visit. I don't need to pay an additional parking tax.
but you have not experienced the depths of parking hell unless you live in Chicago.
In my life, I've gotten like 3 tickets in Ann Arbor and 2 from Chicago. I lived in Ann Arbor, and I visited Chicago. Yeah, I have a special place in my hatred for Chicago Parking Nazis.
Well...been there. It's not that you did anything wrong. Its not that the city is doing anything out of character for them...Parking in Ann Arbor sucks. There is nothing fair or reasonable about it, rules(posted, unposted, or rumored) will be enforced arbitrarily and with great vengeance but again, its best if you do not expect them to be fair or reasonable. I call it a blue tax. It's just something you've got to put up with to enjoy what the city has to offer. I gaurantee if you were on Family Feud and they asked 100 people "Ann Arbor is a great city except for (blank)" parking enforcement would be the number one answer. To use an overused phraise, "It is what it is."
If you would like to speak to the AD on the phone his office phone # is (734) 764 9416. Got it off mgoblue.com
During one of the football games for (literally) being 1/2 a foot over the sidewalk in a driveway. Worst part was we could have pulled up for that extra foot and not got towed.
They are ridiculous, they are out to get your money. Tow trucks IMO are like telemarketers they are some of the biggest scum of the Earth.
April 27th, 2010 at 11:19 PM ^
in front of a sign that said "no parking except on football game days," I asked the AA parking citation officer nearby if I was going to get ticketed. "Don't worry about it," she said. "We've been ticketing all morning, and then we got chewed out, so now we're supposed to stop. You should be fine."
I was relieved.
"I'm just going to give out a couple more tickets, and then I'm going to go home," she said. That didn't really make any sense to me, but I walked away to the game. No ticket when I returned.