A bit disappointed and now have a ticket too. (Denver: crime, how much) - Colorado (CO) - City-Data Forum

GVR1670 · 07-12-2012, 01:31 PM

Hello all! I am new to the forum and have been running into some seriously bad luck with your city.

I decided to set up a small vacation at a resort in Denver with my fiance for last weekend. Due to the fires and all of the stress in Colorado Springs these past few weeks, we figured we would go on a small vacation for the weekend. During our visit, we go to the Cherry Creek art festival and I got a ticket from a meter maid for no front plate, a $75 fine. The next day, I find then my rear plate is gone. I didn't know my plates were missing until I got the ticket. I have reported the plates as stolen and have a new set. My question is, if I make the drive to Denver and go in front of the Magistrate and tell them what happened, would they drop the charges? My vehicle is legal and did have plates before I entered your city.

I must say, 3rd time is the charm with this city. The first time I visited as a tourist my car was stolen and I was stranded. The second time I visited the city I was victim to a parking scam which took me 2 years to fix and was also a terribly stressful deal. That scam is still a problem to this day and the city won't do anything about it. Now I give it one last chance and not only do my plates get stolen, but I get a ticket on top of it.

In Cherry Creek, we went to a small restaurant called Syrup in the morning, and while we were walking to a shop after eating there, I watched the meter maid walk to my car, look at the meter, and then circle my car trying to find something wrong. I didn't want to get into a fight with him, and I knew my car and the meter were good, so I kept it to myself and we just kept walking to the shop. He obviously found what he was looking for and gave me a $75 ticket for it. As a tourist, and as a person which has spent a lot of money there, I am never going back. Your town has a serious problem and it is driving away people who enjoy what the place has to offer, and we are people who will spend a lot of money when we vacation somewhere. We bought 3 pieces of art at the festival and also bought a few things in the Mall near-by, not to mention many of the places we stopped by to eat in too. To see a meter maid trying to find something wrong with my vehicle to write me a ticket (profiling possibly because it's a nice car) just doesn't seem right. His ticket was right, I didn't have a front plate, but I didn't know I was missing the front plate as his corrupt town had someone take it.

On another note, the romantic bar in which we had in our resort had a terribly rude waiter. He purposely ignored us the first night we were there, and did the same the second night. Seems like not only the city, but the people are unfriendly as well.

I just don't want to waste another trip to that damn place to wave a $75 ticket if it's not a sure thing. If anyone knows how nice, or how much of an jerk, the parking magistrate is, please let me know. I am more than willing to make the trip up there for $75 if that means I don't have to give the money to this frustrating city! I have all of the paperwork to prove this, and I also have all of my paperwork from my previous encounters with this town too if they would like to look at it. I have been all over the World and have never had issues like in your city. We love what the city has to offer, but my poor car always has someone looking to do something to it and it's an old M5!! It's not right and you are losing good customers/tourists because of it.

Thanks very much!

Jack

Snikt · 07-12-2012, 01:47 PM

You must have the worst luck or be making some of this up?

Never seen any of those issues and I've lived here a couple years. Tons of people drive around with no front plate with out of state license places from states that don't have one. Never heard of anyone having their plate stolen either

harrison21 · 07-12-2012, 02:18 PM

Is it really illegal to not have a front license plate? My car doesn't even have a spot for one- how am I supposed to attach it?

I've been pulled over twice since moving here a couple of years ago (luckily, just received warnings both times) and the cop never said anything about it. However, this wasn't in the Denver area...maybe they are more strict there?

Snikt · 07-12-2012, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harrison21

Is it really illegal to not have a front license plate? My car doesn't even have a spot for one- how am I supposed to attach it?

I've been pulled over twice since moving here a couple of years ago (luckily, just received warnings both times) and the cop never said anything about it. However, this wasn't in the Denver area...maybe they are more strict there?

If you have Colorado plates yes you need a front one, that's why they give you 2 in the title office. Surprising it doesn't have a place for it? Even my aftermarket winch bumper on my Jeep has a place for it.

Some people do put them in the front windshield facing out though

harrison21 · 07-12-2012, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snikt

If you have Colorado plates yes you need a front one, that's why they give you 2 in the title office. Surprising it doesn't have a place for it? Even my aftermarket winch bumper on my Jeep has a place for it.

Some people do put them in the front windshield facing out though

Nope, I bought the car in another state, so possibly front plates weren't required in that state. There are no holes/screws or anything in the front to attach a plate. I think I still have the other one laying around somewhere...I am taking it to the dealer next week anyway. It's a subaru, do you think they would drill it on there for me if I asked?

Snikt · 07-12-2012, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harrison21

Nope, I bought the car in another state, so possibly front plates weren't required in that state. There are no holes/screws or anything in the front to attach a plate. I think I still have the other one laying around somewhere...I am taking it to the dealer next week anyway. It's a subaru, do you think they would drill it on there for me if I asked?

I moved from FL with an out of state Subaru and it had the places for the holes, just not drilled out. I think they would, they also sell cheap front plate kits at Autozone, Advance Auto, etc..

Mach50 · 07-12-2012, 02:40 PM

The parking authority and ticketing is out of control in this city, vultures ....pure predatory cash vultures.

Make sure you pay it quickly too... 20 days and it doubles! Vultures.

Cherry Creek and the surrounding area is known for its car thefts, break-ins and home burglaries. Not much crime otherwise.

chilaili · 07-12-2012, 02:41 PM

Wow, I've never heard of anyone, living in or out of Colorado, have this kind of trouble in Denver. Did you kick a black cat when you got here or something? I visited as a tourist for 10 years and never encountered this kind grief.

ChrisFromChicago · 07-12-2012, 02:48 PM

Okay, so I attended the cherry creek festival. I just moved to denver (I have conneticut plates). I've never had a problem.

So if both plates were stolen (when does that happen). . showing you purchased new plates might be good. A judge will ask themselves if you are lying . . .who knows what they decide. I don't think we would know 100% one way or another.

Here is what I learned about this, works for bussiness too. Escalate. Problem with Comcast, go to CEO.

Problem with the police? try both the Chief directly (via letter) as well as Mayor. Stress the story, The hardship of coming back to denver, and you just need someone to help you. You are woried for the safety of citizens (what if someone is using your plates). . .

I would try it at least. . .I think the "someone stole my plates then I got a ticket" is pretty decent. Would leave out the denver bashing.

(the above helped me when I moved to CT. They wouldn't accept the Illinois registration. . because their book said illinois did something different. They wanted me to jump through ton of hoops. I hit up the state senator of the area. . .and then I got a private session and a new plate without a wait)

hammertime33 · 07-12-2012, 03:52 PM

Some people are such complainers. I lived in various places in Denver for more than 2 decades (I know I'm in NYC now, but Denver is home and I've been away less than a year), drove and parked on meter and or time/permit regulated streets in Cherry Creek, downtown, etc thousand of times, and I only received 3 tickets in all that time - all of which were my fault. Despite that, each time I took 15 minutes to visit the parking magistrate, who every time cut the fine in half.

Stop blaming other people for your mistakes.