Visitor Parking Permit - Question (Pittsburgh, Erie: home, live in, authority)

[mikemundt]

I was in Pittsburgh last month visiting some friends, as I've done many times before. I got there around 9pm on Thursday 5/6 and was told by my friend to put a Visitor Parking Permit on my windshield, which I did. The next morning on Friday 5/7... I went to my car to find a Ticket citing "VP2: Visitor Pass Abuse" as the reason. The signs along the entire street read "1 Hour Permit Parking Only", which my friend explained means 1 hour parking unless with a permit. He also told me he's had friends park there with a permit for years and never had a problem.... plus he parks there every day.



Whoever gave me this ticket must have been watching my car like a hawk... because if you look at the ticket, he started watching it at 1:29pm and gave me a ticket at 2:34pm.

Can someone please explain to me what's going on here? I can't believe this sh*t. Am I missing something, or did my friend misinform me about the parking rules? I'm from Eastern PA... so I'm not familiar with Pittsburgh parking laws.

[ferraris]

If you read the back of the permit it says it can only be used three days per month. I'm not sure if that is three days for per permit, or three days per car using the permit, but perhaps that is why?

[greg42]

According to the ordinance, the pass can't be used more than 3 consecutive weekdays in a month for the same car. That's the only restriction mentioned, worded like that. You can read here, in 549.08:

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/pgh...articleVII.pdf

Unfortunately from out of town it may make no sense to fight ticket, but either we're missing something here or it's BS.

Now, the ticket says applicable sign is one-hour parking. Are you sure you were IN the permit area and not a standard area? That's the only other thing that makes sense. Otherwise I'm not seeing why they would deem this to be abuse of the visitor pass.

[mikemundt]

Originally Posted by greg42

According to the ordinance, the pass can't be used more than 3 consecutive weekdays in a month for the same car. That's the only restriction mentioned, worded like that. You can read here, in 549.08:

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/pgh...articleVII.pdf

Unfortunately from out of town it may make no sense to fight ticket, but either we're missing something here or it's BS.

Now, the ticket says applicable sign is one-hour parking. Are you sure you were IN the permit area and not a standard area? That's the only other thing that makes sense. Otherwise I'm not seeing why they would deem this to be abuse of the visitor pass.

Yep, I was given a ticket having been there for only 1 day at that point.... arriving On Thursday May 6th, and finding the ticket on my windshield on Friday May 7th.

My friend is probably going to go contest it for me, since driving 5 hours to fight a $58 ticket is insane.

As far as I could tell... the entire street is labeled with the same sign "1 Hour Permit Parking Only" every 15-20 feet. If you look at the image above in the top right corner is the "1 Hour Permit Parking Only" sign and the next one was about 15-20 feet away.

[mikemundt]

double post, deleted

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by mikemundt

My friend is probably going to go contest it for me, since driving 5 hours to fight a $58 ticket is insane.

It is insane. But it gives you satisfaction when you're right. I drove 5 hours to contest a $65 speeding ticket that I shouldn't have gotten.

[AmFon]

My visitor just recieved a ticket for 549.01 p1:No Residential Parking Permit. The visitors pass was clearly displayed on her dashboard. She visited two years ago and also got a ticket even though the pass was in the window. We paid that ticket for her, because I had an infant at home and couldn't be bothered to fight the ticket.

This is getting ridiculous, all of our visitors use the pass. We have visitors at least 3 times a month or more. The only difference is that my friend has a car with NJ plates. I don't even know how to prove that the resident visitor's pass was in the car at the time the ticket was placed on the car. I can only prove that we were in Erie for two days and she didn't get a ticket on the second day. Any advice?

[tranceFusion]

Didn't you guys hear the new solution to the pension woes? Just ticket anyone with a visitors permit, knowing it will be cost-ineffective for them to drive back and fight it..

[UKyank]

Wow, so glad I don't live in a permit parking area of the city; talk about archaic rules.

[Geeo]

The visitor permit says that it expired on March 1, 2011. Perhaps that's why you were ticketed?