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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

Downtown Ticket Angers Shopper

Tweeter McWriters writes to Huckleberries: After enjoying a great lunch with three of my children and their grandmother at Cafe Carambolo (Wednesday afternoon), we decided to head downtown to get cupcakes from Sweet B's Cupcakes (on 5th Street, just north of Sherman). As we drove down 5th Street, the street was closed off due to folks setting up for the Farmer's Market. So, in lieu of turning around and parking over a block away, we decided to pull in the parking lot right next to Sweet B's, run in and select our 6 cupcakes. We parked at right around 2:10pm. When we came back out to my truck (at 2:26pm - I looked at the clock intentionally after retrieving the violation from my windshield) a parking violation had been issued at 2:16pm in the amount of $20.00 due to "no advanced payment" from Diamond Parking Services. More from McWriters below.

Question: Should McWriters have received a parking ticket?

Now, if I had just parked there during the day without paying, I would be fine (irritated, but fine) with receiving a violation. However, all of the street parking (free parking) is closed off right there while vendors are setting up for the Farmer's Market. It would seem reasonable then that the city allow for people to park without the threat of receiving a violation in spaces available. I am a bit irritated with the way this all transpired. I'm extremely irritated because I parked there to patronize a local business with my family. I parked there because I didn't want my aging mother to have to walk several blocks. I'm not sure I have much leverage, but I do plan to appeal the citation because I don't see how enforcing parking violations when the city takes away free parking spaces is reasonable.



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.