I am a unemployed, Disabled American Veteran. I am married and have 3 children. At the time of the unjust violation i had 2 children and my wife was 8 months pregnant. On 7-12-14 the family and i drove from our home in Norfolk, VA to Philadelphia, PA. The city officials of Philadelphia for some reason posted signs for the date of 7-12-14 on a stretch of poles stating no parking from 7am-3pm tow-away zone. I parked in a spot labeled with one of these signs at 4:31pm after the time stated on the hand written sign i paid for 2 hours worth of time at the kiosk next to my car and left my receipt in plain sight on the dashboard. I returned to my vehicle at 6:15pm to see that at 4:45 pm a meter maid came to my parking spot and put a ticket on my vehicle stating i had parked in a handicap spot and my fine was $301. There was no handicap sign posted when i parked there had there been one in plain sight i certainly would not have parked there. While the meter maid was at my parking spot he pulled down the hand written and posted sign just enough so that it would reveal half of a handicap sign that it was concealing. Also no blue lines were painted on the pavement to reveal that the spot was handicapped. The ticket said i had 15 days to pay or i would be subject to late fees to the fine. I submitted a dispute online and feel that online process to dispute the ticket is a sham. When i was filling out the dispute no where on the site did it say that there was a character limit to the statement that i could submit. So essentially my statement that i submitted was cut in half and i feel that my first amendment right was violated because they did not care to hear what i had to say. How can a person properly try to defend themselves when the people and policies set in place by a government are harsh, unjust, and criminal. So after my sham of dispute was submitted i was notified it could take up to 30 days to hear about my appeal. I received a letter in the mail today stting that my appeal had been denied and that i had 10 days from the calendar date that the letter was mailed to me to pay the fine. The letter was mailed on August 4th so i have 3 days to come up with $301 or i will be subject to a $25 late fee. I called the number for customer service at the Philadelphia Parking Authority and stated i wanted to submit a complaint the customer service agent was not cooperative she stated it is online somewhere and i needed to look for it i asked for a direct email or website and she stated she did not know what it was. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said she would have to have them call me so i left her my number, realisticly i feel i will not get a call because i do not feel that the city of Philadelphia nor the sate of PA care about my rights, she gave me a confirmation number of 2143. I feel that the State of PA has taken advantage of me and i'm sure i am not the only one that feels this way. They have abused their power for personal gain. I can't afford this ticket, i don't know what to do because i don't feel i was at fault and i feel like a victim to entrapment and bait-n-switch tactics. From the moment i saw the ticket on my windshield i knew that the state of PA was not going to give me a fair shake.
Philadelphia Parking Authority Reviews
I am a unemployed, Disabled American Veteran. I am married and have 3 children. At the time of the unjust violation i had 2 children and my wife was 8 months pregnant. On 7-12-14 the family and i drove from our home in Norfolk, VA to Philadelphia, PA. The city officials of Philadelphia for some reason posted signs for the date of 7-12-14 on a stretch of poles stating no parking from 7am-3pm tow-away zone. I parked in a spot labeled with one of these signs at 4:31pm after the time stated on the hand written sign i paid for 2 hours worth of time at the kiosk next to my car and left my receipt in plain sight on the dashboard. I returned to my vehicle at 6:15pm to see that at 4:45 pm a meter maid came to my parking spot and put a ticket on my vehicle stating i had parked in a handicap spot and my fine was $301. There was no handicap sign posted when i parked there had there been one in plain sight i certainly would not have parked there. While the meter maid was at my parking spot he pulled down the hand written and posted sign just enough so that it would reveal half of a handicap sign that it was concealing. Also no blue lines were painted on the pavement to reveal that the spot was handicapped. The ticket said i had 15 days to pay or i would be subject to late fees to the fine. I submitted a dispute online and feel that online process to dispute the ticket is a sham. When i was filling out the dispute no where on the site did it say that there was a character limit to the statement that i could submit. So essentially my statement that i submitted was cut in half and i feel that my first amendment right was violated because they did not care to hear what i had to say. How can a person properly try to defend themselves when the people and policies set in place by a government are harsh, unjust, and criminal. So after my sham of dispute was submitted i was notified it could take up to 30 days to hear about my appeal. I received a letter in the mail today stting that my appeal had been denied and that i had 10 days from the calendar date that the letter was mailed to me to pay the fine. The letter was mailed on August 4th so i have 3 days to come up with $301 or i will be subject to a $25 late fee. I called the number for customer service at the Philadelphia Parking Authority and stated i wanted to submit a complaint the customer service agent was not cooperative she stated it is online somewhere and i needed to look for it i asked for a direct email or website and she stated she did not know what it was. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said she would have to have them call me so i left her my number, realisticly i feel i will not get a call because i do not feel that the city of Philadelphia nor the sate of PA care about my rights, she gave me a confirmation number of 2143. I feel that the State of PA has taken advantage of me and i'm sure i am not the only one that feels this way. They have abused their power for personal gain. I can't afford this ticket, i don't know what to do because i don't feel i was at fault and i feel like a victim to entrapment and bait-n-switch tactics. From the moment i saw the ticket on my windshield i knew that the state of PA was not going to give me a fair shake.