Description

On June 30, 2010 I drove to Asbury Park to watch the Wednesday night fireworks. I parked in what appeared to be space 768, put 75 cents in the parking machine, and put the receipt on the dashboard. The 75 cents would have taken me to 9:16 PM - parking is free after 9 PM.

When I returned to my car, there was a parking ticket on the windshield. I had apparently parked in space 766, not 768. In the photo it is hard to tell. The space to my left was 767. However, one would think that the parking spaces would be numbered from left to right - 765, 766, 767, 768. They're not - so I received a ticket. So I paid 75 cents to park and now have to pay $34 for a parking ticket. So in effect, I could, of course, take the day off (and waste a vacation day) to appear in court on the scheduled court date to fight the ticket. But then I would be wasting a vacation day and there is no guarantee I would win. Or I could pay the ticket - in other words - pay $34.75 to park.

My other recourse is to never ever spend money in Asbury Park again. I could take out on the businesses to make up for the $34 parking overcharge. I would suggest that Asbury Park take the $34 overcharge and hire someone to correctly paint the parking space number. Although I would think Asbury Park would rather leave the space as is and hope others make the same innocent mistake I did and then just pay the @#$% fine.