So my friend Tom Porter emailed me last night wondering if Cinda Jones ever forwarded me the photos she took (with a very nice camera) on the morning of 9/11 in Amherst Town Center. He was six minutes late feeding 'loose change' in the meter and our ultra efficient parking enforcement folks issued a $10 ticket at 9:24 AM.
Of course I could not help but be reminded that nine years earlier on that awful morning about that time Governor Swift had sent all non essential state employees home and my wife reported how eerie it was to drive back to Amherst that afternoon on the Mass Pike with the all the toll booths abandoned.
I wonder how many parking tickets were issued in downtown Amherst nine years earlier around that time with the bells, bells, bells of St Brigid's church clanging away to signal that something had gone terribly wrong on an otherwise gorgeous Tuesday morning.
And Mr. Porter did not want me to attempt to fix the ticket--not that I could. Although I have been told now by two Town Manager's that if I get a parking ticket while on an official ARA (Amherst Redevelopment Authority) business they could indeed "fix it." So I guess the mechanism does exist.
Mr. Porter simply wanted to print the photo to enclose with his check to town parking director Claire McGinnis to demonstrate he was doing something worthwhile that caused that (expensive) six minute overage.
Something worthwhile indeed.
9/11/10 in the People's Republic
Interesting read Larry. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks. As my Chinese friends would say, "May you live in interesting times."
ReplyDeleteLarry you should drop a few pounds. You'll sleep better.
ReplyDeleteYeah, or I could sleep a LOT better by blocking Cowardly Anon Nitwit comments.
ReplyDeleteYou win.
ReplyDeleteI always do with gutless wonders like you.
ReplyDeleteLast word?
ReplyDeleteAll yours.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, what would cyberlife be like without Anons like you?
"May you live in interesting times," is not a compliment.
ReplyDeleteI guess my Chinese friends are like are some of my Anons.
ReplyDeleteToo bad someone had to ruin this blog entry by posting idiotic stuff. It really was a good read and great photo. Thanks Larry.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
ReplyDeletePhoto credit to Cinda Jones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nD7dbkkBIA
ReplyDeletethe truth
I agree. It most definitely is not a complement, it's a curse. Hopefully, you didn't mean that when you answered someone praising your post. Or did you?
ReplyDeleteFrom wikipedia:
May you live in interesting times, often referred to as the Chinese curse, is reputed to be the English translation of an ancient Chinese proverb and curse...
Yeah, and they fly those damn Black Helicopters and meet every five years with the Jewish Bankers on some remote mountain lair somewhere to control everything.
ReplyDeleteNitwit.
Anon 2:21 and Anon 1:44 PM:
ReplyDeleteMay you live in interesting times.
Insulting people seems to be your forte, working well with others, not so much.
ReplyDeleteGee, and that is a recent development???
ReplyDeleteDon't like it, then point your browser elsewhere.
Or better yet, I'm pretty sure Blogger allows for Anon blogs: go start your own.
As my Chinese friends would say, "Jerk."
ReplyDeleteIt was a fairly given parking ticket, not a sign of a nascent communist police state in Amherst or a parking ticket issued to someone fleeing the carnage of 9-11. Get a grip. Either that or you're hurting for things to complain about (the latter is more likely).
ReplyDeleteLook, all they do is look at the meter. If it's expired you get a ticket. They don't know who owns the car and whether that person is holding a flag for 9/11 or just shopping at CVS. They don't know if it expired a minute ago or 25 minutes ago. Don't blame them. They are not uberfast, ready to pounce on your innocent little car. They just make their rounds and they can be a minute away from your car or an hour. It's the luck of the draw. Next time just put in the correct amount.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked in Northampton in a first floor office overlooking the street you could go out just one minute late to put more money in the meter and damn, you'd already have a ticket. We had come to believe that either the meter people had little black books that they made notes in as they checked out meters to see which ones would expire soon, or else had a form of esp that allowed them to zero in on these meters and would stand there until the red flag popped up. They were always ready to pounce. Happened every time.
ReplyDeleteI am the miscreant, the violator.
ReplyDeleteI prepaid an hour in front of Hastings at 8:20, recognized that my time was up at 9:20, 50 paces away at the ("Amherst Savings") bank intersection and I let it ride ten minutes, thus Meter Guy beat me by six minutes. As I said to Larry, I never ever mind paying my $10 ticket to Town of Amherst because 1) each check I write reminds me to celebrate moving back from Washington DC where the city issues $50 tickets that double in ten days, and 2) it's for a worthy cause - my 'broke' hometown, which I love dearly.
Saturday 9/11 was a beautiful morning and the town did a handsome job with its commemoration at the Fire Station.
Thanks for making me a celebrity, Larry!
http://celebrity-romp.blogspot.com/2010/09/ann-campana-judge-rest-in-peace.html
Hey Tom,
ReplyDeleteAs I said to you on that beautiful morning we stood together in town center, I still have it on my "to do" list to video a parking enforcement employee delivering a ticket from start-to-finish. I bet it takes less than 45 seconds.
Saw your lovely mom at Michael Arod's 9/11 Memorial presentation at Umass. She said I should give her a heads up next time, as she too would be proud to stand.
Happy to make you a celebrity--and a much better way to attain it then for Ann Judge or the other 2,995 innocent victims we will always remember (nice tribute by the way)
I'm glad they are efficient because once they start writing you've got your ticket. No reason for them to linger because you aren't going to change their minds. Everyone's got a story. Everyone's got an excuse. "But I just ran in for a moment." They just do their job.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! I've endured the "joys of dealing with the general public" for 28 years, so I'm not trying to criticize them in the least.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually happy--and it sounds like Mr. Porter agrees--they are so efficient (more bang for our tax buck).
I just wish Federal employees had DONE THEIR DAMN JOB leading up to the otherwise brilliant morning now forever remembered simply as, 9/11.
Yeah, the federal employees pissed me off, too. Like that one clown who spent the morning reading a book upside down, looking like a deer in the headlights. And all those other federal employees, who controlled the reading nitwit, and lied to us, telling us Saddam did it.
ReplyDeleteHow many of our own kids and the Iraquis' kids did we kill over those lies?
Have we found even an ounce of "weapons of mass destruction" yet? I'm shocked and awed.
Yeah, F*ck those as*hole federal employees!
God Bless America but curse that group of federal employees.
Yeah, and on another equally fine morning a couple of grunts who were technically "off duty" observed on their newfangled device a large wave of incoming aircraft speeding towards sleeping comrades and their insistent warnings were shrugged off with a lackadaisical "Don't worry about it."
ReplyDeleteAfter all, it was a beautiful Sunday morning in Hawaii, so what Federal employee (probably not earning double-time pay) wanted to be bothered...
And what tremendous difference could have resulted by an hour's worth of coordinated alarm response on 12/7 or 9/11?
Why is this even a story? You exceed the time on the meter, you get a ticket. It doesn't matter if it's 9/11, if you're shopping at a revered local business, or if you're a FOL (Friend of Larry's). Is Mr. Porter asking for special favors? Is Mr. Kelly implying that tickets should not be given out to his friends or at all on 9/11?
ReplyDelete