Taking out few hours to attend court is still ok - how about having your license suspended for a whole month?
Recently one of my friend got suspension of his DL notice - saying he has unpaid parking tickets. Of course he had none and the parking ticket with the notice was for a car that was unknown to him.
Eventually he was able to get the ticket dismissed and license reinstated- but only after a month without being able to drive.

Here is one for you guys. The city put in a new street sign on our block. It is right in the middle of the block, and indicates that from that point to the corner, ALL OF A SUDDEN, there is a bus stop and no parking. Generous amount of space for a bus stop, right? Fine, I am all for public transport...I can accept the bus stop now taking up half of the block.

Well the probem is they didn't take down any of the other signs, which all point to this area as a typical 2 hour/permit parking area. Thus, creating the classic conflicting sign situation. Problem is unless you check the entire block, you would have no way of knowing you are now in a bust stop. A parker's worst nightmare! The grounds to issue a ticket, and the clearly winnable challenge. All adding up to a municipal court appearance!!

So I get two tickets there. I challenge the tickets. I go to court, bring my pictures, explain my case and have both tickets dismissed...in open court, on the record, in front of a judge.....the whole nine yards.

Alas, two weeks later I get two notices in the mail for a failure to appear for those two tickets! Its like I never took a day off and went to the JC municipal court! Its like it was all a horrific nightmare and I imagined sitting next to scary, smelly, cracked-out felons in municipal court! But no wait a second.....I remember...I DID go to that court, I have one less sick day available to me at work to prove it!

So when I call the court...wait on hold for 20 minutes and finally reach someone......guess what they tell me??? "You are going to have to appear again!"

Needless to say, that is not happening. My letter explaining this situation, and taking a good half hour of my time, is in the mail. I am now awaiting the JCPA response!

JCPA is the biggest criminal in all of JC!!!!!!

Thanks for the info, everyone! I will pass along Mark Russ's information to my boyfriend. What would be the best way to contact Fulop?

Thanks!

A lawsuit can be costly and time consuming. What about approaching the issue in a more diplomatic way? According to this page (http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/agencies.aspx?id=1196) the Director of JCPA is Mark Russ.

Here is his e-mail and phone extension:
http://www.jcparking.org/contact%20info.htm

I would start by sending him an e-mail, or calling him, and arranging a meeting to discuss what the problems are.

Alternatively we can talk to Steven Fulop and he may able to talk to JCPA directly.

This is absolutely ridiculous. They own us. On JClist alone there have been hundreds of stories of abuse of power from so many people here, I can't even imagine how many more people have been taken advantage of (i.e. those who do not know about the bitchfest possibilities of JCList)

I know this has been mentioned before but perhaps it really is time for a class action law suit against the JCPA. Perhaps this blatant abuse of power could be somewhat curtailed, and possibly, I dream here, those who have been the victim of such obvious crime could be reimbursed for the unlawful booting and time taken from work. At the very least it would get the attention of local media and perhaps inspire an investigation into this type of fraud.

Does anyone know how we can get a class action suit like this started?

I'm guessing since it as city run agency, the Better Business Bureau wouldn't really apply.

Does anyone work for a law firm in Hudson county that would be willing to advise?

I must mention, I luckily have not been the target (YET), but am just awaiting the day. However, I do feel these illegal dealings should be brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities. If unchecked, we all know this will continue. And seriously how many more threads can we read about the JCPA?

Who is with me?

Going to court to defend yourself against a ticket is punishment greater than the ticket itself in 9 times out of 10. They know this and therefore have no reason to discourage inaccurate or unjust ticketing.

They can reduce inaccurate ticketing by properly documenting every ticket - simply and cheaply with a digital camera. From a good photo, it should be obvious to a judge if an offense took place. (in my opinion, every public servant should have a camera wired to their badge to record every moment dealing with the public - nanny state cam)

If you get an unjust ticket, you should be able to defend youself via mail or internet. Send in your evidence and let the judge decide. Leave room for an appeal.

If you win in court against the city unjustly giving you a ticket, you should receive a sum to offset your "pain and suffering" inflicted by getting the ticket, stressing about it, and having to take time off to deal with it.

My girlfriend's car has been ticketed 3 times for not having a permit since last September and she has a permit. They won't do anything. We've gotten apologies in writing from them and the last time they ticketed her they did not place a boot on the car but you have to go to court no matter what. The court is a whole other total screw up. The parking authority should be sued for harassment and negligence.

My boyfriend got a permit last week to park his car in one of the JCPA municipal lots (the one downtown on Newark Ave. by the BoA). He had his car parked there last Wednesday night with his permit correctly displayed on his back windshield. Thursday morning he noticed he had received a ticket.

He called the parking authority numerous times & ended up taking a half day today go and to talk to them in person. They gave him something in writing saying that the ticket was issued in error (THEIR error).

However, they STILL want him to go to court (Aug. 8th) to get the ticket cleared. This will require him taking off another half day, which he can't really afford to do. It doesn't seem right that he should have to go to court, because they arbitrarily wrote him a ticket. How often is this going to happen?

Is there any way he can get out of the court appearance? Has anyone here ever got a permit for the municipal lot? It's okay if this is a one time thing, but he doesn't have time for it to be a normal occurence.

Are there any other inexpensive off-street parking options downtown or in Journal Square? Or does anyone know of a private space available for rent in someone's driveway? This lot is SO much cheaper than the private lots, and I'm thinking I know why.

Just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this & any tips would be appreciated!!