Free Republic

Got two cars on crowded Capitol Hill or Lower Queen Anne? Parking could become an even bigger headache than it is now. Faced with more cars than places to park on Seattle streets, the city's Transportation Department is considering restricting the number of residential parking permits people can have. In the densest areas – the heart of Capitol Hill around Denny Way, First Hill, Lower Queen Anne, the Pike-Pine corridor, and the Cascade neighborhood – households would have to make do with only one permit. In others – Wallingford, the eastern part of the University District, Eastlake, less dense areas...

Think there's no such thing as too much parking? Take a look at Tysons Corner, where there's more parking than jobs, more parking than office space, more parking than in downtown Washington. That must change, said advocates and politicians seeking to transform Virginia's largest business hub from suburb to city. Reducing parking, charging for parking and finding new uses for the acres of parking that separate Tysons' buildings and the people inside is at the heart of plans to remake the area.... "Who wants parking spaces to be the hallmark of a development?" said Clark Tyler, chairman of a Fairfax...

PORTLAND, Ore. — A lawyer who watched a police officer park illegally in front of a restaurant, then wait around while his meal was prepared, issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated violations. Eric Bryant said he was sitting at the restaurant March 7 when Officer Chad Stensgaard parked his patrol car next to a no-parking sign and walked inside to wait for his food, the Portland Mercury reported Thursday. Bryant told the weekly paper that when he asked Stensgaard about his car, the officer asked Bryant: "If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be...

CCTV cameras to be used to issue parking tickets Last updated at 20:22pm on 24.03.08    New regulations: Councils will have the power to use video footage to issue fines where it is deemed impractical for wardens to hand out tickets CCTV cameras will be used to enforce parking restrictions and issue tickets under regulations due to come into force next week. Councils will be given the power to use video footage to hand out fines where it is deemed impractical for traffic wardens to issue tickets in person.A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport (DfT) said it would...

Parking outside your home could cost more if you have a long carBy MATTHEW HICKLEY - More by this author » Last updated at 22:31pm on 31st December 2007Motorists face a fresh financial onslaught with rules linking the cost of parking outside their homes to the length of their cars.  Owners of many ordinary family cars - including the Ford Focus, Renault Scenic and Vauxhall Vectra - will see the price of annual permits almost double as part of a move to encourage drivers to switch to small hatchbacks. Campaigners condemned the move as another 'stealth tax' for hard-hit...

The question of just how long it should take to eat fast food is being answered by the burger giant McDonald's, which is making customers finish within 45 minutes or face a charge of £125. Motorists who care to linger over their McMeals for any longer at some drive-throughs are receiving demands from a private company that manages car parks for the burger chain. If they do not pay, the fee rises steadily and customers are threatened with court action and approached by bailiffs. A spokeswoman for McDonald's said the 45-minute restrictions had been introduced at about 40 restaurants because...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A suburban parking official is threatening to auction off a Marine Corps recruiter's car tied to nearly $5,000 in unpaid tickets, part of what the city claims is the Corps' roughly $94,000 tab. "We've tried to be reasonable, but all we've been getting is the run-around," Parking Commissioner Albert Moroni said. The car will be put up for sale in September unless the fines are paid, he said. The vehicle, bearing U.S. government license plates and a Marine Corps decal, was parked in a city garage without payment, according to Moroni. It has racked up 94...

The cameras that will catch drivers who stay too long in a parking space 25.07.07  Millions of motorists face being sent automated tickets through the post if they are caught on cameras trained on parking bays, the Government revealed today.Thousands of spies in the sky will remove the need for traffic wardens or parking attendants to physically slap a ticket on a windscreen.Instead, drivers who overstay will simply have their car photographed and will receive their fine through the post - in the same way as getting a speed camera endorsement.At present, only drivers in London can be penalised...

I've been trying for two weeks, without success, to come up with a humorous angle on this story so bear with me. Yes, my identity was thefted. Yes, the consequences have been relatively minor. Yes, I'm pissed as hell and want to have the guy strung up by his scrotum in a junkyard filled with hungry, snarling Rottweilers. And I would prescribe a more torturous fate for the long line of bureaucrats and political flunkies who could have helped at any point along the line, but chose to do nothing other than suggest that I "pay the two dollars." Well,...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man accused of running over the foot of a woman who tried to save a parking space before the Colts' AFC championship game says his vehicle never touched her. Crystal Lockaby, 25, of Greenwood, said she was standing in an open parking space near the RCA Dome on Sunday, waiting for her boyfriend to bring their car around, when Kenneth Jones pulled his 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer into the spot, according to a police report. Lockaby told police she threw her hands up motioning him to stop. She said Jones pulled forward, bumping her several times and running...

Tickets For Officials Near $18 Million Despite Crackdown; Egypt, Kuwait Top Offenders Diplomats in New York City still have not paid a nearly $18 million tab for parking tickets despite a government crackdown four years ago and a fresh appeal from the new U.N. secretary-general to obey local laws. “It is important for diplomatic officials who enjoy diplomatic immunities and privileges to abide by and comply with all necessary regulations in force in the countries where one is working,” Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday when asked what he would say to diplomats to get rid of the backlog. According to the...

If you've ever spent a frustratingly long time looking for a parking space, a new service is sure to perk up your ears. You'll soon be able to find a spot without even having to drive around. Since you can search online to check the weather before going outside, why not find a parking spot, too? That's what 32-year-old Andrew Rollert was thinking when he started spotscout.com out of Cambridge, Mass. "I am hoping this will kill off the expression 'looking for parking,' altogether," he says. You'll be able to look for a spot before you even get in your...

4x4 drivers face £300 bill to park outside home By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor Last Updated: 1:38am BST 26/10/2006 Millions of drivers of sports cars and 4x4s face hefty charges to park outside their own homes under a scheme being pioneered by a local council. Town hall chiefs across the country were said last night to be closely watching a move by Liberal Democrats in Richmond upon Thames, south-west London, to target the owners of so-called "gas-guzzlers". Owners of these 4x4s parked in Richmond could face hefty charges The borough wants to introduce a sliding scale of charges for...

Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance! Only in America...are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink! Only in America...do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions! Only in America...do people order double cheese burgers, a large fry, and a diet coke! Only in America...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters! Only in America...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and leave useless pieces of junk in the garage!...

Ace Parking employee Bryan Dawson, 26 was shot while on the job on Friday at about 8 p.m. He was parked in the lot connected to business's corporate office in the 1300 block of Sixth Avenue when co-workers inside the office heard what sounded like a gunshot, NBC 7/39 reported. When they came outside, they found Dawson lying next to his vehicle. Dawson died nine hours later. Police believe the motive for the crime was robbery. Dawson was carrying about $3,000 in cash, but it was unclear if the money was actually stolen, police said. San Diego police officials said...

McNabb, Trotter no-shows in parking court   NFL.com wire reports GLASSBORO, N.J. (March 3, 2006) -- Philadelphia Eagles players Donovan McNabb and Jeremiah Trotter, charged with parking their cars in handicapped spots, failed to show for a hearing. Glassboro Municipal Judge Charles J. Springman Jr. cited each player for failing to appear at a March 2 hearing. A courts administrator told The Philadelphia Inquirer that if the athletes, or their attorneys, failed to attend rescheduled hearings, contempt charges could result. The men are among an estimated 300 people in the New Jersey community who have received police complaints filed...

Some employees at a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant will now have restrictions on what they drive. The rule to drive only Ford vehicles is limited to the Dearborn Truck Assembly Plant, and will affect about 300 of the 2,800 employees at the plant who have special permits to park on site, Local 4 reported. Workers are told to drive Ford vehicles or they will have to park in another lot outside the plant and walk across a pedestrian bridge to the facility, the station reported.

The state Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the Seattle Monorail Project may use eminent domain to condemn the "Sinking Ship" parking garage in Pioneer Square, even though a new train station would take up only a third of the land. The monorail project would use the rest of the property to store equipment during construction. Then it would sell or lease it to developers to offset the cost of the project. The monorail agency is now working to take over the property within two weeks to run the garage until it is needed for construction, said spokeswoman Marjorie Skotheim.

Two weeks after Cindy Sheehan left her anti-war campsite by the road leading to President Bush's ranch, county commissioners have banned parking along 23 miles of roads in the area. Before the 4-1 vote Tuesday, McLennan County Commissioner Ray Meadows said about 80 residents had complained of blocked roads, loud music and public health and safety concerns during the 26-day protest near Bush's ranch outside Crawford, about 20 miles west of Waco. "It's not a First Amendment issue. It's a safety issue," Meadows said, adding that "no parking" signs could be put up this week. Sheehan began camping in ditches...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi lawmaker accused a U.S. soldier of grabbing him by the throat and shoving him to the ground Tuesday after he parked his car in Baghdad's Green Zone. Fattah al-Sheikh, an independent, said he had parked his car before a session of parliament when U.S. troops approached him and told him he didn't have the right permit. He said a soldier then kicked his car, insulted him and grabbed him by the throat with both hands as others looked on, before tying his hands behind his back with white plastic cuffs and shoving him to the...