$511

I recently parked on the street above at Eva St. & Gibson in South Austin. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to my position as it relates to the walkway, now I do. Apparently, I was semi-blocking the handicap ramp and was ticketed for it. Naturally, when one walks out to their car and sees a parking ticket, eye rolling ensues, nasty thoughts go out to the Meter Maid, and it's usually forgotten. Well, not this time. The parking ticket I received was the Mother of all parking tickets: $511. Yes, $511! After I picked the ticket off of my windshield, I gripped my chest, winced in pain, and dirtied my moomoo from collapsing on the curb. You have got to be kidding me.

I am not taking this lying down. Last week, I marched down to the Courthouse and tried to contest the ticket. Pretty much the gentleman says, "Good luck, lady. These rarely get thrown out unless you have proof you didn't park there." I wonder if he saw the dancing knife blades in my eyeballs? He was a little man. I left defeated.

This week, I decided I had to try again. The thought of giving that much money for a parking ticket, really has brought out the crazy Mexican lady in me. Yesterday, I went down to the Courthouse and spoke to a lovely lady in window #14. She said, "Girl, I can reduce this for you. Don't worry about a thing". She reduced it to half the amount and then told me, "You know, I'll give you a little piece of information. Don't pay for parking tickets."
"Excuse me?"
"..but only up to three. After three tickets, you're on their radar".
"Oh, shit."
Then she said, "except handicap tickets, you're kind of fucked."
I half smile, "Thanks".

Moral of the story is don't pay for parking tickets, and if you block a handicap ramp, be sure you go to window #14.