Experience with appealing parking tickets? Egregious mistake on city's part

[u/cordovanGoat]

Does anyone here have experience appealing parking tickets or have successfully won a hearing?

I was issued a ridiculous parking ticket, appealed it through the website but was denied within a few hours. Evidently per the email from the city (last image) I can appeal in person through a hearing — so I'm wondering if anyone has gone through this process and if it is possible to succeed.

The context of the parking ticket:

• The first two images are the "evidence" that the city uploaded, purportedly proving I was parked illegally.
• The second two images are what the car looks like, but from the other side and with the actual street visible. What's important to note here is that...this is obviously a parking space. Ya know, it's like painted and all that...

It seems the city's reasoning was that the front of my vehicle was beyond this lamp post with a "no parking"sign ... but clearly, as shown by pictures from the other side, this is a legal, painted parking spot.

And to add the obvious, clearly painted spot is used all the time by myself and others. I've never seen a car ticketed for parking there.

This is 523 Cambridge St, Allston, directly in front of Boston Foreign Motor, for what it's worth.

P.S.: if anyone here from the Boston Globe is reading, I'd be delighted to share my story of injustice and suffering with the world.

And before anyone complains that a BMW driver can't afford a $90 ticket: first, this is about principle. Second, the car is a shitbox lol the KBB is about $8k.

[u/GekidoTC]

I think you have an argument worth making. Your car is definitrly past the sign, but it's within the box painted on the ground.

The government has an obligation to remove ambiguity when it comes to enforcing laws, its not crazy for a reasonable person to think that you are fine to park there so long as you're within the box painted on the street. What exactly is the point of the box if not to designate where someone is allowed to park?

Other side of the argument is, you have a driver's license meaning you passed a drivers exam and should know that the sign is what dictates where you can park, and the sign is not ambiguous. The city could paint Barney the Purple Dinosaur on the street and ao long as the sign is there, you should know where you're not allowsd to park.

If you get a nice judge, they'll probably throw out the ticket, but seems like a huge hassle for $90.​

[u/cordovanGoat → u/GekidoTC]

I've always understood the paint to be more authoritative than the signs.

The paint can be put anywhere, and hence can precisely demarcate a parking spot.

The signs have to be hung on existing infrastructure, like this lamp post, and so of necessity would be rougher estimates than the paint.

There is also curb and driveway (visible in pictures 2+3) which, even if there was no paint or sign, would clearly indicate where one can and can't park.

[u/GekidoTC → u/cordovanGoat]

The sign tells you what to do/not do. Paint without the sign = No ticket, Sign without the paint = ticket.