serinde

While clearing out my staff account, I came across an ancient gem; to wit, a letter I composed & sent to the NYC parking authorities some ten years ago.

February 16, 1996

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to contest the parking ticket given me on Feb. 1, 1996, summons #220658771-3, for our blue Ford van, license plate RG8783 (New York).

The ticket is for the offense of having a vehicle with commercial plates with no sign on the door noting what company the vehicle is used for. This is true; there are no such signs--because the vehicle is not used for any company. It never was, never has, and never will be.

So why is it registered as commercial? Because New York forced us to. When we went to register it for the first time, the clerk informed us that, since the van has no back seats, it must be registered as commercial. We explained that it was just to be our personal vehicle and that it would serve absolutely no commercial purpose, but to no avail. We were forced to pay the (much higher) expense for the commercial plates.

Upon moving to the City, I had been told by friends about the fact that commercial vehicles had to have the sign denoting the company. However, although neither of us ever looked it up, we ventured to guess that putting a fraudulent sign on the van would be an even greater transgression, with no doubt a correspondingly higher fine. Even if it were not, why should we be put in the position of having to break the law to comply with the law?

So there it is. Our van isn't a commercial vehicle. We never claimed it was, or wanted it to be registered as such. New York State insisted that it is. Go ask *them* what company it's for.

Sincerely, [&c.]

It worked, too. We never heard anything more about the matter.