Sometimes It Pays To Fight City Hall

Last week Marshall Marcus reported about a penal Downtown parking ticket issued for a valid handicapped permit. Undeterred, he fought back. The other day a letter arrived addressed to his wife referencing the ticket in question:

“Dear Sir or Madam:
Your appeal of the ticket referenced here was approved, and ticket was dismissed.

Sincerely,
G……..B……………….
Parking Violations Bureau

In a large box at the bottom of the letter the following appeared in caps, according to Marcus:

“YOUR PERMIT IS CERTAINLY VALID. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE”

“I wonder how many accepted the false statement by the BPD that ‘Lifetime’ handicapped permits starting with the number 4 were expired and paid $150 per ticket?” Marcus questioned in an update to OIB. Marcus vowed to boycott Downtown establishments until the issued was resolved. “Mrs. M and I shall be dining in Bridgeport tomorrow. We shall be using her valid handicapped placard. I’ll not further penalize businesses for the BPD’s stupidity.”

Original OIB story:
Marshall Marcus, who works in Bridgeport with a wife who owns property in the city, shares this commentary about a Police Department that “has taken it upon itself to rule that valid Handicapped permits are not valid.”

On Friday, Mrs. Marcus and I parked on Fairfield Ave. in the handicapped spaces adjoining the Superior Court. Her Handicapped placard was displayed in the window.

We returned to the car after transacting our business and saw a parking ticket tucked under the windshield wipers. I pulled it out and saw that the $150.00 ticket was for an “EXPIRED” handicap permit. I laughed to myself and said how does a permit that reads: “EXPIRES LIFETIME” expire while the driver is alive?

I called the parking violations department at BPD and was told that ‘Lifetime’ handicap permits were no longer valid and to come to Congress St and file a protest. Upon arrival at Congress St. I was told that Conn. was no longer issuing ‘Lifetime’ handicap permits and that I should have received notice from the State to apply for a new permit. The officer told me that only his boss could run the current permit to check its status, but because it began with the number ‘4’ I was ticketed.

I filled out the protest, and drove home and emailed the CT DMV. The DMV ran the permit and informed me that it was still VALID. Mrs. M was instructed to continue to use it until she received a written notice to apply for a new permit that would run concurrently with her driver’s license term.

SO, Bridgeport PD has taken it upon itself to rule that valid Handicapped permits are not valid, even though the DMV says continue to use them until you are instructed by DMV to replace them. Just, chance having to pay us $150 anytime you legally exercise that right.

Last night, instead of dining in Bridgeport and spending dollars there supporting local business, we chose to go to Stratford.  With the threat of having to fight wrongly issued tickets on a regular basis, we’ll be avoiding spending money in Bridgeport in the near future.