So we received two $30 notices from Cambridge indicating that we owed for parking wrongly in spaces reserved for Cambridge residents.
Though we could certainly afford to pay the fine, we decided to contest the tickets. In part, this was on principle – we did not feel that we had broken any rule.
The announced date for the online hearing arrived. The clerk arrived a bit late. Eventually we connected and introduced ourselves. We explained the reason for our plea.
We have lived in Cambridge all our adult lives – 64 and 60 years respectively. Throughout, we have had cars and been law-abiding, never summoned and penalized in this way.
As soon as residents of Cambridge began to get annual parking stickers (some time ago), we displayed the sticker in the proper place – and so we had the right to park throughout Cambridge. Over the decades we have had our own parking spaces at home, so we rarely needed to park on the street. This past winter, we unexpectedly lost our parking space. While searching for a new one, we parked on the street in spaces reserved for residents such as us.
To our surprise and annoyance, we received notification that we had violated the parking rules on April 9=10 and therefore owed $60. If we had been traveling for some weeks, we could easily have accumulated hundreds of dollars of fines!
The reason for the fines: A few years ago, Cambridge changed where the stickers should be displayed. While we had displayed the sticker, it was no longer in the proper place, and accordingly, we were fined $30 for each violation.
We were not expecting that the violations would be forgiven, let alone both of them. After all, as the clerk told us, the new place to display the sticker has been in effect for some years. No mercy, even for good, law-abiding citizens!
The surprise ending: As the hearing wound down, the clerk said the city “will send you the violation notice to your home address, 70 Larchwood Drive.”
“Aha!” Howard said. “We have not lived there for over five years. Your books are completely out of date. And yet you are accusing us, and making us pay, for exactly the sin that the city of Cambridge has committed.”
We still owe Cambridge the $60. But here’s a way to think of our exchange. It pits “neighborly morality” vs. “the ethics of roles.”
To the extent that we have been good citizens of Cambridge for decades and simply displayed the decal in the wrong spot, the clerk could have treated us as neighbors and let us off the hook.
But she perhaps needs to follow the procedures – indeed, the ethics – of her profession.
Of course, if the clerk had no latitude, we should not have been allowed to have a hearing and to contest the decision. It was an unnecessary ritual and waste of everyone’s time.
The fact that the city had been so inattentive to our own address would have given her an opening to cancel or reduce our fine, our sentence. As a professional, she could have said, “Well, in view of your impeccable record, and the discretion given me as an officer of the court, I am going to reduce or cancel your penalty. You might consider donating the saved funds to a worthy cause.” But she did not seize the moment – and perhaps she never does … in which case, it’s not clear that she deserves the label of a “professional” clerk. “Rubber stamp” would be a less flattering, but perhaps more accurate descriptor.
Howard Gardner and Ellen Winner, Memorial Drive, Cambridge
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Being “good citizens” does not mean that you should be let off the hook for a violation that you committed, knowingly or not. There would need to be a formal policy that if you’ve never gotten a ticket you will just get a warning, in order to be fair to every “good” citizen. And the City’s “sin” is not at all “exactly the same” as yours! They manage thousands and thousands of records and all you’re being asked to do is follow instructions. The location change happened in like 2009, not “a few years ago.” I assume that when you got your latest parking sticker it came with instructions on where to put it. It sounds like you are inattentive people who expect special treatment so much so that you are whining publicly about not getting it. Your entitlement is embarrassing, and it’s ridiculous to call into question the “ethics” of the clerk over this.
The city’s traffic regulations do not specify the placement location of the permit. The 2025 permit guidance says it should be placed on the lower driver’s windshield, and my recollection is the mailing accompanying the per it further specifies lower left. Heck, you don’t even need to display a permit on motorcycles, simply prove that you hold one of you receive a ticket. This is a lot of words to say the city shouldn’t be making up rules as they go and fining people for supposed violations.
You can’t, however, fight city hall.
I find the conservative viewpoint frustrating: “I’m a law-abiding citizen, so when I break the law, I should be shown mercy. But when someone who is different from me breaks the law, it’s their own fault—laws are laws for a reason!”
These two Harvard faculty members have been fortunate enough to avoid such fines for the past 64 years. Does that make them more deserving of mercy than a low-income single parent who occasionally gets a parking ticket?
Take the L and move on.
The rules clearly specify the placement of the permit. There is even a picture.
“Resident Parking Permit Rules
Permit must be stuck on the inside lower driver’s side corner of the vehicle windshield.”
https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Images/departmentoftransportation/2022projects/newsitems/residentialparkingstickerplacement.png?h=289&w=291
No one made up rules. They were communicated in writing and on the website. The penalty for breaking the rules is also communicated.
Lastly, it is your job to let the city know you’ve moved, not the city’s job to keep up with you.
“Moving to or Within Cambridge
If you move to or within Cambridge, you must contact the Registry of Motor Vehicles, your Insurance Agent, and us to update your information.”
But, this is a good opportunity for those who don’t read the parking materials the city sends out each year with your permit.
Go here to read up: https://www.cambridgema.gov/iwantto/applyforaparkingpermit#268ad952feb34c07bd1f0743933b6df1
I broke the parking rules and the city didn’t let me off the hook. That’s the whole point of the letter? What’s next, an editorial about how water is wet? Is CD really that desperate for material?
This is the most entitled and insane thing I’ve ever read.
Just park in the “bike lane” like everyone else. Being Cambridge, you will probably get another ticket because the city values bicyclists from out of town ahead of RESIDENT drivers like you!