Tampa Parking Tickets Information
Parking Tickets, Violations and Citations are a fact of life in modern urban society. Tampa has an unusual law which can hit the hip pocket of those who are unaware of it.
This is known as City Code, Section 15-43. This allows a the owner of a property to declare that he or she has exclusive use of a parking space immediately outside his or her home, if a sign is erected in the front yard, matching the City of Tampa's specifications.
Tampa City Code, Section 15-43.
Sign Specifications for Tampa City Code, Section 15-43.
I was a victim of it when I parked outside the home at 503 South Westland Ave, Tampa, FL in September, 2007. I had carefully avoided all the standard No Parking signs which were in the area. However, I failed to see the sign at the above address. Here it is in a freeze frame from a Tampa Bay's Channel 10 news report:
Walter Crumbley and the 5 minute parking sign
It stands out doesn't it? If you are looking for it. I don't normally look for parking restriction signs in people's front yards. Usually they are on the kerb, and when they are, they usually take the form of the NO PARKING signs that we are all used to, red writing on a white background, at the top of a post over six feet tall.
Such an incursion on the public's right to use public property is a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The city is granting preference to one citizen, the homeowner, over other citizens for the use of this public right of way.
The City of Tampa has then compounded the problem by making the signs not match the expectations of road users. If they are going to pass such a stupid and unfair law, then make the homeowners stick a big, ugly red "no parking" sign in front of their homes, not this unexpected camouflaged revenue trap.
Of course it is up to the homeowner to call the police to come and ticket the visitor to the area, as not all homeowners choose to have the sign, and if they do, of course they can use the space themselves or allow someone to use it. So who was the homeowner in this case?
It was Judge Walter S. Crumbley.
| 
Add Parking Tickets Information As A Favorite To del.icio.us