davidmcbeth
Banned
Yea, I got a parking ticket....I demand that they put me through a kangaroo court ... so I filed for a hearing.
I get the notice of hearing and a 1 sentence line stated "Parties are limited to 5 minutes to present their case".
Well, I'll have a lot of legal argument to make I'm sure. So I visit the corporation consul's office and have a little chit-chat with one of the lawyers.
Yada yada yada...they say that the 5 min. limit really means nothing and that they do not enforce it. No rule or regulation or ordinance mentions a 5 min. limit ... so I file a FOIA request for any other type of record that the hearing officer may rely upon. Well, the HO does have a small book (they never told anyone about this book), so I'll review it prior to the hearing but I'm sure it speaks nothing of a five minute limit (the town lawyer looked at it and said he saw nothing in the book about a five minute limit).
Anyway, I threatened civil action if they do not remove that stupid 5 min. rule from their notices. And they relented ! Hugh victory (not) lol. So folks in New Britain will not be subjected to a five minute limitation during their hearings...a victory for due process.
The last parking ticket I got in another town resulted in a FOIA Act complaint regarding the hearing processes that is subject to our open meeting laws and the result was that the town lost this case (http://www.ct.gov/foi/lib/foi/hor_2013/ho_09112013/2012_627.pdf). I've only had 2 parking tickets in these many years. The consul for the town said that the town would need time to re-configure and do some construction to get into compliance, estimating $10K for the work.
I'll be eyeballing the next parking ticket hearing processes in New Britain for violations of our open meetings provisions ... I'm sure I'll find one :banana::banana:
I hate parking tickets as much as I hate Russians.
I get the notice of hearing and a 1 sentence line stated "Parties are limited to 5 minutes to present their case".
Well, I'll have a lot of legal argument to make I'm sure. So I visit the corporation consul's office and have a little chit-chat with one of the lawyers.
Yada yada yada...they say that the 5 min. limit really means nothing and that they do not enforce it. No rule or regulation or ordinance mentions a 5 min. limit ... so I file a FOIA request for any other type of record that the hearing officer may rely upon. Well, the HO does have a small book (they never told anyone about this book), so I'll review it prior to the hearing but I'm sure it speaks nothing of a five minute limit (the town lawyer looked at it and said he saw nothing in the book about a five minute limit).
Anyway, I threatened civil action if they do not remove that stupid 5 min. rule from their notices. And they relented ! Hugh victory (not) lol. So folks in New Britain will not be subjected to a five minute limitation during their hearings...a victory for due process.
The last parking ticket I got in another town resulted in a FOIA Act complaint regarding the hearing processes that is subject to our open meeting laws and the result was that the town lost this case (http://www.ct.gov/foi/lib/foi/hor_2013/ho_09112013/2012_627.pdf). I've only had 2 parking tickets in these many years. The consul for the town said that the town would need time to re-configure and do some construction to get into compliance, estimating $10K for the work.
I'll be eyeballing the next parking ticket hearing processes in New Britain for violations of our open meetings provisions ... I'm sure I'll find one :banana::banana:
I hate parking tickets as much as I hate Russians.