I know that area very well. It is a bitch to park there. I guess you found a place to park if you even drive. You should thank them for parking there. It opened up a spot for you. Also I bet they didn't get a ticket. I wonder why.

Dragonman, you need to revisit earlier conversations to remind yourself of the fallacy of the argument that this guy's permit abuse "opened up a spot" for the ordinary citizen. Like they are doing us a favor! You sound like Marie Antoinette telling the poor she's doing them a favor by eating cake - thereby leaving them more bread. I'm tired of hearing the same old weak apologist retread.

Buttle: It's not a fallacy. It's the truth. Face it. They will not get a ticket. When they park there it opens up spots for you. (If you even drive)

dragonman - the availability of free/cheap parking has been shown to actually generate additional traffic, so no, this driver is not really opening up a spot for somebody parking legally.

Really? I beg to differ. It does open up spots. It does not create more traffic. I don't no where you get your information from, but you better start checking before you post.

dragonman, you might want to peruse some actual data before you comment:

http://transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/guaranteed_parking.pdf
http://transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/driven_to_excess.pdf
http://transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/freeparking_traffictrouble.pdf
http://transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/novacancy.pdf
http://transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/schaller_Feb2006.pdf

I don't care what they say. It doesn't create more traffic. Majority of the cops or firemen or any other agencies that park in residential areas where you can't park live there. So if they live in the area how are they creating more traffic. Majority of the people who live there thank them for parking there so they have a spot to park. They are opening up spots for the general public to park.

Dragonman is such a troll I can't believe I'm responding. His logic is the same as the guy on tv the other day who said there was a 50/50 chance that the Large Hadron Collider would destroy the Earth - either it would happen or it wouldn't.

The fact is that the law says that these cars are abusing their parking authority. And that should be secondary to any safety issues that come into play. If we wanted these guys to be able to park wherever they wanted, we would authorize the government to make permits that allow that; but currently their behavior is illegal and obnoxious.

It's pretty clear that you 'don't care what they say.' Arguing with someone like you is the same as arguing with a know-it-all teenager. Or a wall.

BTW I resolved the parking issue I by identifying the party parking there, and then leaving him a note on his windshield addressing him by name and mentioning how I thought local press would be interested. Of course, the guy involved was a minor local politician so that made a difference.

Blowthewhistle: Then you shouldn't have responded. How about when you are driving (that is even if you do drive)You don't use your turn signal and you get pulled over for a ticket. You'll most likely beg them to use discression or while you are driving and it's raining and you didn't put your lights on and they stopped you for that. You'll most likely beg them for discression. If you want them to follow every aspects of the law, then they shouldn't use discression when giving out tickets to civilians like you. But you see they will always use discression when it comes to one of their own. Get used to it.

"Civilians like" me, eh? You mean taxpaying, law-abiding, non-police affiliated types, huh? Thanks for telling us that you, at least, are not "one of us." Which department do you work for? I'll bet you log on to this site from work too -- more taxpayer dollars wasted on an ignorant, paper-pushing, small-minded civil servant who feels entitled because they are suddenly empowered in their jobs over "civilians" like me.

And even if I didn't always use my directionals and lights properly, you and your ilk still are not allowed, by law, to park whereever you please and you should be penalized for doing so.

If you don't want to be a civilian like the rest of you ungrateful people take the test and pass it if you can. I wish I had a paper pushing job like most civilians have. You don't risk your live to protect others like they do. And I know the story they get paid to do it.

Placards are only legal if they are being used legitimately, DM. This one is obviously being abused, which means not only are the placard holders violating parking regulations, but commiting these violations (of both law and department policy) while acting under color of authority - in of itself a separate and more serious crime - because they are evidently conciously using their placard to avoid penalty for what they know full well is an illegal act. And we haven't even begun to discuss the hypocracy and betrayal of the public trust...