CCDC
You Be The Judge On 8th Street
July 24, 2013 
Tuesday morning the GUARDIAN watched over coffee at 8th Street just south of Bannock as an unsuspecting motorist fell victim to the heartless Boise Parking machine.
The guy carefully backed into a parking spot behind a beer truck. He aligned his shiny black car within the lines, exited his vehicle and confronted the meter. A red sticker proclaimed “ENFORCED 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.” He checked his watch and noted it was just past 9 a.m. He pushed the button for the free 20 minutes and inserted several coins.
Moments later a “meter butler” rode up on his bike, snapped several photos and carefully left the guy with a $40 parking violation. For WHAT??
Turns out hidden away in plain sight on the back side of the meter is a yellow and black sign which proclaims the area to be a delivery zone and parking is NOT allowed between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.–DESPITE the red sticker on the meter saying its
OK.
Here are the exhibits: you be the judge.
Business side view from the sidewalk.
Street side view with yellow sign at waist level with contrary message.
That portion of 8th Street has been vacated by the Ada County Highway District and owned from store front to store front by the Capital City Development Corp. (CCDC) which is NOT a government agency.
The folks at Boise’s Parking Department refused the GUARDIAN’S offer to pay the $40, saying we couldn’t force the hapless motorist to plead guilty. He would have to fight the mixed message entrapment himself.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jul 24, 2013, 4:14 pm
The parking-meter equivalent of a SPEED TRAP! I bet that guy learned his tough lesson – STAY OUT OF DOWNTOWN! (That’s the lesson Team Dave wants to convey… right?)
Jul 24, 2013, 4:17 pm
Why am I not surprised? Now we will have to feel and look all over the meters for signs.
This reminds me of the sign that explains that if you leave the parking garages after the attendant leaves at night, you don’t have to pay the whole $12 they say you owe on the envelope left on your car. What? You didn’t see such a sign, and it’s not mentioned on the envelope to send in your entry ticket to prove you don’t owe $12? Huh. That’s okay. You wanted to give Downtown Parking a gift, right?
I am sure the city will explain that this, too, is “industry practice,” and thus justified.
Jul 24, 2013, 7:11 pm
Sounds like entrapment to me–Bars have Bouncers and the city of Boise has Pouncers
Jul 24, 2013, 9:08 pm
The Rubric of “ignorance of the law” being no excuse is just so much BS, yes, it is posted; but, no, the posting is not sufficient in this
case. Both signs need to be posted on both sides of the meter. Any grade school teacher could have told them that, if asked. Shame on who ever is responsible for this outrage on the public. Shame upon us for allowing it.
Jul 25, 2013, 4:23 am
Now if you were ( New to Boise) this would be acceptable.
Jul 25, 2013, 8:03 am
Bet it was the same black shiny sleek car that I’ve seen parked at those 8th St delivery only meters. This time the driver was caught. Scofflaws need to pay the piper.
I’m not new to BOI either. That section of 8th St has so many businesses that need to get their deliveries without cars in the way forcing trucks to block the street.
I’m adding a bit for bikers who block handicap parking on occasion on Bannock & 8th St coffee corner:
Headline: Biker runs down 71 year old pedestrian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/jul/24/san-francisco-cyclist-manslaughter
“Bucchere, a software engineer from San Francisco had been riding recklessly and had run three red lights when he struck Hui as he and his wife crossed a street in the Castro district of San Francisco on 29 March 2012, prosecutors said.”
(Took em a while for the court process, eh?)
“Under the unusual plea deal last week, Chris Bucchere, 37, would not serve any jail time.”
What? for killing a pedestrian?
I’ve almost been hit by bikers riding on sidewalks because they don’t let you know they are behind you. All 3 times, if I’d moved a bit, I’d have been hit.
Cheap thrills, bikers?
Jul 25, 2013, 1:20 pm
I do not think it is a trap, nor do I think the city is being sneaky, this person is the “victim” of just bad service or policy. I believe the best practice is for the meter to be hooded and the hood have a no parking message. With active enforcement the city has staff in the field. A backpack with several meter hoods and the meter enforcement staff placing the hood on at 6 am and removing it at 10 am would not be difficult, just requires a higher commitment to service from the city.
EDITOR NOTE–JJ, Nicely stated. We have to agree with you. Let’s see how they respond.
Jul 25, 2013, 2:03 pm
@Robert: Really?
Just because someone doesn’t agree with you on one thing means they must disagree with you on everything? Someone who thinks like that must lead a sad and pathetic life full of manufactured controversy.
Jul 25, 2013, 4:34 pm
At this point, I feel like Boise should just eliminate all parking on downtown streets. Just eliminate it. Paint bike lanes or add another traffic lane. I just get the vibe that street parking is not liked by the city and is just a tool for raising revenue via fines, as opposed to a convenience for consumers.
Jul 27, 2013, 12:08 am
JJ, The meter guy on the bike is sneaky and somewhat of a jerk
Jul 27, 2013, 12:14 am
And he rides his bike illegal on the sidewalk.
Jul 27, 2013, 10:46 pm
CCDC employs a bunch of jackasses as parking enforcers. I worked for a major delivery company. CCDC wanted my company to pay an unholy amount of money for a parking permit. We would stay on 8th for about 15 minutes delivering. I would “get into it” with their “parking enforcers” quite a bit. Once, they threatened to boot our delivery truck-to which I said, “your tenants will get their deliveries late”. The point is, CCDC is a bunch of greedy bastards.
Jul 29, 2013, 8:25 am
Tick off enough people and pretty soon there won’t be any cars to occupy parking downtown. It will be a “back to the future” deal where they go the other direction with free parking downtown.