I guessing the 2 “R” governed ones work and the 1 “D” governed does not. That’s fairly standard.
CSA 
My local government was totally “R” for decades and the mismanagement became so outrageous that a “D” mayor was elected who has done nothing but deal with the $28million bonded debt from the the previous administration and several more $millions in unstoppable on going programs left for him. The previous “R” mayor was the owner of the largest retail business on Main St and it was at his behest that the downtown dress up was taken on. It will be decades repaying the debts that the “R” mayor left and it is likely that at the next election another “R” will be elected but like the current “D” his hands will also be tied.
Partisan politics is an ongoing squabble between 2 menageries of various factions of often disparate highly emotional single issue voters. And each disparate group wears blinders to keep them focused on their issue alone. The GREATEST GOOD FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER has become THE GREATEST GOOD FOR THOSE IN POWER, or possibly HE WHO HAS THE GOLD…
I suppose asking you to not “guess” using partisan assumptions is too much to ask.
Having lived in both cities and states that were blue and red, I can tell you with a high degree of confidence that corruption and inept government are not partisan issues.
The biggest difference I’ve seen in R and D cities is that the R cities have many more advertisements for ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyers on television and on billboards. It’s no wonder R’s think we need tort reform.
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Here in Florida I’d wholeheartedly agree. I’ve never seen so many slip-and-fall ambulance chasers advertising on my local channels! Red cities, blue, cities, ALL cities in purple state FL. Yeow!
In Ohio the opposite was true. The biggest law offices in the state were dead center in each blue city of a purple state.
Florida is a purple state? We haven’t had a Democratic governor since 1999, and I can’t remember a time when our legislature was not dominated by Republicans. Florida’s electoral votes may have gone for Obama twice, but only by very narrow margins, and he was far too moderate as a neoliberal* to color Florida purple. No, Florida is a deeply red state.
To keep this car related, my car is sporting a “watch out for motorcycles” bumper sticker. It came with the contact information of an ambulance chaser on the bottom, but I cut it off the bottom of the sticker before putting it on my car.
*For those who don’t know, “neoliberalism” embraces liberal social positions but adopts conservative economic positions. It emerged in the early 1990s with the Democratic party’s embracing of free trade, welfare reform, and the New Public Management movement.
I’ve watched many episodes of that show. I certainly do not agree that the regulations being broken are petty and meaningless. Parking in bus stops, too close to corners so big vehicles can’t make the turns safely, occupying loading zones or handicapped spaces etc are not petty infractions. The primary excuse given is “I was only parked there for a minute!” and clearly that is not often true. Most of it is done out of pure laziness, they don’t want to take the time to find a legit spot and walk. One lady lamented that the groceries were heavy and how was she supposed to be expected to carry them all the way to her car? The parking enforcement person pointed out the grocery carts the store provides. Nope, she HAD to park in front of the main entrance, in the fire lane…
Property is only impounded after numerous infractions go unpaid. In other words flaunting the laws and hoping to get away with it. That woe is me argument doesn’t fly with me…The vast majority of people follow the laws and have no issues.
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Apparently you missed those shows where the street sweepers hung warning signs in obscure locations the day before they ran and anyone who missed the notice got towed. Or the one where the home owner parked his cars in the driveway and the bumper of the rear one hung a few inches onto the sidewalk. Zero tolerance has become an excuse for many to flaunt there authority. While I have also seen episodes with cars being booted when they had hundreds of dollars in old fines there are possibly an equal or larger number of episodes with the “we gotcha now sucker” theme.
“Zero tolerance” is often confused with draconian punishment.
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I feel somewhat certain that I am not confusing anything about “zero tolerance.”
While I have also seen episodes with cars being booted when they had hundreds of dollars in old fines there are possibly an equal or larger number of episodes with the “we gotcha now sucker” theme.
Something is amiss…how do you have extensive knowledge regarding larger number of episodes if you’ve only watched several?
Like I said, I have watched MANY episodes across multiple seasons. I have yet to see any show where the bumper was inches across the sidewalk. I have seen a few of that exact same situation where the entire car was across the sidewalk, effectively blocking it entirely. I have yet to see any instance that wasn’t clear. The most interesting parts are when people argue about the signage not being clear. NO PARKING ->. There’s no sign in front of the spot where I parked…no but there’s one two spots down with an arrow pointing this way and clearly visible from every angle around your car.
If you feel certain your opinion is correct why would I try to change your mind @TwinTurbo?
Comedian from India had a skit about getting a ticket next to a NO PARKING sign.
He didn’t read it as “Tow Away Zone - No parking anytime”.
He read it as “Tow Away Zone?” NO. “Parking Anytime”
It’s a little fuzzy but I remember way back a few years ago or so, somebody here had a problem with their bumper overhanging the sidewalk a few inches. They got hassled by either the homeowners association or the police, and posted a video or pictures here. Doesn’t matter to me, I don’t have a sidewalk, and the police are now nice, which hasn’t always been the case (see the case of hauling sandbox sand-kidding, but they were jerks).
It comes to mind that an elementary school student was suspended from school for several days because he had bitten a pop tart into the shape of a pistol and was pretending it was a gun making popping sounds. That sounds like a good example of zero tolerance gone insane from another direction.
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My grammar school teacher had “zero tolerance” for pretend shooting at others with pretend guns, but the penalty was a good scolding and perhaps spending a recess at your desk, not being suspended from school.
The elementary student that made the news for being suspended for the Pop-Tart pistol is an example of draconian punishment.
Like I said, our society confuses draconian punishment for zero tolerance.
They didn’t seem to care what we said just when we said it-if we were not supposed to be talking. I thought the penalty of having to write “I wil not talk out of turn in class” 500 times in fourth grade a little harsh. It took me over a week at night and during recess to finish it. My sister helped a little bit forging my writing while holding it up to a lamp shade. So I CHEATED but admired my sister for it. I guess maybe that was the start of my view of situation ethics.
Bringing it back to cars… perhaps that penalty could be assigned here as needed.
CSA.
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How would they keep us from cheating by using cut and paste?
I think the penalty for traffic violations should be writing 500 times, “I will use my turn signal before changing lanes” or “I will not cut other people off”, or maybe we should report to the police station to stand in the corner for a couple of hours or pick up trash.
What , did they only question people who live in the middle of NYC ??? In normal cities parking costs arent that much . The only time around here we pay is if we are going to an event somewhere or downtown where they charge .
As if yours is an example of flexibility?
I don’t see why either of us needs to “come around” to the other’s viewpoint or stop voicing our opinions…
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