My Mardi Gras/parking ticket experience.

Was wondering if anyone else had this happen. Our daughter recently moved to New Orleans and we decided to visit during Mardi Gras. We went to the Endymion and Bacchus parades and parked in the surrounding neighborhood. The first night we came out to a ticket on our windshield that said he had parked less than 20 feet from a stop sign. The next night there was a ticket that said we had parked less than 20 feet from a crosswalk. My daughter's boyfriend just laughed and said he had lived there his whole life and never heard of these laws and that they tried to squeeze as much money as possible out of the tourists and to ignore the tickets (bad advice). I actually just forgot about them and in April I got a notice from NOLA that if we did not pay the tickets by April 18 it would be $160. (instead of the $40). The letter was postmarked April 19 so obviously they were not trying to give us time to pay them and made sure not to notify us until it was too late. I guess I have no choice but to pay out of fear of a warrant but I find it an odd way to engender support for their primary economic event with tourists. Why would anybody want to go back to visit New Orleans again with these petty tickets being handed out like that? I know that will be our last Mardi Gras.

And the more desperate their financial situation the more creative and mercenary they get about it.

Or a crosswalk?

If so, I'm kinda failing to see what the problem is. Those are some pretty standard parking laws and enforcing them during Mardi Gras when typically they might not also makes sense, as there were likely far more cars to deal with than usual.

As for the notice, I agree that receiving it after the due date is annoying. However, if you had paid the tickets in the first place, like you would have (presumably) anywhere else, you wouldn't have gotten the increased fine.

Meanwhile, saying that you'll never go to another Mardi Gras because you received some parking tickets, and being upset because they dinged you for not paying, well...sorry, I fail see where you have the right to be upset. Unless, of course, you were nowhere near a crosswalk or a stop sign.

of course, I have no idea where in town your daughter lives, or where you were staying, but in general, the buses and streetcars are the way to go. Driving to Mardi Gras is fraught with possibilities such as this.

The letter was postmarked April 19 so obviously they were not trying to give us time to pay them and made sure not to notify us until it was too late.

You're actually expecting competence? From the City of New Orleans?! :rofl: Perhaps daughter's BF can put you in touch with a local lawyer who presumably deals with this kind of tomfoolery on a regular basis.

Good for your daughter! She's joining what's beginning to look like a movement of young people who are rediscovering the city post-K. What's she up to down there?

http://www.nolayurp.com

If only getting traffic notices mailed on time were NOLA's largest problem...

:rofl:

Now, it isn't enforced enough but you can't park basically a car length within an intersection.

And it even makes sense if you think about it. Cars that are moving need to be in their lanes properly, not over to the left getting in each other's way.

From what daughter's boyfriend said it just sounded like they try to find whatever obscure law they can dig up to hit the tourists with and don't enforce it the rest of the time. Why hit the main source of income for the city with stuff to annoy them instead of making it more inviting and appealing to come and stay and spend more money? I am basically afraid whatever I do there I am going to get dinged without knowing I am doing something wrong.