Not that the landscaping in front of my building is that great, but are you serious? Sadly, despite my calling the police (yes, I’m that guy, at least tonight) immediately, they didn’t manage to make it here during the hour that this a-hole from Oregon left his car like this…
I’m just hoping he moved it to a loading zone… help me, karmic justice!
Sorry, the cat can come down when it wants to.
Good luck getting parking enforcement to do anything on Cap Hill. We had a yellow bug parked with two full tires entirely on the landscaping in front of our building. Not only did I see parking enforcement zip right by, but they refused to come back for what they conformed is a ticket-able offense when I called. And the car sat there for two days.
boohoo mean guy parked weird, i cry on blog now.
Not to defend the actions of the driver, but is it wise to publish a photo with the license plate visible on a public blog? S/he does have a presumption of innocence and a right to defend themselves. Publishing potentially identifying information (granted, it is blurry but still mostly legible) invites vigilantism.
A little editing of the photo, as done in Google Street View, to blur the license plate is in order. What is CHS’s policy on this sort of thing in general?
You are confusing presumption of innocence with evidence. One is fact based, the other is a determination. What sort of crack are you smoking?
There is nothing wrong about posting a photo taken of a private vehicle in a public space, even if the license plate is visible. And are you seriously suggesting that photo is going to spark vigilantism? Don’t you think that’s rather ludicrous? Seriously now, even if people were that crazy to memorize and track down a car based on a photo with license plate, people that deranged are bound to find something more worthy of their fanatical attention before they ever found the car.
I have no parking signs posted in front of my building, but lots of people park there at night. Evidently SPD doesn’t enforce parking violations a lot at night. I’ve even seen cars parked on the sidewalk. Parking enforcement is not a high priority evidently. All sorts of delivery trucks think it’s a perfectly good place to park in turning lanes all over the hill (yes, you UPS and Fedex and you the beer delivery trucks.)
Narc
snitches get stitches..
No crack smoking involved and the evidence of the photo is pretty clear, though there are natural questions such as whether the licensed owner of the car was the person who the same person who parked it so egregiously. Point well taken.
Will posting a license plate be the deciding factor in someone venturing into vigilantism? Almost certainly not. But what is the journalistic intent behind publishing information that can be traced back to an individual? CHS’s terms of service includes clauses about prohibiting content that is “invasive of another’s privacy” as well “‘stalk’ or otherwise harass anyone.” How stringently does CHS interpret these clauses? If there is an error to make, it should be made on the side of protecting any possible or perceived intrusion upon personal privacy except where explicitly permitted and/or required by journalistic intent.
We’re not yet at the level of human-flesh search attacks that have gone on throughout Asia ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Human-t.html), but we should be careful of the information we collect and disseminate. Especially for so frivolous a story as this.
David, the plate was not readable even when digitally manipulated but to simplify the situation, I have posted a blocked out version. CHS does try to remove personally identifiable information like this in potentially sensitive coverage though breaking news situations don’t always make it possible. In this instance, as I noted above, the plate was not readable.
The bigger question for me was promoting this article to the homepage at all. Community contributions are an important part of the site. I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt and do like some of the serendipity that pops into the site every now and then. I thought this one was cranky but fun enough.
Thanks for the clarification and action, J. The proactive stance upholds both the utility and fun of the CHS site. Thanks again!
Oh Betsey, the world is so cruel and unfair – whatever will you do? Typical Capitol Hill fink. I hope you drive a Prius.
I noted that the license plate was from Oregon!
Love the discussion.
The cat came down in the night, you missed the pic.
What is fun about a crank? An important fact of mental health if you live or work on the Hill is not to stress too much about parking. Blow those feeling off cause they happen EVERY day to all of us. Certain madness (raving fool at least) will ensue if you get too serious about it.
Now that is news, how many go mad over parking? And Mr. J. you do like statistics.
…sp…
It is Betsy.
It’s called gentrification. Get used to it young urban pioneer.
Do you really want police resources enforcing parking at night vs. violent crime and all the rest, crime and crises – which seems to start about midnight?
Parking is trivia as crime rating goes. Along with mj.
And I did once get a night ticket for being to close to the sign, measured, it was 4 inches too close. Shit. I never paid the ticket. The massive parking infraction data bank most likely has me flagged for eternity.
I do remember being angry, then felt weird about a cop car stopping in the middle of the night to mess with something so trivial … on my payroll as Mr. Citizen.
Yancy you really hit it spot on! You meant for the title to apply to the comments too, right?
Real talk.
Good call, jonglix! :)
And thanks, jseattle, for letting me have a little fun being cranky. Nice that you offer a forum for more than just “news.”
Oh, and for the record I walk or ride my bike; bus if I have to leave the Hill.
Oh, and for the record I walk or ride my bike; bus if I have to leave the Hill.
Oh Monica, you’re such a freakin’ saint. However can the rest of us be like you? Do we mere mortals deserve to even be in the same comments section as you – you heroic steward of global environmental consciousness – frequent? All hail, Yancy! Let her enemies be ground into the dirt and then swept into the ocean! Let us reorganize the security apparatus of the state – the police and the National Guard – to serve her undulating glory! Hail, hail!
Get bent.
Mykh with Curls – you may want to pound out one of your little missives to the great Gotham fashonista BetsEy Johnson. Perhaps she’d be more interested?
The idiotic comments section cut-off my complete subject line.
If you’re going to complain about police resources, think about how patrolling things like this can actually help.
The revenue from parking tickets can pay for more than just the resources needed for parking enforcement itself. Not only would it not put a drain on existing resources, but would also add more police presence in general.
Lack of police presence for these things may also reinforce more serious crimes as well.
Well – Bafy, Barfy, Batty, Berkey, and Blassey.
Yes, only one person is allowed any fun or personal venting – one at a time – where is the schedule posted?
Does uptight ring any bells on this sunny day? Cause I think some of you are very uptight. Or without any sense of humor, about the same thing.
Signed,
Myky avec les beaux Curls
((((and the DAMNED cat went back up into the tree, call the police, call them in the middle of night if you have something trivial))))
You do know the term – bent – means queer?
wow Mike with Curly thesaurus…
“you DO know?”
how cute.
Is that a theatre degree/PFLAG membership in your pocket, …or are you just THAT
thick?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=get+bent
And by thick, I don’t mean
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=thick , def 1
Not a bad riff, barf. Let’s see what you can do with this one:
Sometimes I ride the light rail; a couple of weeks ago I took a taxi.
Sometimes I ride the light rail; a couple of weeks ago I took a taxi.
Susan – once again, no one but no one cares about you, how bad your yeast infection is, if you just made your bed, or if someone parked slightly askew and made you a little irritated. As your behavior you so loudly trumpeted here indicates, you are an utterly loathsome individual. The worst part about it is you, most likely, fancy yourself as some well-liked, caring menarche, utterly oblivious to the reality of your slightly off-kilter, putrid garbage of a personality.
I saw the a-hole parking there and it pissed me off as well. I live in the immediate vicinity and put lots of time, effort, and what money I can spare into my garden, including my little sidewalk garden. Partially it’s for my enjoyment, but also as a part of the community I like to think I’m contributing to making it a better place to live. That said, it really pisses me off when people think just because it is by the public sidewalk, they can treat it like crap, and mess it up for everyone. Some of the negative comments amaze me. I’d love to stop by their property and treat it like that and see if they still think it’s no big deal.
Does uptight ring any bells on this sunny day? Cause I think some of you are very uptight.
Mykh is spot-on; Claudia is probably the most tightly wound person on the entire hill if she can’t stop from soiling her panties anytime anyone looks at her with a cocked eye. I bet she was one of those kids who, in elementary school, would run and tell the playground monitor if the other kids refused to play with her. I bet in college she would be the person who labeled “her food” in the refrigerator to make sure her roommate didn’t accidentally use any of it.
I pray to the great Lord, Kalki – the coming machine-man of the Upanishads – that Cynthia never procreates and her recessive gene pool ends with her.
Nice. Let’s go another round! Have at it:
Last month I took the Amtrak train to Portland; I’m taking a trip on an airplane soon. One time, I travelled from Minnesota to Ontario, Canada by canoe.
It seems Barf is so eager to lash out at women that he’s failed to realize Yancy is a cowboy name.
I entreat everyone to starve it out.
I think you have missed the point of most of the posts.
They are not “just negative.” Rather they question the sense of outrage, a bit too much over parking, and the importance.
And I think there has been some attempt at humor and joshing.
So, garden to your hearts content. Tons of veggies for the community? Food banks??
Cheers.
“Does uptight ring any bells on this sunny day? Cause I think some of you are very uptight.
Mykh is spot-on; Claudia is..”
Funny, I thought Mike was talking about you, barf, cause you take the cake on soiling of the panties. It must really suck to be you on a daily basis.
Just wanted you to know that I called too. I livei n teh building next door, and when I got home, I could barely get into the driveway to park out back, and I noticed the car parked practically on the sidewalk. While I typically grumble under my breath about how stupid people can be, it really bothered me that someone would actually think its okay to park like this. I mean we are still remotely civilized right?
And to all those who are questioning the “outrage”: It was much worse than teh picture shows. The car was almost completely perpendicular to the road. Its bumpers were blocking part of the sidewalk, and it was positioned in a way that it made it really hard for any other cars to get out of their spaces. It’s not like 911 was called. Just trying to keep our street somewhat decent.
You’re not alone in your efforts!
hahahahaha!!!! thats hilarious.
Thanks Ty–glad to hear I’m not alone!
And you’re right about the picture. I tried to frame it better, but I just don’t have the skills to capture how amazingly bad the parking job was.
HEY! That’s my car!!!
I don’t care how much money you spend here as a tourist, or if you are visiting your very sick mother, you damned people from Oregon need to meet our parking standards.
It is called the parking strip and is part of the road, but, I converted it a flower garden and you may have spoiled my petunias.
And I will pester the police over it every time even in the middle of violent crime night.
Signed : Zany with straight hairs
funniest comment thread yet. haha ground into the dirt and swept away…haha!! its the hill suckas, get over it!