I had a funny interaction with an Oakland parking enforcement person the other day. On the way home from my doctor’s appointment I stopped by Goodwill to donate a few things. Part of my nesting preparations is to get rid of any unneeded items in the house. There was a spot open in front of the Goodwill which was awesome because parking is almost always an issue. I pulled up to the front car to start my parallel parking. I had my window down which I typically do. I started my approach into the stall and was most of the way in when the parking official pulls up to me in his cross between a golf cart and Geo Metro and he says, “Ah, that’s not a good idea”.
I consider the context of his comment. Is it possible that he knows that I “bumped” two cars the other day while parallel parking at the library? Parallel parking the wagon is just not the same as the Mini Cooper. Eventually, I respond, “why is that?” He informs me that I do not have commercial plates so I can’t park in the loading zone. For a second I think he is telling me that my plates are expired but eventually his comment registers and I say something like, hmmm I thought this was the loading zone for people to donate their items to Goodwill (for some context our Goodwill is on Broadway, a major street in downtown Oakland). He says nope, and that I only have 3 minutes to park there. So then I ask him to confirm is that because his ticket driving loop takes 3 minutes or do I by law have 3 minutes. He didn’t clearly explain although I do believe I by law could park in the loading zone for 3 minutes even without commercial plates I explain that it will take me 30 seconds to drop my bag in the donation bin kept in the front of the store so I am good.
He continued talking about the loading zone and commercial plates at which point I looked over my other shoulder for the signage that must explain this rule and I asked him where is this limitation posted, he told me at the DMV. Ah ha, the DMV, of course. Now I realize not all laws are posted on signs on poles although most parking and driving related laws are so I think that is a reasonable expectation. Eventually I told the ticket guy that I should get going so as to not eat into any more of my 3 minutes. I think I was in and out in less than 30 seconds and I didn’t bump any cars that trip so I thought it was a success!
