Betsy Todd said I need to post this on my blog since it’s hilarious and sounds like a crazy, cranky, lunatic artist wrote it. Uhm…not such a far stretch.
Katrina del Mar
P.O. Box 1203
New York, NY 10276
Date: June 3, 2009
To: New York City Department of Finance
Parking Violations Hearing by Mail Unit
PO Box 29021 Cadman Plaza Station
Brooklyn, New York 11202-9021
To Whom it may Concern:
I am writing to contest two summonses numbered XXXXXXXX and XXXXXXX.
These summonses were issued not because I hadn’t renewed and displayed my registration, but because the new registration sticker wasn’t yet adhered to the glass of my windshield.
I have arthritis in my hands*, and the OLD registration sticker is very difficult to remove. In fact, I tried to remove it so I could affix the new sticker but the space between the glass and the dashboard in my vehicle is very narrow. (SEE ATTACHED PICTURES) I didn’t want to have a messy, unreadable new sticker!
I realized that I needed a special scraping tool. So I PLACED THE NEW REGISTRATION STICKER IN PLAIN VIEW ON THE DASHBOARD, until I could GET TO A HARDWARE STORE and purchase some kind of TOOL to REMOVE THE OLD REGISTRATION STICKER.
When I received these summonses, I was furious! I am aware that the city needs money, but this seems like DELIBERATE HARASSMENT to me.
I am a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen, an artist, and long time citizen of New York City. I’ve been living here since the late 80’s.
I am also a member of the so-called ‘disappearing middle class:’ I have never been one of the wealthy elite, and I have also never collected welfare. I do my very best to rise to the occasion; to make my way and pay my way, and in New York City, it hasn’t always been easy.
This city is a wonderful, complex, sometimes difficult place to live. Rent is expensive, food is expensive, and keeping a car is expensive. But I choose to make this place my home.
I believe that this harassing, over-fining, nickel & diming of someone who is clearly doing their best to follow the law is a reprehensible abuse of power, and it’s part of what leads people like myself to want to leave this town altogether.
PLEASE dismiss these spurious, unnecessary tickets. I have enclosed proof that I have now adhered the new sticker properly to the windshield glass, I have enclosed proof that it was necessary to not only purchase a special tool, but to also get help from a nimble, narrow-handed friend to remove the old sticker properly**.
I hope you will please dismiss this matter. I appreciate your help and your kind attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Katrina del Mar
PLATE NO. XXXXXXX NY PAS
*I do have mild arthritis in both my thumbs, so this is not a lie
**Okay, this is slightly embellished.
