Oakland parking problem: Noel Pinto, Susan Bergmann's upset with you!

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I got the email below from Susan Bergmann, who's a very upset Oakland small business owner, and especially with Oakland Parking Director Noel Pinto.

Susan Bergmann gave me permission to present the email in full to you and she wants Noel Pinto to see it. (I'm telling you, she's really pissed). I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's really in a lather about the City of Oakland's "misery industry."

If you have a problem with Oakland parking you want to share with the World, send it to me at zennie@zennie62.com with the words, "please print for your blogs" in the subject heading.

Hi Zennie,


I am engaged in a battle with Noel Pinto, new head of parking. He insists on giving me parking tickets on MacArthur Blvd, in front of my office, for violation of 2 hour parking, despite the fact that I come and go all day long. After 11 months, I finally got my "hearing" yesterday and it was very humorous (if its not your life). I would love to get publicity for what has happened. Eventually, I will prevail in small claims court, because what the city is doing to me is outrageous. But I have to jump through many, many hoops before I can see a real judge.
Here is my story of yesterday's hearing:


My Day in Court


Today, I went to the Parking Bureau in downtown Oakland to fight a series of parking tickets I have received in the past eleven months. One ticket has disappeared from the system, one had a wrong address on it, so I think it will be thrown out. One has not yet been processed. So that left just one of the four.


My first question to the "Administrative Hearing Officer" (Rudy Villegas):


"How is this the same and different from a court?"


Hearing Officer: "It's just the same."


Me: "Is there the presumption of innocence?"


Hearing Officer: "What's that?"


Me: "It means the burden of proof is on the City to prove I violated a law."


Hearing Officer: "Oh, of course not. I have the file from the parking bureau right here, and you have to convince me that you're not guilty."


Me: "Then this is not like a court of law. In court, you are innocent until proven guilty."


Hearing Officer: "Well, not in traffic court. You have to prove that you didn't do it."


It was an inauspicious start. We got to the ticket in question, a violation of the two hour parking limit.


Me: "I came to my office at 11:00 am. I left at 12:00 noon to go to swim team. I returned at 1:30 pm, parking at a different spot. I got a ticket for violating 2 hour parking at 2:00. The total time I was parked was one and a half hours."


Hearing Officer: "It says on the ticket that your car was parked there at 11:43 am. But I don't see that verified."


Me: "I was parked there at 11:43. I'll stipulate to that. I was also parked in front of my office, at a different place, at 2:00 pm. But I was not there for a large part of the time in between."


Hearing Officer: "Well, that doesn't matter. Because the way the system works, they just record whether your car was there or not."


It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. I would present the facts, and the White Rabbit across the desk from me would sing "La la la la".


At the end of the hearing, the officer asked me, "Why don't you just park someplace else?"


When I was in the bathroom, Mr. Villegas told my husband, "I just took this job to get the money for greens fees {golfing]. I thought it would be easy, no stress. Then, I get cases like today."


When I got home from court, a notice was in the mail saying my latest parking ticket has been sent to a collections agency.


Zennie, I do have other outrageous details, particularly relating to Jean Quan's office (that is the district where my office is located).


Might you be interested in any of these details? If not, any ideas about how to publicize any of this?
Thanks! Keep fighting the good fight.


Susan Bergmann