Couple Gets $180 Parking Ticket After Curb Was Repainted While They Were Gone — "Classic San Francisco"

Parking in a major metropolitan city can often feel like a fleece job. There are throngs of traffic cops looking to earn as much revenue as possible for the city off of people's vehicles. It can be argued that this is a shady and nasty enterprise, especially because if someone's parking their vehicle in a city, they either live there, work there, or are probably shopping there.

And if you're unfortunate enough to get your car towed, then that becomes an entire process as well: having to get your car back will more than likely ruin your entire day/night, not to mention all of the money you need to put into retrieving your car. But there are some citizens who are fighting back against abusive traffic police work.

The NYPD's traffic division was hit with a class action lawsuit for "double dipping" when it comes to fines. Personally speaking, I've had a car towed in NYC prior to the 10 PM time I was allowed to keep it legally parked in a location and when I provided evidence for my case, I was summarily ignored.

Thankfully, this couple didn't have their vehicle towed, but they still had a baffling run-in with their local traffic authority.

Desiree and Jeff Jolly left their vehicle parked near a curb in San Francisco's Russian Hill area, a place they've lived in for some 25 years. They've used a particular spot whenever it was open during that time and thought nothing of it when they parked their car there for a few days.

However, after returning to their vehicle, they noticed a $180 parking ticket on their windshield and a freshly painted curb slathered in red. According to ABC News, they even noticed that whoever painted the curb intentionally avoided a particular part of the curb so that they wouldn't hit their vehicle's tire.

Desiree told local news affiliate KGO that they wouldn't have had any problem paying for the ticket "if it was warranted" but added that "it seems unfair" since the curb was only painted red after they had already parked their vehicle. Jeff, who works as a painter, said that he had friends ring him up after learning of the story saying "what a bad job that was."

According to the outlet, "A spokesperson for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency told KGO the ticket wasn't for the newly painted red zone, but rather, a faded one."

The Jolly's will ultimately have to take their gripe up with their local citation clerk to see if they can contest the ticket or have the fee mitigated/waived.

This is yet another instance of parking gripes in San Francisco. In the same month, a couple was fined $1,500 for parking their car in their own driveway. The pair were expected to provide documentation that the space has been used for parking vehicles in the past.

They were ultimately able to get the fee waived after finding a 1938 photo of a horse and buggy being parked in the same location.

Desiree and her husband say that all of the restrictions in San Francisco are influencing their decision to ultimately leave the city.

"We do want to leave because of all of this stuff that goes on in the city. I'm going through chemotherapy right now, so it's like I'm worried about other things, and now I have to worry about this," Desiree said.