Expensive Library Book

nbruce writes “Letter to the New York Times tells of a friend who drove to the library at 7 a.m. to return a library book. The conscientious patron parked horizontally and ran to the book chute. A policeman drove up and gave him a ticket for $100 for blocking two handicapped parking place. The library was closed and there was no one else in the parking lot.”

January 31, 2004 by Books Librarians Libraries

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9 Responses

  1. Anonymous Patron says:
    January 31, 2004 at 4:30 am

    And…
    This is too bad, but what the hell does it have to do with the library, other than they were dropping off a book?
    Would it have mattered if they were being conscientious and dropping off a video or DVD from a rental place?

  2. rachel says:
    January 31, 2004 at 4:45 am

    sheesh
    If the lot was deserted, they could have managed to park one spot over in the non-handicapped zone. If you start saying it’s OK to park there because no one’s using it at the time, you’re going to open up worse problems later.

  3. nbruce says:
    January 31, 2004 at 5:26 am

    Re:sheesh
    You have a great future in library work.

  4. Anonymous Patron says:
    January 31, 2004 at 10:05 am

    I don’t know if you mean me or Rachel,
    but it is still wrong to park in a handicapped space.

    She is correct about that. What does that have to do with her future in library work?

  5. Fang-Face says:
    January 31, 2004 at 6:31 pm

    Re:And…
    What’s important in this incident, in my not so humble opinion, is that the kind of cop who will engage in this kind of blind enforcement of regulation is the kind of cop who will arrest you for carrying an almanac.

  6. Cyberpunk Librarian says:
    January 31, 2004 at 9:26 pm

    Common sense and hardass cops
    *sigh*

    This is one of those situations where I’m torn between common sense and what the law says is right.

    If the parking lot is deserted, then yes, the person should have probably parked in a space not designated handicapped accessible. I’m sure there were plenty about. On the other hand, if it’s a quick drop off, and the parking lot is deserted, then what are the odds that one handicapped person is going to roll up in their car and not be able to park there? And what are the odds tha two handicapped people are going to pull into the parking lot at the same time? I think we’re looking at pretty astronomical odds, especially since the library was closed.

    Yes the person broke the law, but I think the cop could have let the unlucky schmuck off with a warning and still finished his shift with a clear conscience. This sounds, to me, like a bored patrolman looking for someone to screw.

    And before someone launches into a speech about making sure handicapped spaces are available for those needing them, I have this observation to make: I have yet to pull into any parking lot in any town at any time and see every single handicapped space taken. I’ve been driving around 12 years now, so I figure that, in that time, I would have seen at least one instance where all the handicapped spaces were filled. I’ve never seen it, though. Never. There’s always spaces available, at least where I live. And since I live in a town which is famous for retirement communities, it’s not like we don’t have people who’d use them.

  7. kctipton says:
    February 1, 2004 at 12:52 am

    Re:Common sense and hardass cops
    But, if you go to the airport, look hard for those handicapped spots. I’ll bet that they’re all full – with cars filled with nonhandicapped people who borrowed a tag from great-grandma. Malls are possibly the same way. The Houston Chronicle ran some stories a few months ago (sorry, don’t have a link to them) about blue tag abuse in the downtown area. Many displayed tags were either stolen or in possession of someone other than the designated handicapped person.

    There’s lots of news articles about handicapped parking if you look: Here’s one source.

  8. Cyberpunk Librarian says:
    February 1, 2004 at 11:18 am

    Re:Common sense and hardass cops
    Oh I don’t doubt that one bit. Many times I’ve seen a car pull into a handicapped spot, the blue tag get hung on the rearview mirror, and then some guy about 40 to 50 years old gets out of the car and walks into the store. I find that to be outrageous and I think that the person who does that should not only be prosecuted, but also the person who loaned them the tag. Obviously, if the tag is stolen, that’s not the owner’s fault.

    That’s not what really burns me, though. What gets me is when the handicapped person is driving, but they don’t have what anyone would consider to be a real handicap. My dad was involved in a pretty bad auto accident which rendered his right leg about 3.8 cms shorter than his left. He still has problems walking, though he can do pretty well with a build up on his boots. He applied for a handicapped permit and was denied. Why? His handicap wasn’t bad enough to necessitate a permit.

    Why does that burn me? It burns me because a morbidly obese person can get a permit no problem. At least the obese person can seek help, diet, and lose some weight. My dad really doesn’t have the option to seek help and get 3.8 cms of bone back.

    Ah but screw this. We’ve ventured far off the topic of library stuff and you don’t want to get me going on this subject. 🙂

  9. Anonymous Patron says:
    February 1, 2004 at 9:50 pm

    I disagree
    The whole basis for law, and one of the reasons that you can’t take anything to the Supreme Court, is the fact that you need to show that someone was harmed.

    When the library is closed, and the parking lot is used exclusively for the library (ie: not a m ulti-use muncipal parking lot), nobody will be harmed by someone parking across two handicapped parking spaces.

    If I were the person, I’d be taking that to court.

    I’d argue it from a not-parked stance (hopefully they didn’t turn off their engine), among st other things.

    I agree, I see a lot of people abusing handicapped parking places, with or without tags. And those people should get ticketed, but only when a handicapped person might be using the spaces.

    It also says that the library wasn’t well desi gned, they should have a drive-thru return drop-box. They are most elegant for cars and for bicycles 🙂

    — Ender, Duke_of_URL

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