City drivers removing wipers to stump Parking Authority, avoid tickets

Philadelphia, PA--Superman, as powerful as he was, was no match against kryptonite, the green-glowing rock that sapped his super strength when in his presence. Many in this city have wished there was a green-glowing rock that could melt away the powers of the PPA--The Philadelphia Parking Authority. They can stop wishing.

Have you received a parking ticket after your meter expired only minutes before? Did you leave your car for literally 20 seconds while dropping a letter into a curbside mailbox in the shadows of your vehicle, only to return to a signature blue and white PPA parking ticket staring at you? What? How did that get there and where did the parking enforcement officer go? Or perhaps, you've been egregiously illegally parking for years.

City drivers are fighting back by removing the windshield wipers from their automobiles to prevent Parking Authority workers from leaving paper violations. It is not clear where this idea began in the city, some say Pennsport and others say Fairmount, but the movement has been spreading fast and is common now in all neighborhoods.

"I don't know what to do because many cars that are parked illegally have no place to put tickets, so I can't really do anything," said PPA parking enforcement officer Jessica Miles. "I mean, just set it on the hood? That won't work."

"There's not much we can do," said Douglas Glass, a PPA official. "Article 10.1.4.17.223 of the PPA Ticket Issuing Manual reads that every ticket written or printed must be placed under the driver or passenger side windshield wiper. The manual specifically states, in the extremely rare instance when there are no wipers, to simply tear the ticket up and move on."

The PPA is losing massive amounts of revenue because of this new practice. Without wipers, parking tickets simply blow away, a waste of paper and valuable time. The Authority debated rewriting the procedures code to include windows and antennas as acceptable places to leave a ticket.

At first, the PPA attempted to give tickets for not having wipers, then quickly realized the problem with that plan.

"The public has finally found a loophole which may mean free parking for ever," said PPA President Tom Adams. "Well done public ... well done. But don't think you've won. After all, we are the Parking Authority. There may be a fat lady and she may be warming up by humming and doing other voice exercises, but she ain't singin' yet."

Klint Meesly of the Francisville neighborhood said, "I like free parking ... alot. But I'm not sure if it's worth it. I've had some horrible experiences recently when driving in the rain. Like, really horrible."