I just got a letter from a 3rd party collection agency working for the City to collect on a parking ticket I got in 1998. The statute of limitations on parking fines is 20 years, or so the City says.

The thing that burns is that I went through the same thing on some other parking citations from the 90s and I was told by at least three people that all of them had been paid. That time they also tried to ding me for a bunch of tickets that the new owner of that car got after I sold it. I had to supply my DMV notice of sale to prove I was not the responsible party.

Ravenous for revenue. Make sure you don't park with your car hanging over one of those hash marks you can't see from the driver's seat. Or miss a meter deadline by a minute or more.

Hey Jack, speaking of bully litigants, what is the possibility of your posting (somehow) documents in your "poll tax" case? What is the form of proceedings before the tax court? Are there substantial written briefs? That is what I and I'm sure a lot of the other regular readers would like to see. You are "the man" on tax issues (no false modesty permitted on this point) and I'm sure that your filings would make for fascinating reading. We have our fingers crossed.

Jack already pointed out that judges don't appreciate it when lawyers try cases in public. We might have to sit tight on this.

The parking fiasco Veterans Day, just confirms my self-imposed moratorium for going Downtown for any reason.

Hear hear, Phil. Of course, these geniuses will try to shame Portlanders into going into downtown rather than, you know, fix the reasons why nobody will go down there. I'm kind of reminded of the old Branniff Airlines when it was facing bankruptcy in the early Eighties: it spent years abusing flyers and doing its best to drive competitors (especially Southwest Airlines) out of business, but when corporate greed finally ran smack into the Reagan Recession, they ran any number of pity-me ads begging people to "buy local".

I remember having a argument with a Trimet bus driver once when he would not honor my Feb bus pass on Fed 29....evidently you can change the calender to suit your economic needs if you work for the city.

What is the possibility of your posting (somehow) documents in your "poll tax" case? What is the form of proceedings before the tax court? Are there substantial written briefs?

I contacted the tax court about the arts tax Complaint. The clerk told me they have had a lot of calls about it. They will mail the 15-page document to to you for 25 cents a page (or fax it for a higher fee), but you have to provide payment up front (in person or by mail) unless you are a member of the Oregon State Bar or are working for one.

I decided to wait until someone else posts a link to it.

Well shoot, George. Once you know that police lie in court and priests diddle kids, then nothing seems impossible. The sad part is we have given up trying to deal with problems. In Portlandia, there isn't just a broken window, there is little glass in the frames at all.

We have had to go downtown for several days in a row to do some business that could not be conducted electronically.
There seems to be lots of available street parking @ $1.60 per hour vs the garages at $2.25.
We would hazard a guess that this is because the bums and street families with large dogs, who have taken over nearly every corner loudly demanding "cash for weed", don't have cars and have have chased away all the regular folks who might otherwise be there, parking.
And at Macy's you now need a code to use the toilets! So much for the bygone days of Meir and Frank, when there were white gloved elevator operators, genteel ladies behind the counter and a tea room.
A clerk there told me, "well it's because we're downtown, you know".
Julius Meir must be spinning in his grave, along with Charles F Berg, the Zell family, the Pittocks, the Corbets, and the other founding families of this city.