I don’t normally go to Starbucks in the morning, but my wife Keri had given me a gift card she received that I wanted to use up. There’s one not far from my office in Northwest Portland. It’s kind of difficult to find parking in that area. As I was driving past looking around for a spot, I noticed that there was a police car parked in the car share spot, which happens to be very conveniently located directly in front of Starbucks. I quickly found a legal parking spot around the corner and ran back to snap these pictures with my iPhone:
Having trouble seeing that sign there? Here’s a close-up:
So yes, that’s clearly a Portland Police car parked in a spot designated for car share vehicles, such as those maintained by Zipcar. It is illegal for any other vehicles (including Police cars) to park there.
Now to give the police the benefit of the doubt here, there could have been an emergency nearby. I initially took the pictures more because I thought it was kind of funny and ironic, considering the common stereotype that cops spend a lot of time in Starbucks. Then I went inside said Starbucks. There was a large group of cops in the back who were all staring at me. I assume this was because they saw me photographing one of their cars (I wasn’t trying to hide) parked illegally in a hard-to-park-in part of town while they sat around drinking coffee. One of them yelled “Thanks!” (I can only assume sarcastically) and gave me a toothy grin and a thumbs up. I did nothing but smile back. They were caught and they knew it.
I am not trying to bash the Portland Police. Being a police officer is a difficult, dangerous and often thankless job. Does it hurt anyone that one of these officers parked illegally in front of a coffee shop? Probably not. That’s not the point. The point is that if you parked in that spot, they’d give you a ticket in a heartbeat. It’s a complete double standard. The officer who parked his car there clearly held the opinion that he was above the law and that he could park his car wherever he wanted because no one would hold him accountable. Most days he is probably right.
Not today.
UPDATE: This apparently not the first time this has happened.
UPDATE: I have emailed the Portland police chief, Rosie Sizer about this incident using the address on this page.
On January 22nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm Noah said:
I agree with Jaybill. And while I’d say parking in a Zipcar spot is better than parking in a spot reserved for the disabled, or maybe even a loading zone, or taxi spot, the inherent logic ain’t great.
If the spot was open, that means someone is using the Zipcar (I’m a Zipster, myself). Which means that unless the officer knows who has the vehicle, and their intended return time, the car could return at any time when their reservation ends, usually on or near the half-hour. If a user is late in returning a Zipcar to it’s intended spot, they have to pay a $50 fine, which will not be waived, as Zipcar is determined to make clear to its members that it is important to return a vehicle on time so that they don’t infringe on another member’s reservation. I know they do provide an option in the customer service phone tree to call if you’re unable to return the car to the spot, but that would require calling, advising them, and then finding alternate parking in a hard-to-park part of town. Then someone from Zipcar I’m assuming has to come and move the car back to its intended space. Or, the person sits there with flashers on while the cop moves the car, or while Zipcar calls PDX police and asks them to move/tow the vehicle. All this for coffee? LAME.
On January 22nd, 2009 at 3:08 pm Rico said:
The repercussions of occupying a car share spot illegally can be more than people think. Taking up a ZipCar space could cost someone late fees when they can’t return their car because the space is taken, and can cause someone to miss, say, a job interview because the car they reserved wasn’t there when they reserved it because it couldn’t be parked there. Much less likely things have happened.
On January 22nd, 2009 at 3:10 pm Rico said:
So, er, yeah, what Noah said.
Even in the case of an emergency, cops should think about and weigh the possible hardships they could be causing by parking there.
On January 22nd, 2009 at 5:43 pm designohmatic said:
What? A double standard? In a city governed by a homosexual pedophile who has no problems lying to the public for political gain? impossible!
On January 22nd, 2009 at 6:35 pm designohmatic said:
you may just be Portland’s Jimmy Justice :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uGQoNOZSRQ&feature=channel