He unsuccessfully ran for mayor, pledging to take on the city’s parking enforcement office by offering a one-day amnesty to weary motorists slapped with a parking ticket. Today perennial candidate Michael Schaefer is waging a private war with parking enforcement agents.
For the past three years, Schaefer has parked his car in an improvised space in an alley next to the Monumental Life Insurance Co. headquarters in Mount Vernon, a space city officials said is illegal.
Despite netting nearly 30 tickets at $52 a pop for impeding a pedestrian right of way, Schaefer, however, refuses to budge — or move his car.
“City records show it is private property. There is no reason to ticket me,” he said. “I call them the parking Gestapo. It’s just not easy to deal with them at all, no matter what you do.”
Inspector General Hilton Green told Schaefer repeatedly that private property or not, parking in a alley can cause a hazard.
“If person is walking and has to move into the alley to avoid Mr. Schaefer’s car, then his car is an obstruction, therefore the city has the right to ticket him,” Green said.
Schaefer said the space on a 4-foot easement is owned by Monumental Life, and therefore a legal parking space.
Still, despite Green’s opinion, backed up by the city’s legal department, Schaefer continues to fight the tickets by going to court.
“I’ve been to court so many times, the judges recognize me now,” Schaefer said. “Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose.”
Schaefer said he is undeterred.
“If I can succeed in getting our enforcement officers to treat citizens with respect, resolve all doubts in their favor and get our leaders to tone down their enforcement to be consistent with other cities, I will have left a legacy,” Schaefer said. “The old man plants a tree so that others who came after him can enjoy the shade.”
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