Tales of parking-ticket woes are bountiful in Baltimore, but none might equal the travails of local tattoo artist Seth Ciferri, 33, whose ongoing battle with the city?s parking agents landed him in jail, on probation and thousands of dollars poorer.
“I?m done, I?m leaving,” the Fells Point resident said over coffee, shaking his head.
The former owner of Read Street Tattoo Parlor and critically acclaimed tattoo artist laments his fight with the city?s parking enforcement bureaucracy as the beginning of the end of a tumultuous love affair with Baltimore that included starting a business, raising two children and now leaving for good.
“It?s been a downward spiral and it started with parking tickets,” he said.
“I?m sick of this town.”
The trouble started for Ciferri in June 2006, when he paid $1,200 worth of tickets he racked up.
“Unfortunately I happen to live and work in two neighborhoods ? Fells Point and Mount Vernon ? targeted for tickets.”
Ciferri paid his fines, but several days after settling his tab, his car was booted in front of his Fells Point home June 28, 2006.
“I called the city, and they apologized and took the boot off,” he said.
But the next day, he was booted again.
“It was ridiculous, but at least they admitted they made a mistake and took it off.”
But after a thirdboot a week later ? July 5, 2006 ? things turned ugly.
“I was in my shop and they said, ?They?re towing your car,? so I ran outside and told them I paid my tickets.”
The agent wasn?t buying his story, Ciferri said.
“I told her the proof was in my glove compartment, but she said, ?You?re not getting into the damn car and she pushed me,? ” he said.
With plenty of witnesses, Ciferri called police to press charges against the agent, but instead he ended up in jail.
“The cop said: ?You can press charges after you get out of jail.? ”
Charging documents state that Ciferri tried to get into his car by pushing the enforcement officer out of the way. They also assert he had not paid his fines, an allegation Ciferri said is untrue.
A 22-hour stint in the city?s Central Booking facility ended with Ciferri being charged with second-degree assault. Prosecutors offered to drop the charges, provided Ciferri apologize, he said.
“I said no, I wouldn?t do it, I want a trial.”
But after testimony from two tow-truck drivers and the agent, District Court Judge Patricia Pytash convicted Ciferri of second-degree assault. Department of Transportation officials declined to comment on the assault charges, or the case.
But it got worse.
The judge ordered him to attend anger management classes, the successful completion of which would result in the conviction being wiped out, according to court records. Ciferri found himself spending time with people convicted of domestic violence.
Transferring to a different class, the paperwork notifying the court of the move didn?t make it to the judge on time.
“They issued a warrant for my arrest.”
That earned Ciferri an early-morning visit from the city?s warrant apprehension task force and another stay in jail ? this time, he said, for 33 hours.
Ciferri?s probation ended in October, and now he?s trying to collect the nearly $600 he said he overpaid for tickets on his wife?s car.
“The agents still drive by my office and laugh at me,” he said. “They think it?s funny.”
“People are expected to live and prosper in a city, but the government doesn?t allow it.”
