Thank goodness I don't have a car anymore and don't have to deal with these clowns.\n\nBack when I moved into PGH, I did have a car, and obtained the residential permit necessary to park in my neighborhood (N. Oakland).  Go figure, when I went to the office to do so, the meter I first tried to park at was broken, and wouldn't accept any of my quarters.  (This is back in the day when the old meters still existed.)  I should have recognized this as a metaphor for PPA's dysfunctionality.  As it were, I just reported it to them.\n\nAs anyone who's ever been to N. Oakland knows, parking there is a real PITA, and the street that my apt. bldg.'s on doesn't even have parking.  One day about two weeks later, after parking in one of my normal spots, I went to my car only to see a ticket on the windshield.  \""What the heck?\"" I thought, since I had my residential permit prominently displayed.  Turns out I was parked within twenty feet of a crosswalk.  I wasn't aware this rule even existed, but apparently, it does.  Way to welcome me to the neighborhood, PGH!\n\nSince I was new to town and I'd heard that PGH parking court is a joke, I decided to contest the ticket.  It took me three calls to even get someone to answer the phone to sign up for a court date, since you couldn't schedule one yourself through their website.  I scheduled my hearing for an evening session about a month later.\n\nBefore I was ever able to go to court, a flood happened and totaled my car, making me even angrier about the situation.  I went to court with the plan of asking for leniency, given that I was new to town and newly carless.  When it was my turn, I took one look at the judge (a portly and stern-looking elderly woman) and knew I wasn't going to get off.  I didn't even get to finish my sob story before she cut me off.  \""It isn't our fault you didn't know the rules and that your car's wrecked,\"" she said.  Good thing I had enough cash on me to pay the fine, since I don't think they even took credit cards.\n\nDon't believe the stories about PGH parking court judges taking pity on you because you took time out of your day to show up and contest a ticket, regardless of the reason for it.  That court is a kangaroo court and they're out to do one thing--make money.  Be aware of the more obscure laws, which include not only parking too close to crosswalks, but also head-in parking only.  Check the parking signs carefully, feed the meters, and observe the time limits, and hopefully, you won't have the misfortune of dealing with these idiots.  You've been warned.\n\nI won't even get into the exorbitance of their rates downtown and in Oakland...  Their slogan, \""The Value Parking Network,\"" is laughable and downright disingenuous.