461–470 of 498 posts
Probably a good time to tell people that SF operates a "Text Before Tow Program" where you can get a warning that you're about to get towed: https://www.sfmta.com/text-tow-program
This is fantastic. It really signals that the point is not to get money from you, but to free up the parking spot.
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I knew that domain name (which is blocked at work, for some reason) sounded familiar. So wait. cop-spotter is brought to you by the people who brought you bop-spotter?
dop-spotter is next
1. https://italysegreta.com/dop-ingredients-of-neapolitan-pizza...
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You might be downvoted regardless, as you suggest, but the guidelines are still the social contract of HN. What you call "less than apologetically polite" I would call "not kind" and "snarky." Did you feel kindness toward the gp when you replied? If you think you're actually following the guidelines, then you must carry on.
There is no social contract in scored internet comment sections. The herd will do what makes the number go up. If a large number of people showed up and upvoted every racist comment to the moon the verbiage in here would pivot almost overnight. Mobs don't have self awareness or free will.
The guidelines are the rules of the road for the community. The moral obligation to follow the guidelines is not conditional on whether you think the community is a mob. Even if you thought you have no obligation to the community, your behavior is still disrespectful to the intentions of the moderators.
The way you write makes it seem like you hold both the community and the guidelines in contempt. What is the purpose for you in participating in this community? Would it not be better for you and the community both if you stop posting like this?
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No, I don't; there are plenty of places you can't legally park that do not have painted curbs or "No Parking" signage. Do we also need curbs and signage near every fire hydrant? How about every driveway? Can drivers double-park anywhere they want? Should they yield to pedestrians in crosswalks? Etc. etc.
Reviewing the thread, the context is newly enforcing something that might not be illegal in all jurisdictions. Citing different contexts where signage is not always used doesn't change the fact that the discussion focuses on change in common practice in a specific context. In fact, I observe plenty of signage for fire hydrants and driveways in places where people commonly make parking errors. The question still stand…
(Also, in the specific context of this discussion, parking restrictions near intersections are super common; this is not some esoteric new law that has been introduced. See https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/reports-and-docume...)
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I disagree. There should be no expectation of privacy for any public officer. Things like this website, body cameras, and FOIA requests are all for the public good. Expose corruption and keep everyone safer with a little accountability.
> There should be no expectation of privacy for any public officer It's worth noting that SF Parking Control Officers aren't "police" by most any definition. They're not sworn, and they don't qualify as peace officers under California law. They can't execute warrants, make arrests, or carry firearms, etc. They work under the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), not the SFPD. Their enforcement powers…
The other points are valid, but note that California’s main general purpose state police force (CHP, which also absorbed the named-as-such State Police in 1995) is part of the State Transportation Agency, so being organizationally subordinated to a transportation agency is not really evidence of not being “police” in the normal sense.
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There's a difference between being in public and being tracked. Of course they don't have expectations of privacy in terms of people being able to e.g. take photos or videos of them. The same way people can take photos of you or me. But broadcasting someone's real-time location to the whole world all day long, in real time, is something else entirely. That has never been considered part of being in public. That's tar…
It should be noted that SFMTA, the alleged victim of this website, uses a network of 400+ Flock ALPR cameras to track the movement of every vehicle in the region. They're able to do this not because of some special agency authority, but because it's legal for anyone to surveil public areas.
I gotta say, it's incredibly inconsiderate and thoughtless to publish the real time location of a bunch of public safety officers in an individually identifiable way. I understand the sentiment, and I appreciate the hackery... but you put these people at risk today. You need to think much more carefully about how you approach things like this in the future.
Most states have a public real time map showing snow plow locations. Ask yourself why is it not a problem when their info is public. At the end of the day what this comes down to is the current scale of parking tickets being something that needs to be backed by more violence (i.e. deploy actual cops with all their associated costs) than society would tolerate (people would complain about costs, request the resources…
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Thank you for thinking about the safety of our neighbors. May I ask whether you've considered the unique vehicles the parking enforcement agents use? SFMTA is hard to miss in their 3-wheelers--believe it's the Westward Industries "GO-4" Interceptor. I may have a blind spot here (like someone with access to an armed drone fleet could have made use of the map?), but essentially all private citizens will see these unmis…
The website enabled stalking individual city employees by their initials in real time. If it just showed where the cars were, that would be much better. Although still questionable IMHO.