Rainy days and Tuesdays

I walked down from the Heights today -- partly because Hoboken already gave me my quota for tickets this month. It amazes me how much more real estate tax I pay for something that takes up so little space on the street. Parking laws are all about free money. When the government can't put the burden on the backs of people who can vote them out of office, they hit the business people who live elsewhere but are forced to pay blood money to make a living.
This is similar to concept of sin taxes -- cigarette and alcohol taxes -- which get imposed on people because we as human beings must pay through the teeth if we happen to have a vice.
This is half the reason I dred the former Madam winning governor of New York. She would liberalize prostitution, and, of course, somewhere down the road, some political figure will post a heavy tax on the industry. And while you can always go out of state to get your cigarettes or booze, park out of Hoboken to avoid the tickets, legalized prostitution would largely be a local institution.
I started parking out of town when Mayor Roberts decided to create one-side residential parking and forced drivers like me to play musical chairs every day -- a guarentee the city could issue a ticket or tow and thus make its money. But when I parked in Union City on the road up from the viaduct, I found my car burglarized -- a different kind of tax paid to a different underground economy.
During the months was car was laid up for repairs, I learned I could walk to Hoboken, and for the most part, do that on Tuesdays when I come into town. I drive in only when I have a lot to carry like cameras. Since I had no such obsticals this week, I walked, cursing the two tickets I got last week for the privilege of working in Hoboken.