Kafka lives.

This afternoon's mail included a letter from the "Parking Enforcement Center" in San Ramon that requests I appear in person at the Santa Clara Police Department for an Administrative Hearing on a parking ticket I have been protesting for half a year. The date of my hearing is November 10, and I won't be there because I'm leading a workshop in Taipei that day.

Here's what happened. In May I was visiting a faculty member at the University of Santa Clara. I parked in the University's garage. When I returned to my car after the meeting, I was surprised to find a parking ticket. I went to the booth where I'd gotten parking instructions; they told me to go to the campus police. The campus police said they couldn't do anything; I'd have to deal with the people in San Ramon. I filled out paperwork explaining the circumstances of the ticket, and sent this letter to San Ramon:

May 20, 2005

Parking Enforcement Center
P.O. Box 5010
San Ramon, CA 94583

On May 11, 2005, I picked up a Visitor Permit at the gate of Santa Clara University. The guard told me to park along the ramp or on the first floor.

The ramp was full, so I returned to the first floor and parked in what I presumed to be an okay spot. There was no sign on the wall. See attached photo.

I met with a professor for a couple of hours and was surprised to find a citation on my car. I presumed I had parked legally. On close examination, I found a faded “B” painted on the concrete floor, so I realized I’d made an error.

I certainly did nothing wrong intentionally. I thought I was following your guard’s instructions. I request that you dismiss this citation.

Some time later, I received a form letter that my appeal was turned down. I was not informed why. I followed the procedure challenging the ticket. I sent a second letter.

June 29, 2005

Parking Enforcement Center
P.O. Box 5010
San Ramon, CA 94583

Request for Level 2 Hearing.

On May 11, 2005, I picked up a Visitor Permit at the gate of Santa Clara University. The guard told me to park along the ramp or on the first floor. My Visitor Permit is enclosed.

The ramp was full, so I returned to the first floor and parked in what I presumed to be an okay spot. There was no sign on the wall. I presume you still have the photo I included with my first request for a review.

I met with a professor for a couple of hours and was surprised to find a citation on my car upon my return. I presumed I had parked legally. On close examination, I found a faded “B” painted on the concrete floor, so I realized I’d made an error. The citation is enclosed.

I certainly did nothing wrong intentionally. I thought I was following your guard’s instructions. I request that you dismiss this citation.

Note: Your administrative review did not include the reason for denial that is part of the process described on Santa Clara University’s website. Reference: http://www.scu.edu/cs/Parking%20Citation%20Review.pdf. Note your Correspondence to me dated June 24, 2005.

I enclose a check payable to Santa Clara University in the amount of $40 but do so under protest. Again, I request that you dismiss this citation.

Here's the letter I received today.

The letter says I must call at least five days in advance of my hearing and "If you are unable to appear and do not call your citation will be upheld." Well, I did call. The woman who answers the first phone number listed in the letter told me she doesn't handle that. I should call the 800 number. I did. After listening to voice mail instructions on how to pay by credit card, I was informed the office was closed. I called the last number on the letter, a campus security office of some sort and left a message; I haven't heard back.

Google tells me the "Parking Enforcement Center" processes tickets for Monterey, Orinda, East Bay Regional Parks, CSUC, Carmel, Roseville, Walnut Creek, Sacramento, and other locales.

I feel like I'm being coerced. No one has paid attention to my side of this. Driving to the Santa Clara police station would blow half a day and cost me more than the fine, but rather than pay the $40, I want to register a protest. Are the universities and towns that have handed off parking collections really aware of what's going on? I'm sure it's less taxing for them to tell people who feel they have been treated unfairly "You'll have to take that up with San Ramon" rather than listen to their stories.

While Googling the Parking Enforcement Center, I came upon this item from The San Mateo Times.

For example, there's a parking ticket my wife got when she was at UC Santa Cruz. The parking signs on the lots were very confusing. First we tried to protest the tickets through the mail, but they were only accountable to themselves. So then we went on the Internet and sent them an e-mail, and we copied the chancellor of the university and the state Attorney General's Office, and we got the ticket reversed. That was a simple case of standing up for your rights.

The Parking Enforcement Center doesn't list an email address, but I'll be sure to copy the Attorney General and the president of the University of Santa Clara about this if it goes any further.

Another Google item:

U.S. Audiotex files for IPO

U.S. Audiotex Corp. of San Ramon filed for an initial public offering. The company provides electronic payment options to government entities, enabling consumers to use their credit cards to pay, by telephone or through the Internet, federal and state income taxes, sales and use taxes, property taxes and fines for traffic violations and parking citations.

It seems that U.S. Audiotex became Official Payments, and in 2002, Official Payments became a wholy owned subsidiary of Tier Technologies. Tier trades on NASDAQ. Firms like Tier file quarterly statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A few statements from recent filings:

We target industry sectors where we believe demand for our services is less discretionary and is likely to provide us with recurring revenue streams through long-term contracts. The forces driving the need for our services tend to involve federal- or state-mandated services, such as child support payment, collection and disbursement, as well as a fundamental shift in consumer transaction preferences, such as the increased substitution of electronic payment methods for cash or paper checks.

Some revenues are derived from "fees charged as a percentage of dollars processed." Hmmm. How would you feel going to traffic court if you knew the judge got a cut of the amount he fined you? Other items of note:

In October 2004, Tier was awarded a five-year $85 million contract by the State of Michigan Child Support State Disbursement Unit.

During the three and nine months ended June 30, 2005, net revenues increased $8.9 million and $19.7 million, respectively, over the same periods last year.

I see that one of Tier's directors went to the same B-School as I. I'll drop him a note before going full bore on this issue.

In the meanwhile, has anyone else suffered an injustice at the hands of these guys? Leave a comment or drop me a note.