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A large yellow parking space with a sign reading “Mayor Parking Only” turned up in an area previously reserved for police squad cars Monday morning after Mayor Ted Franklin received a ticket Friday for parking in a no-parking zone outside the City Building.

Oakland parking officers were ordered to avoid enforcing neighborhood parking violations in two of the city's wealthier neighborhoods but told to continue enforcing the same violations in the rest of the city, according to a city memo obtained by The Chronicle.

The city of Keene, N.H., is suing “Robin Hood and his Merry Men” — a group that has made a name for itself by paying people’s parking meters before they can get slapped with a ticket from local parking enforcement officers. The Union Leader reported Tuesday that six “Robin Hooders” troll the streets of the city’s quaint downtown in search of cars parked at expired meters.

10 Ways to Beat a Speeding or Parking Ticket

Living in Boston, Massachusetts, which is, I believe, the parking ticket capital of the world, I get more parking tickets per year than most get in a lifetime. We actually budget $1,000 a year to pay parking tickets. One might ask: Why not just park legally? And while in your town, that might make sense, in Boston, that is sometimes impossible.

Instead of responding to that parking citation you got on Cambridge Street with frustration, tears or rage, the city has included yoga positions on the envelopes. New parking signs have also been installed to "wonder about them and find them puzzling". For example: "If you’re reading this sign, You’re reading this sign". "Soft Boots" for cars, made of soft fabric and stuffed, will be placed on select cars throughout the city.

Each year, the city of Santa Monica takes in $13 million from parking violations, and Parker and Harati hope they can turn a large part of that amount into profits. And with cities throughout California operating under similar street sweeping rules as Santa Monica, they see the potential for a big expansion.

Since they began seeking subscribers two months ago the, Ticket Angels have signed up more than 60 clients, mainly in the North of Montana area. They hope to soon cover all of Santa Monica.

Massive parking fines inspired one Australian man to create an iPhone app that lets users warn each other when parking officers are spotted lurking near their cars. Last year alone, he paid thousands of dollars in fines. The final straw came when he was ticketed in his own neighbourhood despite a parking permit that he pays hundreds of dollars for each year. The app lets users "sign in" and report sightings of parking officers with a single push of a button. Cartoon faces wearing a police cap then appear plotted on a map of the area, along with a notice thanking them.

The City of Austin has a problem: fewer people are driving while legally drunk, causing DWI ticket revenues to plummet. Thankfully, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo has a solution: create a new class of "crime" called "Driving While Ability-Impaired". Ladies could help fund the city budget after only one drink with a BAC of 0.05%, whereas most men would need at least two.

SACRAMENTO — The days of most tax-free Internet shopping in California are over.

After years of controversy, the world's largest online retailer, Amazon.com Inc., was set to begin collecting state and local sales taxes on California purchases at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Depending on where you live, sales taxes in the state range from 7.25% to 9.75%.