Rant #3,421: No Way Out

Related to my previous post, Monday was a horribly busy day for me.

Under these bizarre circumstances, there is no way I could have gone through the prostate procedure yesterday.

I was simply too busy trying to work out a solution to the problem I was faced with on the weekend.

Let me count the ways.

1) A little after 9 a.m., I went to the management office, and presented my case to the manager, pretty much stating that the towing of my car in the middle of Friday night can never happen again.

He again said that while he understands the problem, there is nothing he can do about it.

There is one parking space for each of the 200-plus apartments here, and within the last year, they added some extra "Visitor" spaces, and they are simply out of space.

He gave me no solution about where I could safely park, even though there are dozens of "Legal" spaces open each day and night, but they cannot be used by those residents without a parking permit, so anyone in a two-or-more car family is out of luck.

I asked him about a reserved spot--I have seen dozens of them on the premises--and he said that having such a spot does not mean you get an additional spot, that is your one "legal" spot.

He also told me that some residents give their parking permits to health aides, who come from out of the development ... so there are people who don't even live here who are parking in "legal" spaces where someone like me, who lives here, has to park in a "Visitors" parking spot, or risk getting towed away.

Further, some residents without cars give their permit to friends and relatives, who then have a spot to park in when they visit--

So again, non-residents are using the "legal" prlsrking no matter how frequently or infrequently they come here, and i, a resident, can't use that parking.

Something tells me that a rule about transferring the ownership of a spot to non-residents is desperately needed here, wouldn't you say?.

There is an unsecured shopping center across the street with plenty of parking spots, and while the manager said I could park there, "If you parked there and something happened, you would have no recourse," and I would also have to cross a major multi-lane roadway, which is hard enough to maneuver when you are in your car ... can you imagine how difficult it would be on foot?

"So, what am I supposed to do if I come home, drive around and around here, and I simply cannot find a 'Visitors' parking spot?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. "This problem has come up in the past, and I can't help you."

"So whenever I leave here using my car, I have to prepare for anxiety, as whatever time I come back here--morning, day or night--if I can't find a 'Visitors' space, I risk the possibility of being towed," I said to him.

"I am sorry, but I don't have a solution for you ... there is nothing I can do about it."

I got up, and never raising my voice during this half-hour discussion, I said to him the following:

"If I ever come home here during any part of the day, and I am forced to park in a regular spot after driving around and not being able to find a 'Visitors' spot, and if I am towed away again, I will sue you."

2) After this debacle, I drove around trying to find what I thought was a precinct annex near where I live. 

I simply wanted to ask the county police if this parking scenario was legal, and also to do another thing, which was a bright idea I had which I will tell you about in a moment.

I used Google Maps, which pointed me to such an annex, but lo and behold, the annex does not exist, the directions I had been given by Google Maps was wrong, and I ended up in a part of the surrounding community that i had never previously been in, but somehow found my way home.

3) I got home, ate a quick early lunch, and found a non-emergency county police number where I could ask where the local precinct was--a couple of towns east of where I live.

I finished eating, and I went to the precinct.

4) I got to the precinct, and asked about the legalities, from their end, of the parking situation where I live.

It took the desk cop about 10 minutes to ascertain that I live in Suffolk and not Nassau County, as the development where I live straddles both counties--again leading me to believe that redistricting has shifted where I live from Nassau to Suffolk.County.

When the desk cop told me that every community can make their own rules about parking, I directly dove into my bright idea that I told you about a few sentences back.

"How do I apply for a handicapped parking pass?" I asked.

Look, I do not consider myself "handicapped" in any way. Due to an excellent surgeon, supetb physical therapy, and my own attitude, including the exercises I do at home, I can move around as good as I can, under the circumstances--

But let's be honest about it; I was critically injured not once, but twice, and I am not yet a year removed from that horror.

And also, walking isn't as free and easy as I would like it to be.

So I went that route, and yes, there are several handicapped spaces set up in my community that I can use to park my car safely.

I asked about the use of the handicapped parking permit in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and the policeman told me that the pass is valid across the counties, and in New York City too.

She gave me the paperwork, and I drove home.

5) I got home, and started to fill out the form for the pass and get some other documents together, including a copy of my driver's license and other documents that I had to scan and print out.

But I found that I also needed my surgeon's OK to get the pass--I needed his signature and some other information only he could provide before mailing this all out.

I called up his office, and they told me that I could bring in the form for the doctor to sign, but he would not sign it right then and there, and that I would have to wait about seven to 10 days for the office to get the signed form back to me.

I thought that this was ridiculous, but after all the craziness I had already been through, this was kind of par for the course.

I drove to the surgeon's office--again, several towns away from me, even past the police precinct--and figured that even getting the material seven to 10 days from now would be worth the wait if I actually received the.permit.

So I galloped over to the office, gave them the material to sign ... and the doctor signed it on the spot.

6) I came back to my community, bought some larger envelopes to put all of this material in, affixed stamps to the envelope, and went to the local post office to mail this very important parcel.

I did not finish this entire thing until 3:30 p.m. ... and would you believe I even fit in some work in this more than six-hour fiasco?

I was really worn out, but I hope that it will all have a happy ending ...

And the craziness that I went through today justified putting off that elective procedure, at least for now.

And, by the way, I parked in the one "Visitors" spot I could find when I was finished with what I did today--

All's well that ends well ... I hope.