Dear Parking Guru,

I have benefitted greatly from your stories and sage advice to others.  Unfortunately, the time has come for me to seek your help. I just got a ticket for not curbing my wheels on Folsom between Hawthorne and Second Street. The street is almost flat. How can I fight this? Could you please help me?

Curby

Dear Curby,

Improperly issued tickets for not curbing your wheels on a street with a 3% grade or higher seem to be issued in waves. And based on the number of people recently complaining about this particular citation, the tide does appear to be rising. It’s one of the most frequently improperly issued citations, because most parking officers don’t know the grades of each particular street in the City. But I do, and now you can too. I’ll show you how at the end. This is a slam dunk if you contest it with proof.

I checked out the block of Folsom on which you parked, and it is only a 2.59% grade. This means that you were improperly cited for not curbing your wheels on a street with a 3% grade or higher, and you don’t have to pay anything.  But you do need to take action. I emailed you a screenshot of the surveyed block that you parked on. Mail a copy of it to the proper address for contesting your ticket and that should suffice. However, even with a screenshot of the evidence, chances are high that when you contest this ticket, you will receive a response that states, “According to our information, we find that the citation issued was valid.” You then will need to appeal this again stating,  “My information is from the official map of the surveyed streets of San Francisco performed by the City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Works. What information do you have?” You then will receive a letter stating that upon further review, your ticket has been dismissed. It seems like a hassle, and it is, but it will only take you three minutes to contest this. So don’t procrastinate. If you don’t contest it within 21 days, it's game over–even if it was improperly issued.

For those of you who have been recently ticketed for not curbing your wheels, here is how you can see if the ticket was properly issued or not:

1.Click here.
2. Click on “The Surveyed Streets of San Francisco.”
3. Once there, enter a street name, and then set the limits (cross streets).
4. Once the map comes up, click on “grade” on the right side.
5. Find your intersection and the percent grade of your block will be in the center of the street.

If you can’t read it, take a screenshot or save that page as a PDF and then magnify it. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

For more tips on ways to keep $50 in your pocket, click here. To check out the newly released version of VoicePark, the app that guides you in a sexy voice, turn by turn to available street and garage parking, click here.