Why my checking account and I hate Provo City.

Parking is the worst in Provo.  Last week, I got back to my apartment kind of late and every single spot in my designated lot (for which I have a permit) was open for me to use.  That's never happened before, so I went to the street.  The main street was completely full of dozens of parallel parked cars, so I hesitantly went to a smaller street that required a permit for overnight parking.  I had to park somewhere and there's no telling where the next open (legal) spot would be.  I have a permit, I had no where to go, and I sure wasn't going to park three blocks away to walk to my apartment in the middle of the night by myself.

I broke the rule and now I have to pay for it, literally.  $25 for parking for six hours on a street that still had plenty of room for other cars with permits?  Provo cops, are you kidding me right now?
When Johnny picked me up the next morning, he drove me to my car so I could move it back into my lot.  He had taken the parking ticket off of my windshield and replaced it with a note that said on the outside, "PARKING."  On the inside it said, "To: Sarah E. D. A. - I LOVE U. From: Jonathan B. Allred."  So sweet, right? I know, I have the best fiance ever.

But when I realized there was a legitimate ticket that he was just hiding in his car, the anger came back.  Provo, what did you want me to do?  Maybe if you had a proportionate number of parking spots for the college campus population of 30,000 that your city is lucky enough to include, people wouldn't have to park illegally.  Maybe if you forced apartment complexes to provide parking for each resident, I wouldn't have been forced to break the law.  Or, and I know this is a crazy idea, maybe if you would just accept a very nicely written appeal from someone who was only a victim of your ridiculous parking policies, you'd have one less enemy.  Even if you actually answered a phone call from someone who just saw that their appeal was denied, instead of keeping said person on hold for 30 minutes with the same annoying, "there are three callers ahead of you," message playing over and over again, with the number of callers never getting smaller, I wouldn't be bashing you right now.

I'm afraid none of these facts will ever change.  I will be forced to pay my fine within the next couple of days or else be subjected to a late fee.  Provo will still be able to restrict parking as much as it wants, and will be no worse off for what I'm writing.  I'm essentially powerless in this whole situation.

Thank goodness I graduate in a year and a half.  Then it's peace out, Provo forever.