"You should park where you belong" says local business owner to disabled man.

I partook of time with friends at a business in Key West Plaza, West Monroe. I'm not naming that business because this event had nothing to do with where I took my business, rather where I parked. But Key West Tan gets mentioned because this occurred via the owner of that business. I don't know what this man's name was, but I'm sure others through out the business area do. Here is what happened.

The man came to find me, asking about the car I parked as seen in the image. I thought something had happened to it so I found the man asking about me, and brought his attention to myself. He confided that he wished for me to move my vehicle from the space in front of his store for the sake of his patrons.

This is where I point out that the rain poured in buckets outside. Furthermore there were and are no signs or any form of assigned parking (save for disabled) in the entire plaza shopping center. On the side of the business (Key West Tan) are four parking spaces directly attached to his business. There is no way in any portion of the parking lot that you can avoid being rained on, by parking there. I am disabled, walk with a cane (most of the time) due to complications with my disability, Multiple Sclerosis. However, my parking placard is expired. So all I could do was move the car out to the middle of the parking lot to get the most rain exposure possible. These are all important factors to this story.

Initially, though quite disturbed at the idea that this man was willing to go business to business to hunt me down for where I parked, I did move the car. But then I noticed that there was no sign indicating he could ask that of me and I changed my mind. I had quite a few things I would need help getting to my car as it were, never mind travelling a wet slick parking lot with a four pod cane. I had every bit as much right to park right where I did and he had no legal recourse to ask me to move. So I put the car right back in the same space and went back about my business trying to enjoy the day with friends.

Mr. Tan Owner came back to make a point and I didn't let him.

"Before you say a word," I said. "tow me." Yeah, it wasn't a nice thing to say, but his treatment of me was about to get worse, so I don't feel so bad about it.

The man went out to his truck, got his phone, and as far as I could tell... called the police. Since there was a possibility of police, I got out my phone, took my cane because the stress was weakening my legs by this point, and went out to take the photo you see above.

"He's parked right in front of my business..." I heard him say on the phone. No police ever came. I didn't think they actually would.

After a few minutes he came back over to talk to the owner of the business I was at. I interceded. Why? Because no one in that whole complex had any legal power to tell me to move that car anywhere. It was me he needed to talk to.

"So just because you don't want to park where you belong..." the man said to me, gesturing to the disability accessible spaces.

"My placard is expired, Sir, I can't do that." I explained to him.

"That's semantics."

"No, it's the law." I will not make myself the worlds biggest hypocrite by parking illegally where I tell others not to park illegally. I even pointed that out to him, but there was no reaching him. I had to walk away.

"You know, it's just a matter of common courtesy." He said to me. I couldn't help but think I was the guy who needed a cane in the equation and it just didn't add up. Common courtesy for who?

So to sum up, he went out of his way to track me down, expected me to move for his patrons when he had no legal recourse to do so, and summed up with how I need to be where I belong, even if I break the law doing it... because it's just common courtesy.

Am I really out of bounds for wanting a public apology? I don't think so. Who is he going to do this too next? Would he still have hunted me down if I was a little old lady? And just to be clear, telling a disabled person they 'belong' in any space is highly discriminatory.

UPDATE: The owner has reached out to me via a third party (I will not mention names out of kindness because of this) to apologize to me. I will accept his apology, however I expect him to meet me in  person to follow this up. He has stated that in afterthought he was far out of bounds and the landlord has made it clear that no parking spaces may be claimed exclusive for any of the businesses in the plaza. I applaud his quick response, less than 10 hours from posting of this article.

UPDATE 2:  Through the third party mentioned above and a couple of other sources, it was made clear to me that our business owner (I know know him as Mr. Steven Kelley) intended to meet me at the shop I frequent to offer me requested apology. It's all I expect. Apologize to me and shake my hand. After that I would have altered this article so that it gave no names to include business. I was there for a whole 6 hours. HE NEVER SHOWED UP.  Clearly this isn't going to happen. So now this article can stay exactly as is. And sadly, that may not entirely be the end of it. There are people who care about me who are not happy with what happened. Word is spreading.

"People in wheelchairs don't go to the gym," says man about blocking accessible parking.

Yes. That is what the man who claimed to be the owner of North American Land Development said to me in defense of his friend who blocked accessible parking with his big SUV.  Allow me to divulge the whole story.

I stopped through the parking lot for Planet Fitness and Books a Million as I sometimes do, in order to check for parking violations to report on the Parking Mobility App. While the image you are about to look at is dated, I've added some pertinent information with random art skills.

Click on image for larger view. Credit to Google Earth.

You can clearly see where I've marked the direction of the construction and Planet Fitness. You can see where the construction company taped off parking for their work. You can see where I parked and where he parked. Important fact here... row we parked in was NOT taped off.  Remember this.

Below for purpose of identification I will call them Owner, Friend (as in of the owner) and Me (for the dialogue). I guess you could call this a "things people say" when they block accessible parking because these guys hit on just about every single wrong thing there is.

I saw the SUV first parked across the blue lines where I indicated. But if you really need an closer view:

Wouldn't you just love to see someone try to get out of a wheelchair van there? Good thing it was just lil ol me parked on the left. Note again the lack of yellow construction tape except dangling from the pole. People were parked clear down  that aisle. It was NOT cordoned off.

So I got out my phone and opened the Parking Mobility App. It had me take down this photo and one of his license plate. I notated the location and went on to the next car in the next aisle over. Yes, there were two violations right across from each other. Not uncommon at all. While I was taking down that information someone called out to me. It was an elder man with white hair and another elder man in a cowboy hat.  Cowboy hat was the owner. I know this because he said it was his company through the hodge podge of dialect and excuses. It went pretty much like this.

Friend: You took pictures of my car.

I looked back at him:  Sir?

Friend: You took pictures of my car.

Me: I'm documenting use of accessible parking, sir.

Friend: I'm not in handicapped parking.

Me: You are parked on the blue lines for wheelchair access. That is illegal and you can get a ticket if they come by.

Friend: I'm 87 years old.

Me: There is no provision to the law by age, Sir.

Owner and Friend together: This is a construction site.

Me: It doesn't matter what you have over there, you parked over here.

Friend says to the Owner: You know what you should do, tape all this off and then none of em can park there!

I'll let you reread that last comment before I continue. 

The Friend left and I went to my car. When I got in it. The owner laughed and shook a finger at me. Then he pointed to the wheel chair symbol on the sign I had parked in front of. I casually lifted my index finger to direct him to the placard hanging from my rear view mirror. Then I got out of the car as he walked toward the driver's side.

Me: Sir?

Owner: You don't look that disabled.

Me: Are you a doctor?

Owner: No.

Me: My doctor disagrees with you. 

Owner: Fine. But he didn't stop you from parking.

Me: Sir, it's the law. Our opinions do not come into play. And if someone with a wheelchair van came here, they wouldn't be able to get out of their van or into it.

Owner: People in wheelchairs don't go to the gym.

I'll let you reread that last comment for the same effect as before.

This is what people need to learn. Their personal opinion does not overwrite the law. Age has nothing to do with being able to park in accessible parking. As another note, had I parked on the blue lines, I would have been in violation as well. It's illegal... period. 

The law is the law and it's time that the disabled community got some respect out of it.

My experiences with Parking Mobility

Since I started in February (it is now April) I have sent in 74 reports on accessible parking violations. For those who don't know what that means, it means people parking in the disabled parking spaces. We prefer to call it accessible parking because access is what it's all about. 74 violations in a small city like Monroe, Louisiana in  the span of 2 months feels like a lot to me. And I got them in an even shorter span of time, if you think about it. I only went out maybe once a week, sometimes twice. My route that I established for myself takes only about 90 minutes. I looked at my progress on the website (yep, you can totally check your progress) and counted the days. I went out exactly 17 days.

So, in reality, that's 74 violations in 17 days. Think about it.

What I want to talk about today is what to do if someone catches you taking down information. People react defensively and you will want to keep your cool and not wind up in a confrontation.

Confrontations not only don't do much to convince violators but can become dangerous and actually hurt the program. That last thing any partnering community wants, is anyone taking the law into their own hands or putting themselves into unnecessary danger.

In all of those encounters that I have had, only a very few have caught me. Maybe 5 or 6. That's just a matter of timing. One thing is for sure, nothing is worth and argument, so walk away. I mean it, just turn and walk away. Even if that means you don't finish sending in the report. It's not worth it.

So what kind of experiences have I had? When first getting started, I had an elder man and his young daughter (I'm assuming she was his daughter), catch me in the parking lot a few feet away from the back of their small car. He yelled and said he had every right to be there (he must have seen me on the news). So I asked where his placard was. He admitted he didn't have one and called me some choice names. I suggested that 3 dollars and a doctors note would fix that for him. He called me some more nasty names and told his daughter to back over me. I walked away.

Honestly, I shouldn't have bothered. I should have just said, "Sorry taking a call." and walked away. He wouldn't have had any idea if I was or not. Seriously, play it off as doing something else.

When you are taking down info, you should probably take down the plate number first and then take the photos, just so you have some of the difficult stuff out of the way first. Then, once you have the photos you can totally step away to a good distance to finish the rest.

On another stop I had a woman who had nothing to do with the situation come up and start questioning me. She acted really odd and circled me like a shark continuously asking me "what's wrong? Is something wrong?" over and over again. She was just weird. But I thought, hey, maybe someone who would be interested in volunteering, so I explained it to her. Big mistake. She stalled me long enough for an angry driver to come out and teamed up with that woman to berate me loudly in the parking lot.  The lesson, trust your gut. Don't let anyone stall you in the middle of what your doing. If someone seems weird, get away from them or play them off like you would anyone else.  I still get a shiver when I think of how bizarre that woman was.

Everything from an educational standpoint. I have had one or two people who were more interested in the educational side. These were people who already had a placard, but it was hidden under dashboard debris or left on the seat of the car. They took interest when I said that putting their placard where it can be clearly seen actually helps our cause. They even moved them to a more visible place right in front of me. But I did not go out of my way to engage them. And I also pointed out that having them as volunteers would be very helpful. Don't know if they took up on it, but it was worth a try since we were in dialogue already.

Basically, don't go out of your way to engage anyone while you are taking down a report on the app. If I want to try and recruit, I ask "would you be interested in volunteering"? But I don't do that out in parking lots unless a conversation allows for it naturally. I use social media.

Another good thing, if you can get enough people in your area involved, is that Parking Mobility will do a training course with you and "certify" you. See my last post on what you need to do in order to get partnered with your community through Parking Mobility.

Look; basically think of yourself as James Bond without the action heroics. All you are doing is gathering data quickly, quietly and safely to support the cause of cleaning up accessible violations in your area. Everyone deserves access to groceries, shops, and health care. People who violate that parking are taking way from someone who not only needs that space, but took the responsibility to go through the steps to park legally. I've seen some interesting tricks people will use to sidestep those same responsibilities.

ID on the dashboard: No placard and no plate means a violation. Your ID won't cut it.

Leaving someone to guard the car: That just makes you stand out. And we don't have to get close in most cases thanks to the good ol zoom feature on our smart phones.

Parking on the crosslines: Sorry that someone else got there first, but even with a placard, you can't park there. The crosslines are for wheel chair accessibility and safety in leaving and approaching the parking spaces.

Take two (or all of them): With just one vehicle. I know you don't want your new car scratched, but come on. Before I started using the app, I came across and elder man who parked his car across, not one, not two, but three accessible parking spaces. That's insane and would have been worthy of reporting. He didn't have a placard either.

So, the idea, to reiterate, is to safely gather the data and send it in. Don't get into confrontations and if approached, play it off. You can claim technical difficulties on your phone or something, but just walk away. Use distance where ever you can when using the app. You can zoom in with your phone from as far as another aisle away. It will look like you are taking a general parking lot photo. Then you can claim you are just taking down general data on parking spaces or something.

And one more tip: If the media wants to talk to you, refer them to the source. Media attention is fine, but it's best if your community is already partnered or you have them talk to Parking Mobility directly.

Using the Parking Mobility App

The Parking Mobility app is used to send in reports of accessible parking violations. For those who have been following a long, this is my second write up on the app. Learn more about it by going to the blog post directly before this one in the calendar. That being said...

Once you download the app which is free, you have to verify your email address and then you can start sending in reports. But do you know all of what a violation looks like? There's more to it than just where you park. Let's start with what is NOT a violation.

-A disability placard, in clear view from the rear view mirror. On the dashboard is acceptable so long as it is in clear view. More on that coming.

-A license place with a disability wheel chair emblem on it.

-A license place that begins with DV or has "Disabled Veteran" on it.

You may come across a plate that say PH (Purple Heart). By state laws, this does not work. There must be a placard or wheel chair emblem present.

Now what does a violation look like?

The obvious is a car without any of the legal markings parked in a clearly marked accessible parking space. But there are other problems.

-Blocking: When any car parks on the slanted yellow or blue lines, they are blocking safe access to the accessible  parking space. Let's look at an image:

Click on image for better view. This is a violation of "blocking" and there is a drop down menu in the app so you can report it accurately. If you look closely, there is another car parked ahead of the SUV that is in an accessible space. I can tell you that car was legal. To the right out of picture is a row of accessible spaces.

So the SUV isn't blocking anyone from parking per se, but the lines on this side of the spaces are still meant for disabled persons to move around safely, without having to squeeze between cars to get to the store. ANY car parked on these lines is a violation. Even if they have placard or plates.

One thing that is great about the app is that, if something you send in isn't a violation, they will inform you of it. So if in doubt, send the report.

Parking on slanted lines between accessible spaces or next to one is also a violation. Even if they have a placard or plates. They are blocking someone's wheelchair access.

You will come across what I call "just shoddy parking". Where someone parks halfway in an accessible space and halfway over the slanted lines next to it. If they have their placard and plates, this is usually excused. But if in doubt, send the report. List it as blocking.

-Placard not visible: Sometimes you will come across a vehicle that has the placard resting on the dash, but is covered with old mail or some junk. Or maybe it's been shoved so far down the windshield, it's nearly all obscured. Us the drop down menu in the app and select 'Placard not displayed properly'. Do all the other prompts as normal.

-Fake, Expired or Defaced Placards: This is another report in the drop down menu. If you think it might be a fake placard or something might be off about it. This is the report you use. They will let you know if you are mistaken. I've seen placards pieced together in laminate with odd bits next to them that didn't make sense. You may have to get closer to the car for this report than with others.

-ID on the dash: Another trick you might see is an ID card left on the dashboard instead of the placard. This is a violation. Nothing replaces the placard except the proper plates.

How to use the app:

When you bring up the app, you will have a map showing your location and a menu you can tap on. When you tap on "Report Violation" you will see a selection of points you need to fill in.

Violation Type: This is the drop down menu for the violations I listed above.

Below this, you will see 2 or 3 dark windows you can tap on that are labelled for photos of the violation. It is suggested to use your zoom feature where you can so you don't look like you are too close to someone's vehicle. I like to stand back a good ten feet or so if possible and use the zoom to capture the information. I've even stood in another entire lane of parking to catch windshield shots before because people were sitting in the car. They had no idea I took the picture.

Scrolling down, you will next find a tap map for the location of the space they are parked in. You can move the indicator to the best of ability to show where they are parked on the map. If there isn't a indicator of a parking space there, you can add one easily.

Next, is the License plate. You don't have to put in the State, just the number/letter combo.

Finally, there is a comment section. I used this to put in what store I'm in front of or other business as a helpful indicator.

You can do these things in any order you are comfortable with. Most people get the photos and then move away to finish the report. All in all, the whole  things takes seconds to complete and you carry on with your day.

A rule of thumb: It is asked that you avoid confrontations. If someone asks you what you are doing. You could say anything, and then just walk away. Some people say they are taking down accessible parking information for mapquest or something like that. Nothing wrong with being clever, just get the info and move on. Confrontations are not only dangerous, but usually don't help the situation. People will say all sorts of things, but don't like being told how it really is.

In my next write up I'll share some of the confrontations I wound up in and how to handle them quickly and safely. I have my past law enforcement experience to fall back on, and I'll share that with you.