A retired fellow in Santa Cruz brought 30,000 pennies in to the parking office to pay $300 worth of tickets and they were refused. He claimed he was making a point since he believed that the tickets were written improperly but he couldn't contest them until he paid. After the refusal he simply said he wouldn't pay and deposited the money in his granddaughter's bank account.
This will nag and grow and sometime six months from now they will put a lean on his house or take his car and it will be news again, and they still won't have the money.
Wouldn't it have been better for the city to have accepted the money, adjudicated his claim, and forgotten about it? Instead it's now national news, everyone is rooting for the poor retired tree trimmer and the evil city is made to look foolish. (Probably his goal all along.)
I know, I know…the city will say that it didn't have time to count the pennies (hell it may have been 10 cents short) or the bank couldn't deal with it. Nevertheless, the bad publicity is certainly not worth the $300. Obviously the bank will take the money – he deposited it back into his granddaughter's account. I think the city was just being prissy.
Loser – The city of Santa Cruz
Neither winner nor loser – The Tree Trimmer
Winner – The Grand daughter.
JVH
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