Wed 4/26 – 4-9:00 PM – Join us for a mid-week Sangria special: $5 white sangria: Pinot grigio, brandy, pear, peach, mango fruits, and pineapple, pear & peach juices. Let’s get ready for an early summer full of sangrias and fun!
Thurs 4/27 – 4-9:00 PM – “No Parking” cocktails – What’s all this hoopla about parking downtown? Is this a new invention? When did “no parking and parking tickets/fines” originate? Yikes, it goes back to possibly those first parking restrictions put in place in Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria in c.700 BC. The restrictions were made by their king Sennacherib (704 to 681 BC) and pertained to the sacred main processional way through Nineveh. The oldest parking signs ever discovered read “Royal Road – let no man decrease it”. The penalty for parking a chariot on this road was death followed by impaling outside one’s own home.
And about those outrageous parking fines? Parking fines were introduced in the 1950s in New South Wales, Australia. Up until about 1995, these fines were issued and processed by the NSW Police and the fines were processed by the traffic penalties section of the police staffed by clerical staff employed by the police. In New Zealand, parking fines are mostly issued by council parking officers, but can also be issued by police officers. Parking tickets are mostly attached to an unattended vehicle, or they can be posted to the address of the registered owner. Usually, the most common parking fines issued are those for parking over the time limit.
In Europe, parking tickets are heavily used. In Sweden, parking violations on streets are considered traffic crimes with a fine. If the fine is not objected to or paid within a specified time, the Swedish Enforcement Administration will claim money from bank accounts or other assets, relatively fast. The owner will be noted as a bad payer and will not get a loan or a new rental apartment etc. for three years.
In addition to “no parking” signs, “no waiting” and “no stopping” are used in the UK and Europe. “No waiting” allows passengers to be dropped off or picked up but does not allow parking or waiting with the driver in the vehicle for long periods. Loading and unloading are usually also allowed, details and applicable times may be shown on a plate under the sign. “No stopping” does not allow waiting at all, even for drop-offs and pick-ups.
Foreign-registered vehicles in Europe cannot be fined. This is partly because it is too much work to find the owner in a foreign country, but mainly because it is not legally possible to claim money from a foreign resident person if they don’t pay voluntarily.
But back to us here in the States? In 1926, American merchants listed downtown traffic congestion as their most serious difficulty. Unenforced curbside parking and the lack of off-street parking facilities were listed as the primary problems. Customers went where they could park.
During the Great Depression, city revenues dwindled. With parking meters, however, a new source of municipal income was found. Not only did the nickels paid in by parkers accumulate, but so did the fines imposed for overparking. By 1944, American cities were generating some $10 million annually from parking meters alone. Soon after came meter maids, who, because they were paid less than police officers, increased city revenues further. So bottom line, these complex parking rules, restrictions, and regulations are now an integral part of modern life and landscape and tied to the “$.”
Parking cocktails: Parking Paper – C & K American brandy, amaro, Aperol, lemon juice, Parking Shot Manhattan – Courvoisier, rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters, Pay at Kiosk Concord Grapy Cosmo – CB Frost, gin, Cointreau, Concord grape juice unsweetened, No Parking Zone Boulevardier – C & K Am. brandy, Campari, sweet vermouth, blood orange soda, 1/2 price fruit/infused flight