Parking in Boston
WZOU was in downtown Boston in Copley Plaza. This is a hub of Boston activity. Always packed and always busy. Always imossible to find a parking place - unless you paid through the nose. Arriving in Boston from New Orleans, I assumed my company would pay for my parking. They did in New Orleans. This was a mistake. Day one I’m told I can park across the street in the garage for $450 a month. UGGGGH. Surely they must be kidding. They were serious. The fault was all mine not negotiating parking into my contract. I decide to park on the street. Arriving at the station @ 4:30am each morning presented me with many on the street parking possibilities. I decide this just might work out - until the parking tickets came. There was no way I could do a radio show and feed the meter. The meter maids didn’t begin showing up until about 8:30am - so that’s usually when I got my first ticket of the day. Sometimes I watched helplessly from the studio window overlooking the street as my ticket was written. I’d place them in my glovebox and prepare for the next ticket. Boston Police place a boot on your front tire - rendering your car immobile if you fail to pay parking fines. Before the boot - you had to hit a certain mark in uncollected fees. I believe it was $500. I monitored my ticket total, and just shy of $500 - I switched cars. That worked for a while, until car #2 was at $500. Then I switched back to car #1 with different plates. Then to car #2 with different plates. Then back to #1 with different plates again. Then to car #2. I’d still be working in Boston today - but I ran out of cars & plates. I haven’t been back either. I imagine I’m still on their "most wanted list."
