Besides the gifts and the parties, there’s something else about that holiday season that makes it so enjoyable: the sense that just about anything can happen. I remember when I was a child the magic of the season being all the little moments when adults changed the rules in my favor. We got to stay up late, eat lots of sweets, open one gift Christmas Eve so we wouldn’t die of anticipation; our teachers were a little funnier and eased up on the homework; Santa showed up on our street on the back of a fire engine. It was a parade of happy, unexpected moments.
Age brings experience and a good helping of cynicism, but there are perks out there for adults, and some of them are parking perks. My city offers free meter parking downtown every December, and I read an article about another city that takes donations of canned goods in lieu of parking fines.
People who owe the City of Birmingham money for parking tickets can have their fines forgiven during the holidays by making donations of canned goods at Birmingham Municipal Court.
The donations will be accepted now through Jan. 30, 2015, as part of the court’s new program, “Operation Feed My Friends, Forgive My Fines,” according to a city news release today.
One case of food equals $50 in parking fines. I don’t know about you, but if I lived in Birmingham and I owed money for parking tickets, I’d be jumping for joy while I searched my cupboards for canned goods to donate. Somebody’s got to eat that can of Cream of Celery I bought on accident.
Read the article here.
