Only in Kingston

The following is a perfect example of why anonymous posting should be banned from the Internet, never to return.

This is a comment that was posted at Gort’s site, which was a limp-wristed, laughable and completely uninformed response to something that I had previously posted.

Anonymous said...

Mark, I am a resident of Kingston and street sweeping is not a rotating schedule, it is the same day every week. Here's an idea, don't park where you are not supposed to on street sweeping day and you won't get a ticket. Otherwise, you get the ticket you deserve. Obviously you are always the "victim" and never responsible for your own actions.

9:56 AM

This is abject stupidity on so many levels, it’s frightening in it’s abjectly clueless perfection.

Did that even make sense?

Tom, feel free to grade that one.

Before we go on, here’s what I had posted, the comments that drew the ire of the stupid fu*k on the hot seat…

I would like to ask Mr. Mayor Haggerty why folks working, quite obviously working in Kingston, need to be ticketed over and over and over again on street sweeping days by that Navy Seals wannabe of a Parking Enforcement goof?

I'm 200 feet away, behind the structure, with motors whirling, electrical cords all over the place, pumps spinning and with ear-protecting headphones on, but I'm ticketed every time. Um, why should I have to pay those ill-begotten tickets?

Mayor? Better government? Better governing?

This from the executive who has no problem with working stiffs being fleeced while toiling away in his town?

Now, we know Haggerty saw this comment, simply because he was sure to be following the reader’s comments left in response to his Home Rule tome on Gort’s site. And of course, as the consummate politician that he is, he ignored them, as if he had never laid eyes on them.

No biggie. I expected as much from the man who personally sank the latest Home Rule uprising. Quote me on that.

As for the next-door neighbor of Donna Reed who felt the need to go after me, perhaps he/she/it should stick to the Shade Tree Commission meetings, or the Bridge Club or the Neighborhood Protection Association.

Here’s the scoop on parking illegally, something I had not been ticketed for since I was 17-years-old. Something, by the way, that I never do. Something that never occurs to me. See, I’m not fat and lazy like most people. I can pump a quarter into a parking meter and walk a block and a half. A rarity, for sure.

When I arrive at a job site, I should not be expected to know all of the varying schedules and all of the ancient ordinances of any of the 70-plus communities in this ass-backwards county. In addition, when I arrive at a job site to find the customer’s driveway already spoken for, I am left with strategically parking the rig on the street.

At the curb. On the street. The street. Do you get it, anonymous dunce?

And once at the job site, the industrial work begins, which means an array of tools, half-inch hammer drills, cordless drills, 5/16 hammer drills, 24 horsepower shop-vacs, 100 or so feet of 12-gauge extension cords, warning signs, my cooler, and up to 300 feet of hose need to be positioned and utilized.

And then, just for effect, throw in the constant whirling of the electric motors, the deafening gas-powered motors and the droning of the pumps.

And then consider that while all of that is going on, at any given moment I may be 300-plus feet away from the truck and at the very rear of the job site, in the basement with noise-suppression headphones on, or lying prone in a crawl space.

And, whether or not I have the street sweeping schedule of the borough I may be working in on that particular day memorized, I have absolutely no warning when the overzealous Kingston parking enforcement ass-wipe arrives on the scene with his trusty pencil in hand. Fact is, with a real job to do, I usually find his pussy-whipped handiwork well after the fact.

You see, unbeknownst to the people that reside there, the rest of the world does not wait on bent knees in anticipation of the updated Kingston street sweeping schedule. Shocking, I know. But in the grand scheme of things, Kingston is about as important as is Lindsey Lohan's new potty schedule.

And it is for that exact reason that contractors being paid by residents of Kingston to apply their skills within the borders of Kingston should not be punished for doing so. We’re not punished in Wilkes-Barre. We’re not getting ripped-off in Swoyersville. We’re not getting screwed over in Hazleton, Scranton, Pittston or Nanticoke. Oh, but in Kingston, the powers that be will attempt to balance the smallish budget on the backs of contractors and sub-contractors?

And when the parking ticket creep decides to go all Parking God on us, he is endeavoring to extort monies from vendors and contractors who were invited into his neighborhoods. And from what I can gather, the real Mayor of Kingston, Paul Keating, has absolutely no problem with borough employees extorting hard-earned money from working stiffs.

Always the victim?

Nope. Not always. In fact, I’m only the victim when I have to toil away in Kingston. Yup. The only time I get fleeced is when I am contracted to work in Kingston. Only in Kingston are hard working folks smugly fu*ked over by the municipality. Only in Kingston does Parking Enforcement ignore common courtesies that every other municipality in this county adheres to.

Only in Kingston.

And to the anonymous pussy that spoke from a position of obvious ignorance, commingled pickup is tomorrow. Hurry up, run like hell to the curb and pray at your chosen altar.

Now you know. If only you had known before you went and made an anonymous ass of yourself.

And with that, I’m off to change the settings by which people can comment on this site.

I’m thrilled to have added to your woefully foreshortened and long overdue continuing education.

Bye, dunce