Fighting City Hall

Recently, I took the absurd action of going to Village Parking Court with the intention of contesting an unjust- at least in my own opinion- parking ticket. Instead of having my fine thrown out or even reduced, I was shown swift and vicious justice.

Normally, I would not spend my time on such a trivial matter. Frankly, I usually have better things to do, even if I could save some money by going to court. These are not ordinary times anymore. Two weeks ago, I was heading in to work at the wine shop and found a strong lack of available parking spots. I made my way to a side street where I've parked legally many times before. Apparently, the Village decided to remove some valuable parking spaces for the new year. Getting rid of parking spaces is inconvenient, but bureaucracy strives for more than that. To really lay it on thick, DPW decided to leave the old sign indicating "One Hour Parking" up and simply placed the "No Parking Here to Corner" sign on the same signpost right below the old sign. (All of this is for an area only large enough for one car- not for a whole street) The signage was (and still is) vague enough that I incorrectly assumed the Village intended for drivers to not block a nearby driveway. I parked and went to work, where I was immediately informed by a co-worker that I was parked illegally. When I arrived at my car, not five minutes after parking, Officer Vasquez was ticketing my vehicle. While she was writing, I struck up a conversation with her and she told me that, in fact, many people are very confused by the poor signage. She felt that I should go contest my ticket.

I arrived at Village Court half an hour early. With me were two pictures of the ridiculous sign situation. However, the Judge would have none of it, and quickly informed me that signs- good or bad- were not her concern and that I still had to pay the fine. She added that I should bring up my problem with the sign to the Traffic and Parking Commission if I cared that much. Resisting the urge to tell her that I didn't come to court as a concerned citizen, but as a cheapskate, I left scowling. (Incidentally, despite her hasty decisions, the judge did not make it home in time for "Ugly Betty" anyway.)

While I'm sure that the Village's judge is from an educated law background, I was reminded of a series of articles in the New York Times from 2006 about the State of New York's terrible local justice system. As it turns out, it is not a requirement that a municipal judge in New York knows anything about The Law, and so it happens that many justices, in fact, know nothing about The Law and act accordingly. While my opinions about our Village Justice's professionalism are skewed by trite bitterness, many New Yorkers do have legitimate grudges against bad judges.

The reason I bring this up is because China's judicial system isn't much different from this. Several nights ago, PBS ran a documentary about all of China's negatives. The film focused on the bad environmental situation and the rampant poverty. It also touched on China's legal system. In China, judges do not- and often are not- trained in legal matters; they are civil servants under the People's Republic of China. The documentary made the argument that often times, regardless of the actual law, cases are decided by unprofessional judges influenced by the short term goals of the Chinese Communist Party. In other words, there is no "rule of law" in China such as we have in America. According to the documentary, unlike the American system where generally the law is the law no matter what situation is, Chinese law generally places the rules as subordinate to the desires of the judge and the government. The film, as well as other sources I looked at after viewing the documentary, have pointed out that this is less and less frequent as China prepares for a new era of subjugation to international norms. As China finds itself more active in world bodies such as the UN and is preparing to enter the WTO, it is slowly moving towards domestic governance more in line with the rest of the modernized world.

But while that happens, I'm going to have to find out when the Parking Commission meets...

This is Going to be Different

All my friends have gone, now. My parents, of course, work during the day. I have been left completely to my own devices. Really, my life isn't so different than it would be if I were back at school instead of here at home preparing for my semester in China. I spend my days reading, exercising, playing music, and practicing Chinese; at night I read more and watch television. I guess it is different, though- those are essentially my only options here.

As I was eating lunch today- steamed grouper with apple slices and chopped almonds- I sat down to watch the news. Every broadcast was about a story I found trivial so I looked for something else. Peter O'Toole was on Charlie Rose, where he bluntly described his new film as a romance between a "dirty old man" and a "slutty young woman". I changed the channel. Mr. T was giving a woman life advice. "Henry David Thoreau said..." Everything seems a little different now.

On February 23 of this year, I am leaving to spend three and one half months in China. I've been there twice before, but this is the longest I will have stayed there. The first two times I traveled to China, it was with groups of friends; this time I am alone. There is considerably more trepidation about Shanghai than there has been about any other experience in my life.

This trip will make or break me. It isn't the disconnect from the rest of my world that alarms me. It is the pressure I've placed on this trip. The first time I was in China, it was as a tourist in high school, and only for two weeks. I thought it was the culmination of the six years I had spent learning Chinese. But then I kept with it, and the next year I was already back in China- this time for six weeks in Beijing studying. I knew that there was much to gain from that trip, but also that there was still more to gain when I returned. It has been nearly two years since I've last been to China. This is my ninth year studying Mandarin. I feel that, for now, I have reached a plateau of what I can do in America about my Chinese. Except for Shanghai, I'm no longer sure of how much more I can grow. This time, the feeling of culmination- that I'm reaching the end of my Chinese growth- is much stronger. This time the pressure is on to really get it right.