Cambridge District Court

I hope you are excited about my recent donation of $ 155 because I consider your method of attaining my funds to be nothing less than organized robbery. Here is the sequence of events leading to my being legally robbed by the government:
— pulled over on August 1, 2011 for a lane violation. This happened in Cambridge on Mass. Ave. when a cement truck pulled to the side of the road with blinking emergency lights as it was headed to a small road construction site a few feet ahead. My one lane was ¾ blocked by this stopped truck… I suppose I should have just sat in my car and waited for 2 hours until he decided to move, because when I pulled around him the officer supervising the construction gave me a citation for crossing over the yellow line. It was literally so absurd that the officer said «you can contest this» as he gave me the citation.
— I sent in the form to contest the ticket, and was given a date of October 19, 2011 to show up
— On October 19 I was sick and called to see if it was possible to reschedule. They said of course it wasn’t a problem, and that they would send me a second letter in the mail with the date for when to come in again
— I check my mail all Fall, watching for this letter. It never comes. My google maps that I’ve printed out to use as a visual aid for when I will eventually go in are collecting dust, but I just think meh, its the government, they are slow, I shouldn’t sweat it.
— January 22, 2012. Open an envelope when I get back from out of town, and BOOYA your license was suspended on January 14, 2012 without you even knowing it! Clearly there was an administrative error because I was never sent a second date to show up, so I decide to call and explain my story.
— January 23, 2012, 1:00 pm. After spending 3 hours on hold on various phone lines, Barbara calls me back. We went over the whole story, and then she says «oh we NEVER send out second letters» and «you talked to my supervisor that day, and she told you what day to come in again». I’m sorry Barbara, but your supervisor must have made a mistake, because I was EXPLICITLY told I would be sent another letter, which never came in the mail. To add insult to injury Barbara says «I don’t understand why you didn’t just show up at the second date when we told you.» Are you kidding me? Have you listened to anything I just said? I’m not wasting my day going through this bureaucratic process because I want to lie to you on the phone and waste your time. I sincerely wanted to show up to state my case and undoubtedly be relieved of this citation because it was ridiculous and surely filling some quota. I had to spend a wholesome chunk of my day trying to fix a mistake that was NOT my fault, and this woman treated me as if I were lying and totally incompetent. Also, as a fun fact, Barbara claimed that I was told to come back in on November 9^th over the phone, and there is NO way I would have forgotten that date because it’s my birthday. I feel robbed by the government, because I was. They took $ 155 of my hard earned money (I am a graduate student, fyi), and gave me no opportunity to fight for my side of the issue. So, you’re welcome, consider this a donation, and keep up your good work of squashing the average hard-​working citizen just because you can, and treating your job and your customers in an inferior manner. If this is the way a real company handled a case, Barbara would be out of the door in two seconds, but I guess when the government does it it’s allowed.

Courthouse, sad place. No one is happy, well, because, they are in court before a judge that you can barely hear or understand.

It is hard to review a courthouse, but here goes. The old Cambridge court house used to be so easy to get to, just off Lechmere on the green line. Now located in Medford, on the Mystic Valley Pkway, not as easy to access. (Bus only). Very limited parking for the amount of traffic they handle. We arrived at 9AM to find a full parking lot, so we had to drive up a few blocks and park in 2 hour parking. Staff is not the friendliest or most helpful (I do not hang out in court houses so sorry if I need to ask for directions). As we waited in a very crowded waiting area (too small and not enough chairs for the amount of people waiting for traffic court), we saw many, stressed out people that were running late for court because there was NO parking. Great move to Medford, thumbs up!!!