# Yes, I took the last space!



## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

That title doesn't mean what you think! I didn't steal the last supercharger spot and sit there!

I was in a parking garage for an Orlando government building yesterday morning, and the _entire garage_ was full. Even the few handicapped parking spaces were full. There was one and only space available in the entire garage, and it was...an EV charging space with a Chargepoint in it. So having an EV saved me having to park several blocks away, or wait for a space to open up.

Unfortunately the building department wasted an hour and a half of my life with no results, and they didn't even validate the parking fee...

P.S. Yes, I did weigh the odds first. The odds of someone getting there between 10 am and noon with a Leaf badly needing a charge was _really_ small, and govt employees park in a different lot with reserved spaces.


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## jrzapata (Apr 23, 2018)

did you at least plugged in to charge in that hour and a half?


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Of course. I figured the city tow patrol wouldn't know an EV from a non-EV unless it has a cord coming out of it.


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## ADK46 (Aug 4, 2018)

Shame on you - that spot belonged to a true "murican" in a pickup truck. 

Are you trying to get a permit for something worthwhile, like a garage for Le Noir?


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

No, for a backup generator (I'm in a hurricane zone). Le Noir already sleeps in a garage. 

Ugly story though - the first contractor abandoned the job and stopped returning calls 2 months ago (presumably he realized it was too much work for what he charged). Had to get another to finish it, but they didn't want to get involved with the permit, because it hadn't been filed by the first contractor correctly. In fact, no other contractor will. And permits in this county are "owned" by the contractor.

So I either have to find a lawyer and take the first contractor to court to take possession of the permit, or wait until it expires and the county fines me, and then I'll get a "specialist" in the county to help me fix it...after I pay the fine.

TL;DR is down here: The building department told me by phone that I can fix the permit in person; turned out to be a lie that wasted an hour and a half. But at least I wasted $8 for parking and charged the car before I went to work.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

The old say goes "Do unto other as you would have them do unto you"

What if you were the next EV coming in and NEEDED to charge?

In my book, charging is provided as a convenience for those who need it. 
If you are not needing to charge, then you are using the space as a privilege, a use that it was not intended for.

Trust me, a Leaf with an 88 mile range would look at a Tesla using the spot as a .....


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Ed Woodrick said:


> What if you were the next EV coming in and NEEDED to charge?


What if you were the next car coming in and you NEEDED to park?

Do you forgo taking the last parking space because someone else may need to park while you're occupying it?


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Ed Woodrick said:


> The old say goes "Do unto other as you would have them do unto you"
> What if you were the next EV coming in and NEEDED to charge?


*point at TL;DR section in the original post*

There were very low odds of another EV coming into the parking lot at all during the hour I planned to be there, let alone a Leaf running out of charge at 10 am...whose owner also needed a building permit or to pay real estate taxes. It's not a convenient spot, either, so it's unlikely someone would go looking for it on Chargepoint or Plugshare.

I did stop and think about it though.


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## Love (Sep 13, 2017)

JasonF said:


> *point at TL;DR section in the original post*
> 
> There were very low odds of another EV coming into the parking lot at all during the hour I planned to be there, let alone a Leaf running out of charge at 10 am...whose owner also needed a building permit or to pay real estate taxes. It's not a convenient spot, either, so it's unlikely someone would go looking for it on Chargepoint or Plugshare.
> 
> I did stop and think about it though.


Just that you stopped and even considered all this before parking, and then went further with it by coming here to post about it and discuss with fellow EV owners shows that you're a caring and considerate person. Respect!

Also....(spoiler alert: Lovesword rant time!!! ❤)

...as soon as you (or anyone) posts a story like this about EV parking spaces and (insert event that happened), the entirety of the universes' self appointed EV justice force parking police, that have conscripted their own opinionated thoughts, feelings (and emotions) into law....nay, as the lord and savior's infallible holy doctrine of charging etiquette... are alerted by brain implant to your wrongful, heathenistic, sinner ways and will unleash a word fury of internet warrior keyboard wrath in response to your sacrilegious misdealings until you come around to the one _true_ method of EV charging etiquette (theirs, surprisingly). And even then you still won't be worthy of their praise. Just more scorn. Infidel!!!

I look forward with great excitement to the coming future days where EV charging locations are as abundant, or more so, than gas stations are now so that we can all look back on these days of what's "right" and what's "wrong" with a good, hardy side grin and chuckle ...and perhaps the passing of the torch "old guy" story to grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, of "I remember when..."


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

JasonF said:


> Unfortunately the building department wasted an hour and a half of my life with no results,


welcome to my life of sitting at the building dept for hours on end. Here, you can arrive at 830 and be extremely happy to get out of there by 1pm!


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

MelindaV said:


> welcome to my life of sitting at the building dept for hours on end. Here, you can arrive at 830 and be extremely happy to get out of there by 1pm!


It wasn't so much the waiting as "you have to wait so we can tell you there's nothing we can do".


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

JasonF said:


> It wasn't so much the waiting as "you have to wait so we can tell you there's nothing we can do".


That is all part of the fun of spending hours at the city


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