I’m wondering if anybody here who actually lives/lived in Baltimore City has dealt with something similar and can tell me how it turned out.
I have 8 old Baltimore City parking citations. The original fines altogether are only **$301**, but because of the monthly penalties they’ve grown to **$2,230**. So almost $2,000 of what I owe now is penalties. A were for expired tags in front of my house but I had no garage and had nowhere to put it and it didn’t help that I was laid off twice within this period due to budget cuts.
I’m not trying to say I shouldn’t have to pay anything. I’m actually trying to finally clean all of this up and get my car legal again. I don’t even mind paying the original price , I just don’t think I can hold onto it much longer waiting for them to come to a resolution. I can’t even do Lyft or anything to solve my situation. Up until this period I’ve never had a bad ticket, maybe just repair order tickets instead. A good amount of these tickets came from a period when I was living in Baltimore City by myself and was unemployed. My registration had expired and I financially couldn’t get everything fixed at the time. The car was mostly sitting parked on the public street in front of my house. I wasn’t driving around collecting tickets, but I also didn’t realize at first that I could continue getting expired-tag related citations just from the car sitting on a public street. I understand now why the City could still ticket it.
My situation got worse financially, I eventually had to move back in with family, and I’m still basically keeping my head above water while looking for stable work. There was honestly a period where the entire car situation felt so buried that I didn’t even think I could realistically dig myself out of it.
I’m finally trying to handle everything now. I’ve already paid some of the smaller outstanding citations from other jurisdictions and I’m working on an E-ZPass/CCU payment arrangement as well. Baltimore City is basically the biggest thing standing in my way now because **$301 became $2,230**.
The City told me because the tickets are more than 45 days old, I needed to petition the District Court to set them for trial. I already wrote and submitted a letter explaining the unemployment, financial hardship, expired registration situation, that I recently graduated college and am trying to expand my job search outside Baltimore, and that I’m willing to pay the original fines but I’m asking the judge to consider reducing or waiving the accumulated penalties.
I called the courthouse and they said my request hasn’t made its way through yet. I also asked the clerk generally how often something like this gets reduced/reversed, and he basically said **rarely**, but that it ultimately depends on the judge and he didn’t want to discourage me.
So I’m trying to get some actual experiences from people who have gone through this.
**Has anyone here ever petitioned District Court over old Baltimore City parking citations and actually gotten the late penalties reduced?** Did they make you appear in court? Did the judge knock off all of the penalties, some of them, or none? What did you bring with you to show hardship? And about how long did it take from submitting the petition until you got a court date or decision?
And before somebody suggests it: **I’m not trying to get Virginia tags, register the car somewhere it doesn’t belong, or find some workaround.** I’m trying to do this the right way in Maryland. It’s just frustrating when you’re actively trying to pay and fix everything and $301 worth of tickets has turned into more than $2,200.
I’m also aware Baltimore/Maryland has had amnesty-type programs in the past, including years ago, but I’m not willing to sit around hoping another one comes along years from now. I’m trying to resolve this now.
Any firsthand experience would be appreciated, especially from anyone who dealt with the **700 E. Patapsco Ave District Court process** for Baltimore City parking tickets.
