Mayor Creates Personal Parking Space

New parking space for Mayor Ted Franklin of Logansport, Ind. Courtesy WLFI.

The good thing about being the mayor of a small town is that you’re exactly that, the mayor.

So when you get stuck with a $20 parking ticket, instead of complaining or formally contesting the ticket, as your constituents must, you can take matters into your own hands.

Ted Franklin, the mayor of Logansport, Ind., was cited last Friday by his town’s police force for parking his yellow Chevrolet Corvette so that its front end stuck out into a yellow no-parking zone.

In response, Franklin, elected to lead the Indiana town of just under 20,000 people last November, on Monday created his own parking spot outside his city hall office, merging two spots previously reserved for police squad cars into one spot just for him, according to the Logansport Pharos-Tribune.

Lest anyone be confused, Franklin also painted the parking spot bright yellow and hung a sign that reads “Mayor Parking Only.”

“I’m just not going to play that game,” Franklin, who also paid the $20 fine, told the paper.

Franklin has reportedly been at odds with the police force since he defeated the Democratic incumbent last year by 700 votes.  The police officer who issued the ticket, A.J. Rozzi, was the police chief under Franklin’s predecessor.  His son, Jason, was not hired by Franklin for an open spot on the police force, the Pharos-Tribune reports.

Franklin told the paper he does not just have himself in mind in creating the new parking spot. He said he’ll also make it available to “guests of the mayor,” and argued the convenience of the spot will also make him more efficient in conducting city business.

Franklin could not be reached for comment today.