Entrance fees discriminatory?

I remember a number of years ago Park Ranana used to charge an entrance fee. It was not expensive, but with a large family, and if you bring a bunch of people, it adds up. It was free for people who lived in the area. As a result, going there was a very nice day trip. The park is beautiful, with a small zoo, some really great activity sections, and large grassy areas. We had relatives living in the area, and we would meet them for a day trip to Park Ranana, so we would get in free. And it was great because people did not swamp the area so much because it cost money to get in.

Eventually they stopped charging (but they increased the rates for parking), because they had to as they were considered legally a certain status and someone appealed to the courts that they had no right to charge.

After that, every time we went back during a vacation period, while still nice, it was not nearly as pleasant, as the park was mobbed with people. Once it is free, everybody goes. When it costs to get in, people are more selective where they go. (same is true with my beach experience - Beit Yanai/Chofit has a great beach, but is relatively empty because it costs to get in. I went yesterday to the separate beach in Ashdod, which is free to get in, and the place was swamped, crowded, relatively unpleasant, though still fun, and even a bit dirty.)

Somebody on Kikar Shabbos wrote an article complaining about a new, expensive, entrance fee to get into Gan Saccher in jerusalem. They claim this was recently introduced because it was noticed that it is becoming more and more of a hotspot for haredim, especially during vacation time. As a way to stop that, and minimize the number of haredi visitors, this entrance fee was introduced.

Now, if he was actually talking about a real entrance fee, he would have a valid complaint. A place that had no entrance fee, ever, and was open to all, and suddenly introduces one just in time for the haredi vacation period, one could say is discrimination or taking unfair advantage of them.

However, if you read beyond the title of the article, you will see that he is really complaining about the fact that the police and supervisors are concentrating on the area and giving out parking tickets to all the people who park illegally. Each ticket is worth 500 NIS. That makes it a nice "entrance fee" to enjoy a park.

Once the complaint is about having to pay a parking ticket, you lost me. It is illegal to park in places, not because the police are trying to make it difficult for you, or to be able to make money off you and me. They make certain places illegal to park because it is dangerous to park there. Gan Saccher is situated off of major roads. If you park alongside the park, you are basically parking in places where it is dangerous - perhaps the car juts out into the main street, perhaps it forces pedestrians to walk in the road dangerously rather than on the sidewalk, or other ways it might be dangerous.

Parking tickets are not a form of discrimination. They are a way of keeping the roads safe, the people safe, and even some aesthetic beauty to the city, regulating where people can and cannot park.

I really dislike it when people do things that are illegal, and then complain when they are caught and charged for their crime. You were willing to take the risk, no problem. You got caught, pay the ticket and be quiet. You have nothing to complain about. Just because you were too lazy to park a block away and walk, the policeman shouldn't give you a ticket for your illegal parking?

It could be they are sending more policeman now, because there are more cars parking illegally. On a normal day, perhaps nobody parks illegally in the area, or even if someone does, perhaps it doesn't warrant sending out regular patrols to the area - if seen, the offender will get a ticket, if not not. Yet during vacation when perhaps there are numerous cars parked illegally, it is more worthwhile to send supervisors, along with being more dangerous as more cars are parked illegally.

Don't park illegally. And if you do and get caught, just be quiet and pay your fine.