In 2009, when Twitter was not as advanced as it is now, The South Bayview Bulldog wrote a post saying that it was possible to use social media to warn motorists that parking enforcement cops were prowling the street. Today it is even more feasible to warn drivers that they may be at risk of a ticket. A few, maybe even as few as ten or a dozen committed merchant-tweeters, an established hashtag (like #BVhornets) and a few weeks of word-of-mouth store chat, and this system could be thwarting the cash-grabbing City of Toronto from picking pockets as easily as it does. Once the idea caught on, everyone could tweet information. No such system would wipe out tickets completely, nor should it. But tweets to your phone saying the parking guy has doubled back at Belsize and is hanging around the blue Mazda could be very helpful. Take it for what it’s worth. The knowledge that even 20 percent of tickets are being stopped dead would be good for the customers and good for business. Apart from anything else, it would show the public that merchants care. Is it legal? You bet it is and the lawyer who dares to say otherwise better be ready for a ton of free speech literature in his virtual mailbox.
