I parked in the Sloan Street lot (Lot 9 in officialese) this morning, and the number had been bleached out with salt. After staring at it for a minute, I made out the last two digits. Then I called over a woman parked next to me to help me make out the first digit. We saw different numbers, but I went with my hunch, fed my dollar into one of the machines, and went on my way for two hours. When I came back to add more time, I stood over the number again and probably looked frazzled, because a crossing guard came and told me not to worry and I wouldn't be ticketed.

But I got a $35 ticket in January under similar circumstances, though, admittedly, the number was decipherable if you took a minute to look hard at it and considered the sequence of numbers down the row of spots. I was rushing to get indoors and confused a 6 for an 8, I think. I took a photo of the hard-to-read number but never followed up on it.

I called Mark Hartwyk, the executive director of the Parking Authority, to demystify some of this. He said the spots in Lot 9 will be re-striped and re-painted in the spring or early summer, since it's understood that the numbers are fading.

His department suspends enforcement on major snow days like Monday and conducts "light" enforcement on subsequent days as needed, when snow and salt bleaching obscure some of the numbers. His officers were instructed to perform light enforcement today and can use their judgment on a case by case basis when they see violations; full enforcement will presumably go back into effect tomorrow, Saturday or Monday.

If you disagree with a ticket? You should call the Parking Authority at 973-378-7715, ext. 2037 to request a review, but if the officer stands by their decision, the review process ends there. The next and last place to contest the ticket is Municipal Court.

Hope this is helpful to some of you.