City Councilor, not Diplomat. No Free Parking

Anytime we hear about diplomats we always think about those episodes of Law & Order where they get away with crimes or that extra special perk they've got that allows them to park illegally outside of the UN without getting parking tickets or towed. Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross are often issued diplomatic visas and passports from their home countries. Boston City Councilors are not. Councilor Michael Ross has been banking on the special priviledge that Boston affords council members to void parking tickets when they're parked illegally (either in a residential only, expired meter, or tow zone) if they are on official business. The Herald exposed Ross' overdue fines in 2005, but today he had to make nice with the city in the form of a $2,000 fine for valid, unpaid tickets he received. Due to the Herald's report in 2005 the city's ethics board has been investigating Ross' violations and determined that many of his tickets were received when he wasn't at work – a lot of them were, in fact, received while he was parked in residential only parking in Beacon Hill. He's got an apartment there and represents the district, but has failed to get a residential parking sticker for his vehicle. The Herald also reports that Ross has a city-funded parking space in the City Hall garage which is oh-so-far from Beacon Hill. Ross has been slapped with a whole bunch of fines – so many that we can't even follow, some he's paid off and others he's had improperly dismissed.

According to the official rules of Monopoly the Free Parking spot does not contain value. House rules, which many choose to play with put the money received by the bank for all taxes and fees (that'd be from drawing cards that require you to pay a fee or for luxury tax, etc.). Bostonist has always played with $500 put in the kitty to start – adding to the total with the other taxes and fees. Perhaps it's fair to remind Councilor Ross that he can't play with House Rules when he's an elected official.