POLL: What's Your Take on Downtown Parking?

Boston Globe correspondent Kathy Shiels Tully criticized what she called the “icy wall of indifference” awaiting those who appeal their parking tickets at City Hall this week. 

Tully – who concedes she was 12 minutes past her hour parking limit when she received a ticket near last month – said she expected the ticket to be reversed with a personal plea to the city's parking department, but was instead aghast to learn she'd need to appeal the violation online.

“Online? No, I wanted to talk to someone," she wrote. "Eyeball to eyeball. Like I had done once, just the year before - and successfully - after receiving a parking ticket outside the charter school on Salem Street."

Ultimately, the city rejected her appeal, via email - “just as everyone – but me – expected,” she wrote.

“Surely, I thought, Malden wants to attract people, both residents and neighbors, to its redeveloping downtown. But how can it, if the city doesn’t make space - or time - for consumers to enjoy it?

“...Next time, we’ll eat in Melrose.”

We've all felt the frustration of seeing a parking ticket on our windshield. Is Tully overreacting here, or does she have a point about parking problems in downtown Malden keeping potential consumers out?