MKM parking firm scam

[ajdias]

This seems to be the parking lot in question: Vapaudenkatu, Jyväskylä. Indeed, you should have up to 44 minutes of legal parking time.

If you mark the exact time (and not the next half-hour period, be it half or hour) you may be in for a surprise, even if within the time limits.

[Godzilla]

It is the Jyvaskyla post parking lot that I am talking about. Nice to see that KS is taking up the big issues of the day.

[harryc]

It is the Jyvaskyla post parking lot that I am talking about. Nice to see that KS is taking up the big issues of the day.

IMO getting these things right and understood is a key building block of how proper government works - and supports the principles of a democracy. Attention to these details and how daily life works is at least as significant as stories on rebels in the Philipines.

[Godzilla]

ok harry, I suppose you are right that it is important for a local newspaper to have these sorts of things.

KS does fail to connect the dots though, I mean why does a shadey company like MKM have the right to issue "tickets"? Why doesn't the post office own its own parking spots - I doubt they would be issuing tickets to their customers who are legitimately parked there on postal business? And why is there only one post-office in Jyvaskyla, so that most people have to drive there, instead of being able to walk to one in their neighborhood? It is these three examples of government stupidity that cause the problem, and KS totally doesn't pick up on that.

[ajdias]

I mean why does a shadey company like MKM have the right to issue "tickets"? Why doesn't the post office own its own parking spots - I doubt they would be issuing tickets to their customers who are legitimately parked there on postal business? And why is there only one post-office in Jyvaskyla, so that most people have to drive there, instead of being able to walk to one in their neighborhood? It is these three examples of government stupidity that cause the problem, and KS totally doesn't pick up on that.

1) Law allows private companies to do so.
2) Posti probably does own the parking spots, they just choose to get money out of it.
3) Don't you have other post offices located in supermarkets/R-kioski?
4) Posti is a independent entity from the finnish state, with public and private capital.

[harryc]

KS does fail to connect the dots though

That's also the problem - local paper journalists don't often go below the surface and tell us about the operative and background questions. The emphasis is on producing headlines. But that happens very much with KL, HS and YLE as well. It is rare for Finnish journalists to do 'in depth' reporting like the Guardian, NYT and WP. True - they don't have access to the same resources but they could at least leave the reader with cogent questions that should or could be taken up.