I finally found one way of dealing with bureaucracies:

Rule #1* - when you're speaking to a bureaucrat, don't accuse his/her department of incompetence - accuse another, possibly competing department of incompetence and ask for their help in proving your case.

In Hoboken, parking tickets are a minor industry. Most of the fault is the drivers', who park on the edges of corners, in front of fire hydrants, etc. But on a windy days in Hoboken, I've seen traffic tickets dancing down the sidewalk like fall leaves. I'd assumed that people had seen them and tossed them on the ground, but when I got a late fee for a parking ticket (I forgot to feed the meter) that I'd never seen, I realized that the meter maids weren't securing the tickets to the cars.

This has happened before. The people in the Traffic Violations bureau must be pretty sick of hearing this complaint. Which is why I won a very minor victory (a court date to hear my case).

I hope the judge is also p.o.'d at the meter maids.

* I have no other rules because I'm fairly incompetent at dealing with the DMV and their ilk. My only other strategy is to avoid them as much as possible.