Quick Shifts

• Even Governors Can’t Dodge a Meter Maid
• When a Billion Isn’t Enough: Musk Aims for a Trillion
• When Your Truck’s Exhaust Is Fresher Than You Are 
• Driveway Defiance: Couple Slapped With Fine for Home Parking

Even Governors Can’t Dodge a Meter Maid.

When Andrew Cuomo rolled up in his white ’96 Ford Bronco-looking SUV (yes, the “definitely not the O.J. Bronco” one) he parked in a “truck loading only” zone outside his East 54th Street digs and apparently the city said “nice try, sir.” According to the folks at Hell Gate, a tipster spotted the Bronco wedged in a restricted zone, filed a 311 complaint, and fourteen or seventeen minutes later a ticket showed up.  Now, let’s be clear: the ticket probably won’t dent Cuomo’s bank account — which kind of underlines the whole issue. If you’ve got enough money, parking fines can feel like the cost of doing business, while the rest of us squirm trying to find a legal spot. The incident raises a familiar question: when public figures treat rules like optional decorations, are we witnessing ordinary citizen disregard or a privileged-class moment? A parking ticket doesn’t register on the scandal meter next to grander offenses, but it offers a sharp snapshot of how law and order work differently depending on who parks where. And if the ticket forces a moment of humility — well, that’d be a win.

When a Billion Isn’t Enough: Musk Aims for a Trillion

Apparently being the world’s richest man just doesn’t scratch the itch, because Elon Musk is now chasing a compensation plan that could hand him up to a trillion dollars—yes, with a “T.” The Tesla board says he only gets the money if the company’s value soars to somewhere around eight trillion, which is about the GDP of a small planet. In theory, it’s pay-for-performance; in practice, it’s like betting your house on Mars colonization happening before lunch. Musk, of course, calls it motivation—because who wouldn’t work harder knowing they might finally afford that solid-gold rocket ship? Still, even for a guy who sells flamethrowers as side projects, the numbers are absurd enough to make Wall Street blush. Tesla would need to reinvent both transportation and economics to pull it off, but hey, stranger things have happened—like a billionaire convincing shareholders that one trillion is just another milestone on the road to “making life multiplanetary.”

When Your Truck’s Exhaust Is Fresher Than You Are. 

Toyota showed up to SEMA swinging with the Tacoma H2-Overlander Concept, a hydrogen-powered off-road fantasy that makes your standard overland rig look like a lawn chair with headlights. It supposedly cranks out 547 horsepower from a fuel-cell setup fed by three hydrogen tanks and even packs a 25-kWh battery so you can charge your buddy’s EV—or power a small neighborhood if you get bored. The kicker? Its tailpipe doesn’t spew exhaust, it spits water clean enough to shower with. It’s got the full SEMA starter pack too: lifted suspension, 35-inch tires, roof tent, winch, and enough LED lighting to land planes. The problem, of course, is that there are about 59 hydrogen stations in America and 58 of them are in California, so “Overlander” might be a stretch. But credit where it’s due—Toyota’s showing what off-roading could look like when gas and diesel finally give up the ghost. Whether it’s the future or just an expensive art project with great mood lighting, it’s a reminder that Toyota still knows how to build trucks that get attention—even if they only exist to make you say, “wait, I can shower with the exhaust?”

Driveway Defiance: Couple Slapped With Fine for Home Parking.

Only in California can you own the driveway, the house attached to it, pay the property taxes on both, and still get fined for using it. A San Francisco couple learned that the hard way after a city inspector slapped them with a $1,542 ticket for parking in front of their own home—a spot they’ve used for decades without incident. Their crime? Violating a century-old planning code that bans “unenclosed” parking spaces in front setbacks, a rule most people didn’t know existed until now. The city told them they could avoid future tickets if they built a carport or garage, but that would require—wait for it—a separate and expensive approval process. The couple even produced an old black-and-white photo showing the house with a car parked in the same spot decades ago, but the city said that wasn’t proof the space was “legally established.” You can’t make this up: San Francisco is fine with self-driving robotaxis clogging intersections, but a retired couple’s Honda Civic in their own driveway is apparently a civic menace. After the story went public, city officials backpedaled and “paused” the fines, which is bureaucrat-speak for “we didn’t think this through.”