Yep, a much better system than the placards. It seems like a bad faith argument to suggest the placards system was acceptable.
The lottery sucks, the placards was hell. We shouldn't have either in the first place, so hopefully we don't lose sight of the forest from the trees..
But placards was horrific and you /still/ were on a chance, given multiple other variables (like someone sliding into it via pre-owned, or standing there with you).
