Can’t see the silliness in that at all. Over here (Sweden) the required clearance is 10 m (~30 feet) (before the crosswalk, none after). The intent of the law is to allow full visibility of pedestrians about to cross the street.
Here it’s before and after the crosswalk. Before I get, that’s designed to make sure the driver can see the pedestrians crossing the street. The city sets up no parking signs in that situation for that reason. The silliness comes in when you park on a one way street beyond the crosswalk, which does not block the view of the driver and does not block the crosswalk of the pedestrian, yet it’s still a ticket for reasons despite no signs or painted curb or anything that would indicate that you can’t park there.