To the editor:
Regarding the article about reducing parking fines, I would like to point out that when my street (Duclo Avenue) first went to the residential parking program, I was regularly having conversations with people who were ignoring the no-parking signs.
Why? Because they felt that the $35 fine was no big deal. They were more than happy to pay $35 to park for the entire day, even if it was a fine for parking in a resident parking-only zone.
Yet, for some reason, city officials feel that asking for $3 per hour for parking downtown is too high. If the city wants to lower parking fees in the downtown, I don’t care. That’s fine.
But I was on the parking board for three years. During that time, we saw the studies that showed people will regularly ignore parking fines in residential areas at $35. They won’t ignore them when the fine goes up to $70 because at that price, it hurts.
I originally joined the parking board because city officials kept changing the RPP guidelines that residents voted for, without even notifying the residents these changes would impact.
Once again, they’ve changed the parking fines in residential areas without letting us even know about it or have any say, and we are the ones who will once again have to battle the tourists for parking spaces somewhere near our own homes.
If you want to change parking fees downtown, fine. But PLEASE do not change the parking fines for people willing to violate city ordinances. You are simply punishing residents and rewarding violators … again!
Jon Matas