Fund This Story : Somerville Parking Tickets

[barry-rafkind.livejournal.com]

Dear fellow car drivers friends and neighbors,

The City is counting on you to park longer than 48 hours in one place, to not remember which day is street cleaning on your side, and to forget to give your out-of-town friends and relatives visitor passes instantly when they arrive at your place. I know what you're thinking, that the City wants its residents, workers, and visitors to abide by the laws, not break them.

Alas, the FY2010 municipal budget (pdf) has already been written with the expectation of approx $8.7 million from parking fines (up $1.5 million from last year) plus change in surcharges, towing fees, and moving violations. So, unless you want the city to face cut-backs in police, fire, and education, you'd better start parking within 20 feet of an intersection and leaving your car on the street during your week-long vacation. The City has even adjusted its parking policies to help facilitate this new revenue increase.

But seriously, if the City is going to rely on this regressive form of taxation, shouldn't we at least expect the burden to fall somewhat equitably around the city? And how does Somerville compare to surrounding communities in terms of its parking enforcement policies? If you'd like to help us find out the answers to these and other parking related questions, then please consider pledging what you can to our new $500 fund-raiser to hire an investigative journalist. To join our campaign or leave a comment, please head on over to the Somerville Voices blog and thanks!

Sincerely,
Barry Rafkind

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

No, actually, I won't, because it is abundantly clear to me that you are biased and will disregard any data you don't like. You've already made your decision.

[barry-rafkind.livejournal.com]

The story pitch is not about proving whether parking tickets are a regressive form of taxation. That is a separate point upon which we can agree to disagree. But I hope we can also agree that this discussion could benefit greatly from an analysis of real data, which is what we are proposing to do.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You see, if there was any guarantee that you were actually going to release an unbiased analysis, I might be interested.

But I've seen nothing that indicates it will be. You've already made your decision.

You don't like parking tickets. OK. I can respect that. What I can't respect is what seems to be an insistence that because you don't like parking tickets, they are somehow an evil plot by the city of Somerville to bilk drivers of money. Not so likely.

[barry-rafkind.livejournal.com]

What would convince you that our report will be unbiased? We're going to try to make the data publicly available, does that help?

I never said this was an "evil plot". I don't believe in evil. Nor do I think the City is out to make its drivers poor. I do think that the city has an economic incentive to adjust its policies and enforcement practices to maximize its revenues, and that is antithetical to the idea of parking tickets as violation deterrents, instead of money generators. However, the story pitch is not about proving the economic argument, which is self-evident, but rather about analyzing how parking revenue is collected around the city. We hope to show whether you and your neighbors are paying more than people who live around the block, for instance.

It seems to me that $500 would not be enough...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I'd burn through that in less than 3 hours, at least in my line of work. How much do investigate reporters cost?...

Re: It seems to me that $500 would not be enough...

[barry-rafkind.livejournal.com]

I wish I made your salary! Good question, we're still looking for a reporter. The goal is just the minimum, so it's possible we'll collect more than that. If we need more, we'll raise more. This is somewhat of an experiment, so it's ok if we have to figure things out as we go.

Re: It seems to me that $500 would not be enough...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I think your best bet would be to find a local reporter who's interested in the topic and would do it near pro bono, for the fun of it.

Re: It seems to me that $500 would not be enough...

[barry-rafkind.livejournal.com]

Well, if you know any reporters who are willing to do investigative reporting just for the fun of it without monetary compensation, please let us know!