![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
inkarn8.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
davis_squareDoes anyone know why the City would ticket Somerville's own residents for expired inspection stickers? -- Two tickets 3 days apart? If I owned a driveway, they would not have done this... Can't they stick to the spirit of protecting our residential parking spots from outsiders? How about a warning instead, or a friendly reminder? And then a few days to get a sticker...
And why do they ticket cars after the street cleaner has already passed? I don't get any of those tickets for that reason, but it seems silly to not be able to park after the cleaner has clearly already passed... Is anyone else interested in getting some of these unfriendly policies changed? Also, why do we pay an extra Internet fee to pay tickets and update parking passes for a service which clearly must save the city time and money from waiting on us in person? How does the city award the contract to an Internet company which is making so much money for so little service?
Does anyone have a list of local politicians that support these policies and another list of who would rather see changes made?
Thanks so much!
And why do they ticket cars after the street cleaner has already passed? I don't get any of those tickets for that reason, but it seems silly to not be able to park after the cleaner has clearly already passed... Is anyone else interested in getting some of these unfriendly policies changed? Also, why do we pay an extra Internet fee to pay tickets and update parking passes for a service which clearly must save the city time and money from waiting on us in person? How does the city award the contract to an Internet company which is making so much money for so little service?
Does anyone have a list of local politicians that support these policies and another list of who would rather see changes made?
Thanks so much!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
RE: How municipalities profit from poverty...
Date: 2014-09-11 06:38 pm (UTC)"The Somerville Chamber of Commerce broke the news the next morning. Egg, meet face. Total PR nightmare. Somervillains were equally angry over the changes themselves - the potential impact on business and quality of life - and the way they were made: by an appointed five-person body in the dark of night. Not even most aldermen knew.
It was "unacceptable," said Davis Square alderman Rebekah Gewirtz. "They should've had a public community process."" http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2010/06/by_danielle_dreilinger_globe_c_47.html
RE: How municipalities profit from poverty...
Date: 2014-09-11 07:04 pm (UTC)The quote you post does not appear anywhere in the story you link to. It's completely out of context and could be about anything, or nothing, or be made up out of whole cloth. In fact, the article you link to refutes the very claim you seem to be making, including:
"Mayor Joe Curtatone's proposed fiscal year 2011 budget now projects a $1 million decrease in parking fines..."
"Drivers learned quickly: The number of tickets issued is down 7 percent from fiscal 2009..."
"Excise tax revenue exceeded the original $4 million projection by about $300,000. The fiscal 2011 projection is slightly higher, than that, at $4.4 million. 'We make less money on tickets and we made more money on excise taxes,' Meehan summarized."
Amazingly enough, enforcing parking (or other rules/laws/regulations) leads to greater compliance. And, often, greater revenue for the city through bringing people into compliance (in this case the excise taxes that were being dodged by people not registering their cars in Somerville, as required).
Clearly you weren't living here when the new regulations regarding city-wide parking permits and extended parking hours were discussed. It was a very public, and long, process. So, once again, you aren't making a whole lot of sense. Not to mention that this has nothing to do with my question about your apparent love for a $20 fine but an irrational hatred of a $50 fine.
RE: How municipalities profit from poverty...
Date: 2014-09-11 07:34 pm (UTC)> It's completely out of context and could be about anything, or nothing . . .
So google it, like I did. It's here:
"The parking epic Homer never wrote"
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2009/10/by_danielle_dreilinger_globe_c_4.html
I'm curious how many people posting here lived here when this happened? Because there was never any doubt in anyone's mind that I knew of that it (all of it - requiring permits everywhere, extending meter hours, ticketing for expired inspections) was a revenue source pure and simple. Published articles (such as the one I linked to above) stated as much concerning the permits & meters. AND there was lots of griping that many of the decisions were made by an unelected board over which the elected representatives, let alone the residents, had no power. But that's the way it is, so we just live with it.