posted by Joe Polk at 12:20 AM /
In many of the area's communities, parking meters are a big business. Target 11 obtained parking ticket data from several areas and has compiled a list of where drivers are most likely to get a parking ticket if the meter runs out.
Homestead makes the top five places that have issued the most parking tickets. Last year officials there wrote 7,823.
Coming in at number four on Target 11's list is Wilkinsburg with 8,275 tickets written last year. Bridgeville came in third place with 8,695 parking tickets issued in 2009 and Sewickley came in second place with a staggering 17,799 parking tickets written last year.
Mount Lebanon ranked number one on the list of places with the most parking tickets issued last year. Parking enforcement officers handed out 21,983 tickets in 2009.
Read the full article:
Homestead makes the top five places that have issued the most parking tickets. Last year officials there wrote 7,823.
Coming in at number four on Target 11's list is Wilkinsburg with 8,275 tickets written last year. Bridgeville came in third place with 8,695 parking tickets issued in 2009 and Sewickley came in second place with a staggering 17,799 parking tickets written last year.
Mount Lebanon ranked number one on the list of places with the most parking tickets issued last year. Parking enforcement officers handed out 21,983 tickets in 2009.
Read the full article:
Labels: parking, parking authority
1 Comments:
The Mt. Lebanon case requires some explanation...."the devil is (always) in the details " :
1) the Mt. Lebanon figures include, I believe, both MLPD and MLPA ticket issuances, not just the Parking Authority ...not sure what the figures from other communities represent;
2) the Authority receives all parking ticket revenues from Police ticketing based on an Agreement years ago to help subsidize the Authority, even though this ticketing occurs for any all parking, not just on Authority lot and street meters. The Authority employs its own meter enforcement folks;
3) revenue from Police ticketing currently amounts to about $87,000 per year, which , under the new "arrangement", will revert back to the Muni coffers;
4) at roughly say $15 per Police issued ticket (v. $6 for an Authority ticket if paid very promptly, otherwise mucho more), the number of Police tickets is roughly 5,800 per year of the Authority reported total of 21,983;
5) note that the operative word in the article is tickets "issued"...the question becomes, how many of those "issued" are actually *paid* ?
6) the Authority is empowered by law to effect collection of issued ticket fines by a variety of means. Beyond direct efforts, collection agencies and the local Magistrate, the Authority can employ "booting" and towing methods;
7) the problem here is that even though allowable, the Authority is seemingly too busy with other matters to go after scofflaws and delinquent folks. As a result, there is roughly $30,000 in unpaid ticket fines out there uncollected at any point in time by the Authority;
8) at any point in time ? Yes indeed, because the Authority wipes unpaid fines off its books after 2 years !
When the Muni receives the Police ticket revenue, you can bet enforcement by MLPD will probably increase. And when the Muni takes over the operations of the Authority, you can also probably bet that delinquent fine collections will increase.
This is just a *tip of the iceberg* explanation, by citing just a couple of examples, of why the Muni wants to disband the Authority.
The more you peel the onion, the more you want to cry.
Bill Lewis
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