The License Plate is Entered in a Few Seconds

With a national and state budget crunch many communities are increasing parking violation fees.  San Luis Obispo it no exception to this rule.  Parking violation fines have all been increased an additional ten dollars in the City of San Luis Obispo.  The standard fee for a meter time violation has been increased to twenty-seven dollars, but may be increased to an even thirty dollars in the near future. That would be a near doubling of the fee.

The Dreaded Expired Parking Meter

If you find one of these increased fee tickets on your windshield the biggest irony might be that you have raised the penalty upon yourself.  Since the penalty has been increased by our elected officials, it is your vote (or lack thereof) that empowered them to do so.  If you think that the fee is excessive you are also empowered to do something about it.  Your city council members telephone numbers can be found here.

“I am afraid that a twenty seven dollar ticket will make customers think twice before deciding to shop downtown,”stated one manager of a local retail clothing store. “If I can park for free in a mall on the other side of town and not have to worry about a ticket then I might end up doing ALL of my shopping at the new “Forever 21” instead of the downtown women’s stores.”

Across the country communities seem divided upon what actually constitutes an excessive fine for a parking meter violation.  New York City has two seperate scales for infraction fees.  One for the Manhattan area, and one for the rest of the city.  In Manhattan proper a meter violation will cost you sixty five dollars.  In the rest of New York City it will cost you thirty five.  If our fine is increased to thirty we will be within five dollars of the fine in one of the biggest cities in the World.  Here is their fine schedule.

In the far corner of the Eastern United States Portland, Maine, has one of the friendliest parking ticket programs.  The fine for an expired meter there will only cost you fifteen dollars.  In addition to being more affordable they also recognize that we all all human and make mistakes.

Forgiveness Tickets

The City has put into effect a forgiveness ticketing system. People receiving a ticket  related to parking at an expired meter, overtime parking or parking in more than one space, shall have the first parking violation notice every six months January-June and July-December automatically waived by the City.

We could also have a forgiveness program if we wanted to.

If you would like a forgiveness program you can get the ball rolling by contacting your city councilperson.  Your city council members telephone numbers can be found here.

Even our president could have used a little forgiveness.

according to the Boston Globe:

Obama received 17 parking tickets in Cambridge between 1988 and 1991, according to the city’s Traffic, Parking & Transportation Department.

Of those tickets, he paid only two while he was a student and paid them late, said Susan Clippinger, the office’s director.

There are questions about the fee increase that only time can answer.  How will the new fees impact downtown businesses? Will parking meter revenue decrease as fewer people shop downtown?  Will tourism suffer as tourists are offended by the fee increases?

What is your opinion? Take a moment to comment below and

The Top 20 Most Expensive Parking Tickets in San Luis Obispo

.
For a complete list of all the traffic fines in downtown San Luis Obispo visit the article “How Much Is That Ticket In My Window”.