More places to park cars, parking ramps are open longer, better notifications through text messages, extended street sweeping days . . . but we also got higher fines! Originally, the only thing being talked about was higher fines for downtown and unnotified towning. But we quickly got extended hours in the parking ramps and extra park parking lots (kind of). But higher fines was what everyone wanted to focus on, you know, for the second class citizens that live downtown typically stereotyped as “students”. After dragging the conversation out much, much, much longer than it ever should have been, in fact, as long as it takes Chief Wray to tell us how we’re going to use 30 new officers, we finally have something to vote on! I tell ya, all this talk about prioritizing “basic services” seems so absurd when these two things take 9 months to resolve . . . but I digress.
So, it turns out, that the fines won’t just be for downtown, they will be applied citywide when there is a snow emergency. That means that the $30 fines downtown are now $60 and the $20 fines in the rest of the city are now $60 as well. And, I believe that the towing without notice will also continue. (That’s not part of the ordinance change, and there wasn’t one needed. Turns out, we had the authority all along.)
We made some progress last year (more parking ramp hours and parks parking lots being available), and some progress on text messaging this summer, but I think there are still some ideas to explore. I’m anxious to hear the feedback from my constituents on the higher fines, if they are even paying attention at the end of August and over the Labor Day weekend. Meanwhile, lets enjoy this weather! And hopefully, this year, I won’t have to have another 30 or more posts on snow!
