Last Monday Investigative voice published an excellent article about the possibility of parking ticket amnesty in Baltimore. The City Council is considering allowing people with unpaid parking tickets to pay their tickets without fines for a limited amount of time. This last happened in 2003 and was not supposed to happen again until at the earliest in 2013.
In these desperate economic times I think it is at least worth a try to issue a temporary parking ticket amnesty and see how much money is raised. It can’t hurt and it is better than new fees and taxes for the rest of us.
I have covered issues related to this one in the past and there is a facebook thread that talks about parking ticket amnesty here.
Thanks again to Investigative Voice for bringing this issue into the spotlight.
Adam is the most recognizable face of the recent resurgence in Reservoir Hill. He has appeared on many national and local radio shows, in several news publications, and at numerous events discussing his innovative urban redevelopment ideas and his unique lifestyle. Adam is a successful entrepreneur, community activist, and a local political guru who ran for city council in 2007. He is the founder and director of the TechBalt.com Buy a Block Project and BaltimoreHourly.com. His fearless local political commentary has rocked the local blog scene for most of this decade and he plans to take it to the next level in the next decade here on Charm City Current.
I loaned my then roomate my car for a month while I got settled in Grad school. A year later I get a notice saying I owe $1,000 for 10 parking tickets. At first I thought there had been a mistake because the tickets were recieved at odd hours in questionable parts of town, but come to find out my roomate was driving all around the city and parking anwhere she wanted. She was throwing the parking tickets away. Now I owe $8,000 in parking tickets. I couldn’t afford to pay them when they were $1000 and I really can’t afford to pay them now. Amnesty is my only way out. It sounds like a win-win situation as the city could make millions and tax-paying residents could breath a little easier. BTW, I haven’t recieved a refund from State tax in 4 years because they keep my refund to pay for the tickets. But, as the fine always goes up every month I’ll never be able to repay it.
I do not live in Baltimore; however, I was there in graduate school in 2003 where my husband got two tickets. I thought they were paid; however, I have received a letter from a collection agency stating that I owe $2500+ for two tickets in which no notices were ever received. When I spoke to the collection agency they were unwilling to negotiate down and stated that their records even indicated that I was never notified of the tickets. I desepartely need amnesty. How am I to find out if they are offering amnesty and do I need to pay in person?
I recently moved from Baltimore city to out of state. I was a resident of the city for nearly 9 years. The parking situation is horrendous. I would try to get parking as close as possible as I was a single woman living in Mt. Vernon. Usually i would have to wake up and move my car. I would move my car and park on the same block but different spot and still received a ticket. Ridiculous! Those were the least of my worries. I have numerous citations, some date back to 2004 to about 2007. The citations are also inclusive of two different vehicles that I owned at two different times. months after I thought I paid certain citations I received collection notices where the said citations jumped from $42 to $200 I was flabbergasted. When I was able to send money for the lowest citation and associated fee I sent it to the collection agency with a letter explaining that the check was to be applied to a specific citation, so that I would have one less citation going up every month. The next collection notice came and the money I sent was applied to the total balance of the citations. So the money I basically paid covered the late fees of the current month changing my balance only by a few dollars. I again sent a payment with the same letter and again the payment was applied to balance and not the citation. I gave up and ignored the collection notices waiting for amnesty. Eventually I stopped receiving notices and then ad much as 6 months later I would receive a notice and then nothing for a few months. The last time I recieved a notice was about 8 months ago, I have only been living out of state for 5 months. But my balance was close to $5000 for 5-6 citations.
The excessive fees with no cap prevents people from the duty to pay. It’s ridiculous that the city charges these outrageous fees but as citizens where does this money go. Because it is not going back into the city. Maybe it’s going into the city officials pockets, undeserved of course.
I do intend to pay the tickets somehow, I just can’t afford too. So I allow them to increase because I do not know how to otherwise deal with the situation at this time. I am waiting patiently for a much needed amnesty.