Schrammie: Reducing parking tickets is a bad thing?
SEATTLE -- It's simple, efficient, convenient and could save you money.
So why the hesitancy to make it happen?
With that question, I’d like to invite select members of the Seattle City Council to park their attitude and come on down.
There's new parking technology that Mayor Mike McGinn wants to put in play.
Using your smart phone, you'd enter your license plate number and pay to park online.
No more fiddling with credit cards or quarters.
But the best part is that you can then electronically keep track of exactly how much time you have left before getting a ticket.
Well, that's the best part for us.
For councilmembers Nick Licata and Jean Godden, not so much.
Licata and Godden are worried that the city would lose money because fewer people would be getting parking tickets.
Ain't that a hoot?
They'd rather pick our pockets then make it easier to park downtown.
They'd rather pelt us with tickets to enhance the city budget.
Parking should not be punitive.
And city leaders should not be so money-grubbing.
Jean Godden and Nick Licata should be written up for this political infraction, but in the meantime, they need to take a bow, because this “Schrammie” is for them.
Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com. You can also connect with Ken on Facebook.
So why the hesitancy to make it happen?
With that question, I’d like to invite select members of the Seattle City Council to park their attitude and come on down.
There's new parking technology that Mayor Mike McGinn wants to put in play.
Using your smart phone, you'd enter your license plate number and pay to park online.
No more fiddling with credit cards or quarters.
But the best part is that you can then electronically keep track of exactly how much time you have left before getting a ticket.
Well, that's the best part for us.
For councilmembers Nick Licata and Jean Godden, not so much.
Licata and Godden are worried that the city would lose money because fewer people would be getting parking tickets.
Ain't that a hoot?
They'd rather pick our pockets then make it easier to park downtown.
They'd rather pelt us with tickets to enhance the city budget.
Parking should not be punitive.
And city leaders should not be so money-grubbing.
Jean Godden and Nick Licata should be written up for this political infraction, but in the meantime, they need to take a bow, because this “Schrammie” is for them.
Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com. You can also connect with Ken on Facebook.
The whole scheme is set up to pick our pockets... and you just proved it yet again! Living in Shoreline, 12 minutes away, and we hardly every go downtown anymore. We used to frequent restaurants and the waterfront too, but not since everything became metered. We go to Bellevue, Edmonds, or Lynnwood, even Everett before getting gouged for parking again. This City Government's attitude shouldn't surprise anyone, and I'm sure it is causing Seattle businesses a lot of grief.
This is the problem with the current system and it extends to traffic enforcement. There is ZERO incentive to bring speeding to a complete stop, to stop everyone from running red lights, from stopping anyone from camping in the left lane, failing to yield and yes, even driving drunk.
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This...is...BIG...business.
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It employs meter maids, police officers, investigators, jailers, prosecutors, clerks, judges, attorneys, and public defenders. It is a HUGE money making machine. From the smallest traffic ticket, to the worst traffic offense.
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The government and safety patrol types are only playing a degree of lip service. Oh sure, they want to REDUCE, but eliminate??? End the gravy train??? Hurt revenue??? Cut budgets, put lawyers and judges and clerks out of a job.
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Ya...right.
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Wake up - parking tickets and traffic tickets have zero, zilch, nada, nothing to do with public safety.
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It is all about the Benjamins.
Licata has always been a teste minhigia
Parking should not be punitive? Red light cameras are all about safety. And the Tooth Fairy is going to pay union scale.
Max 2 hrs, why park at all, who can shop in just 2 hours?? I'll go the malls, free parking!
@Willie69 not in downtown Seattle you won't get free parking at the malls...
 @Willie69 I dunno about you, but I'm capable of getting all my shopping done at Westlake Center in half an hour or less. It helps to know what I'm looking for and where to go for it.
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If your goal is to spend a whole afternoon browsing, there are longer-term parking areas specifically for that.
Come on Ken! They have to be able to pick our pockets, especially when it comes to parking. Otherwise, where would they get the money for all of their stupid bike lanes and other bike paraphernalia around the city? Yeah that's where they wanna get the money; straight from drivers!
When I have to pay exorbitant fees to park I can only afford to window shop. The city is in direct competition with the shops for MY dollars.
So shocked, Ken, why? Â
My question is what will the technology for traffic/parking enforcement cost to check vehicles if their time has expired? Currently its clearly written on the sticker that prints out and is placed on a window. Said enforcement only needs to use a watch to know if itâs expired before issuing a ticket without any additional technology or expense.
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I have no problem with paying to park in the city. Do I like paying as much as private and city locations wantâ¦. No. However I understand itâs a source of revenue for the city and I have no problem with that or if I get a ticket for being parked illegally or exceed my time limit. If I truly feel it was in error as a responsible person I would document the situation and fight it in court. I have only ever received one parking ticket and that was my fault for being in a hurry and not noticing the sign that was clearly there.
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The argument that it makes it easier for people to track seems pointless. Most people have a cell phone or a watch. Most cell phones now days have a timer/stop watch built in. Itâs not hard to realize what time you parked and when it expires⦠the people who get tickets currently probably donât do that and an additional app is probably not going to make any difference.
 @DreamTravler I imagine the app would have some type of alarm to notify the time limit is coming up.
 @DreamTravler Fair points on how people who just plain forget to check their time aren't likely to do much better if they have a smartphone app to do so. It's unlikely that all that many people actually use the stopwatch features in their phones to track their parking times.
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That said, being able to pay via smartphone would make the process both much more convenient AND likely more robust.
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Convenience: A well-defined app would not only let you pay for your parking online, but it could automatically set those timers for you and beep at you when you're about to run out, so you can either add time right away or make sure to get your car before the time expires.
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Robustness: I pointed out to @caphillkid that I run into existing meters that are severely worn, vandalized or broken to the point of making them difficult or impossible to use, and that means I frequently have to go well out of my way to pay for parking at a different machine that is working properly. If you had an online system that took care of this instead, many people would benefit from not having to use frequently-broken physical machines, and maintenance costs for the city would go down significantly, mainly because normal wear and tear on those machines would be much lower. Then maintenance crews could get to fixing or replacing the truly broken or vandalized machines more quickly.
I agree the convenience to let people pay via smart phone to park would be nice, and frankly I am sure I would use the technology. I just want to know how it would be policed. If the technology to do so is cheap, efficient, and long lasting then I am all for the change. However I worry like most government agencies they will spend far more then the technology needs to cost and further waste tax payer money.
I don't think I'd want these people to have my credit card number. They might decide to use it as an ATM for new rules I'm not aware of yet.
I have to raise the B.S. flag here. First a disclaimer; I do not think a city should be counting fines and tickets as part of their budgets. If there is a way to help people not get parking tickets, then do so if it is financially feasable but don't waste money on a new shiny system if we don't need it. If the city wants to up revenue from tickets and fines and be sleazy about it, have random speed limits controlled by city police who can then ticket drivers. Set the traffic lights to go from green to red and just skip over yellow. Put "no stopping at any time" signs next to intersections and write tickets anytime the light turns red. Now for my B.S. flag, this is for you Ken. A few days ago you posted support for putting curbs on bikes lanes at the tune of $5 million. http://www.komonews.com/opinion/kenschram/176288121.html Now you want to prevent the city (who has to pay for those curbs) from raising revenue. If you want the city to get less money but want them to spend more on things like curbs for bike lanes can you come on down to get your Schrammie and tell us how to pay for this stuff? You cannot have it both ways.
 @Nitroxman Wha? Where did Schram say he opposes raising city revenues? He's making a point that the objection they raised exposes a severe flaw in how the city manages its budget. They should be looking to less sleazy and more robust ways of raising their revenue and balancing their budget than depending on parking ticket income.
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And as I pointed out further down, the city stands to actually save a lot of money by having to write and process fewer tickets, especially when you consider all the expensive processes that go into handling disputes over those tickets (challenges, small-claims suits, etc.).
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You can't pay for a new project like those bike-lane curbs by depending on penalty income - at least, not without inventing new crimes for people to unknowingly commit.
We all remember their steamy affair from 4 years ago and how that ended. Now Jean Godden and Nick Licata seem to have patched up for the good of stealing from the people who park in seattle.
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Here's an idea... Why don't we all shop in surrounding communities? There are many nearby places outside seattle that would welcome our money
What a bunch of whiners Seattle citizens have become." I'm entitled to know all things via my smartphone." What about all the poor slobs that don't have $70 a month to throw down a hole for a smart phone? Â Entitlement runs rampant in Rain City.
 @Jeefray I guess the poor slobs, as you call them, will have to keep pumping quarters, or using their credit cards.
greedy, stupid politicians...
People forget that when it was discovered that the city was illegally charging more for red light camera tickets when compared to tickets given directly by officers...
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The City Council RAISED ALL TICKETS to the same rate as the red light camera tickets. Â
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This is what corruption looks like. Â Â
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Want to hear something worse? Â The OPA has been reporting directly to the Mayor and the City Council all these years (more than ten) so they all knew we had no police accountability and allowed us all to be forced to pay for federal investigations, be sued by the feds and now we are all forced to may for a judge to babysit and a monitor. Â
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Guess how much this all costs the tax payers? Â Â
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Seattle.... This is what corruption looks like. Â Â
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@Andrew Bush We forget that because it didn't happen. It was never discovered that red light cameras were issuing higher tickets, it was decided to be perfectly legal because you *could* get a ticket that expensive in a worst-case scenario. And so they didn't change any ticket rates.
I don't expect much from Licata. Parking tickets have no cultural value.
Seattle! Come for the expensive, hard to find parking! Stay for the bus stop stabbings and random Belltown shootings! Bring the kids!
Before you buy into Ken's brilliant idea, did anyone ask how much the system will cost to implement over the existing system? Who is going to pay for that? Will those costs be added to the parking rates?Â
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Remember Ken's last great idea to save all that money by discontinuing the highway call in phone number? Yeah great idea, the system is not currently being used, so let's cancel the number written on all the signs on the highways! Look at all the money we will save! Schrammies to everyone wanting to keep paying for the phone line!Â
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Oh wait, what happens when we need to bring the phone line back online? Who is going to pay to go out and physically change the phone number on all those roadside signs? How much will that cost?
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Nothing about this current Ken Schram rant is different. It's just a rant, not a plan that's been well thought out.  Â
 @caphillkid Do you work for the Seattle Department of Transportation? Â
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You seem to eager to defend this prosecute for revenue campaign the city of Seattle currently has in effect on every single story that has come up. Â
 @caphillkid Ok fine. Can I borrow your license plates the next time I need to park downtown?
Here's my experience with Seattles ticket system.
Never had to park in Seattle before, found a parking spot, saw the ticket system, tried to use my credit card in the one system... because of the lack of maintenance I was unable to use that unit and had to walk fifty feet down to the next one that did work(eventually).
The problems continue, Nothing on the system tells you how the ticket is to be displayed, every place else tells you to display it on your dashboard and that is what I did. After the fact... when I had a parking ticket on my windshield, right over where the paystub was for the parking, and reading the ticket, then the paystub, I then learned that your supposed to peal back the sticky stuff and put it on your drivers side window for the parking gestapo to see without leaning over the vehicle. Last time I will ever park on the streets in Seattle.  The $5.00 parking fee that I paid, cost me another $35.00 because I put the stub where every place else wants it instead of where Seattle wants it.
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How many other non-residents of Seattle have been bitten by that same little deviation from the norm?
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Yeah, heaven forbid they lose income due to a reduction in parking fines.
@KarlF It says right on the front of paystub in red letters "Valid only if displayed properly. Tape THIS receipt to inside of curbside window. SEE OTHER SIDE". More instructions are on the back. If you refused to read the paystub, having never used the system before, then you have no excuse. Unless maybe you couldn't read English.
 @CommutingGuy  @KarlF And if you're still not sure, take a walk down the street and see how the other owners did it.  You can't miss all the tickets stuck to the windows.Â
 @KarlF Non resident here but I was able to figure it out, it was pretty clear to me.
 @KarlF Um, the machine clearly shows you where to attach your sticker. There are even pictures! Imagine that! Just like in the cave man days. You just failed to follow the simple instructions.Â
 @caphillkid  @KarlF Many of those machines are in severe need of maintenance and repainting. I can't tell you how many times the instructions on the machines I've used have been completely illegible due to wear or graffiti. I'm thankful that I happened to know ahead of time what to do.
 @KarlF Many many visitors have been victims to the scam that is Seattle.  Â
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The attitude among people here is its your own fault regardless of every attempt by our city DOT to confuse you. Â Â
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Wow... Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. City council is complaining about lost ticket revenues but the more difficult they make Seattle parking, people will stop making the effort... No people in downtown means no retail revenue for the city. Lost parking ticket revenue is a drop in the bucket compared to the city retail tax levied on businessesÂ
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Oh... wait... sorry.... that made too much sense. My bad....
Something is wrong when a city depends on prosecutions and fines to support its budgets. Â
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Its disgusting what has become of Seattle in just a few short years. Â
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The corruption never ends. Â Â
 @Andrew Bush Despite what Ken says or what those two city council members say, there is no proof that changing the parking system will lead to fewer tickets and less revenue.Â
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Don't be fooled by Ken Schram. He can say anything he wants. It's just his opinion.Â
 @caphillkid  @Andrew Bush There's also no proof that keeping the current parking system in effect is going to maintain a steady stream of revenue. Have any idea what it costs to maintain the current system?
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I'll also point out that, as parking rates continue to go up and the parking rules get more and more out of control, fewer people are going to park in Seattle at all. And those who DO park in Seattle will be extra careful to not get tickets. So tickets could STILL drop, thus causing a decline in revenue, even without the new system. Then what?
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As I pointed out elsewhere, it's foolish to base a budget on penalty income. By definition, income from tickets and infractions is unpredictable, and if you depend on that income, you're forced to start making up crimes for people to commit when that income dries up because your citizens are actually obeying the laws. :P
 @caphillkid  Oh bull... We have all seen the ever changing signs the diffrrent timed red light cameras, the every changing meter times and amounts and many many other attempts to confuse drivers in an effort to gain more revenue.
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I myself was offered 24 hours in King County Jail if I didn't hand over money in traffic court which is ILLEGAL! Â
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This city has been corrupted for some time. Â
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It feels like the mafia is running Seattle. Â
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 @caphillkid right.Â
 @Andrew Bush Nope, just live here.Â
 @caphillkid Do you work for the city?Â
 @Andrew Bush lol
Ken...we just put in the sticker machines a few years ago. They work pretty well. I always have some loose change in my car to feed the machine. I don't always have my phone with me or care to spend the time going online to pay for parking.Â
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The sticker machines are relatively straightforward and simple to use, both with change and with credit cards.Â
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Revamping the entire system will probably cost millions of dollars and there is simply no need to do so at this point.
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If you're getting parking tickets, then that's your problem, not mine. And since you don't live in Seattle, you wouldn't be paying for the parking system, I would.Â
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It's hardly fair to the residents of Seattle to make us pay for a new system because outsiders are getting parking tickets as a result of their inability to keep time.Â
 @caphillkid "The sticker machines are relatively straightforward and simple to use, both with change and with credit cards."
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That is, until the machines break down or become so worn that you can't read the screen, the coin slots are jammed, the credit card reader stops working, the buttons stop working, or the printed instructions on or next to the machine have been covered in graffiti. I've seen ALL of those things on various parking meters throughout the city, and I've called the city departments (multiple ones) multiple times to let them know about it.
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I am fortunate to have never gotten a ticket in Seattle, and I'm one of those "outsiders" you mention. I'm diligent and dedicated enough to make sure I do it right and research things ahead of time. But I'm willing to go OUT OF MY WAY to do the right thing, and I don't think EVERYONE should be required to do that because the city isn't maintaining this system.
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Yeah, it might cost more to implement a new system, but the one proposed would not only avoid most of the problems with the existing one, it would be much easier to maintain because it would be built on an already-robust commercial infrastructure.
I don't think the idea that you could track the time any easier would save people from the tickets. Â My question would be does the system allow you to extend that time online remotely, that would be the saver. Â Then people could pay the minimum amount and keep 'feeding' the meter remotely and save from overpaying and leaving time on the meter they won't use.
 @oledawg set an alarm in your phone. Also most have been extended to 4 hours
 @oledawg This is exactly what business areas do not want. They want a 2 hour limit because it promotes turnover and more customers.Â
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If you can sit there and electronically feed the meter all day, it completely defeats the purpose of having a 2 hour limit.
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 @caphillkid  @oledawg There's nothing saying that this new system would have to do away with parking time limits. Being able to pay-as-you-go online would not obviate the turnover, and parking enforcement would still be able to find out if you've been parked in a spot too long.
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I would expect the parking app to either know or require you to tell it what zone you parked in so it can tell you the correct rate and time limit. Then it would also be able to inform you of the parking limit and refuse to let you extend beyond that limit (or maybe charge you a premium for the privilege of doing so).
 @caphillkid I agree and makes sense but I disagree with this idea that making it easier to track will lead to less tickets, I mean, how difficult is it to track now?