Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Just back from City Hall where I did a little public comment for WalkSF they're standing (walking?) behind the gradual increase in parking ticket amounts for parking on the sidewalk. Seems like it'll be a go, as the Board of Supervisors approved this gradual increase a while back, but amazingly, Sup. Peskin suggested DPT go back and crunch the numbers some more, to see if higher fines were actually working. Oy. This will pass, why not just get it moving up the ladder?
One thing about DPT crunching numbers... it's the cops who hand out the most sidewalk tickets, as they do it at night. DPT stops around 8 or 9pm. Will DPT's numbers include SFPD's? who knows. No one asked.
There were people there speaking out against the higher fines. Well, actually, they were speaking out about WHEN people get tickets, not really the amount. I agree (and it again falls into my campaign platform) that we need to sit down and talk this stuff out more. Is a car that's jutting one foot out of it's garage supposed to get a ticket? 2 feet? Behind the property line but still not in the garage? Better question than that: when we do define what's blocking the sidewalk and what's not, how do we communicate that to the public? Every block is unique, and needs to be addressed.
If I could wave my magic wand and implement every aspect of my plans in an instant, I'd have a volunteer block captain, trained in leadership and dispute resolution who would be there to make the call on their block.
One thing about DPT crunching numbers... it's the cops who hand out the most sidewalk tickets, as they do it at night. DPT stops around 8 or 9pm. Will DPT's numbers include SFPD's? who knows. No one asked.
There were people there speaking out against the higher fines. Well, actually, they were speaking out about WHEN people get tickets, not really the amount. I agree (and it again falls into my campaign platform) that we need to sit down and talk this stuff out more. Is a car that's jutting one foot out of it's garage supposed to get a ticket? 2 feet? Behind the property line but still not in the garage? Better question than that: when we do define what's blocking the sidewalk and what's not, how do we communicate that to the public? Every block is unique, and needs to be addressed.
If I could wave my magic wand and implement every aspect of my plans in an instant, I'd have a volunteer block captain, trained in leadership and dispute resolution who would be there to make the call on their block.
