Mayor, Chief Can Dismiss Tickets Again
Mayor Lloyd said he hopes this will alleviate worry about parking on street sweeping days.
Mayor Tom Lloyd and Chief Phil Ross again have the ability to dismiss parking tickets, and they’re hoping it will alleviate some worry about the new parking system on street sweeping days.
Dormont Council voted Monday night to temporarily stop enforcing Ordinance No. 1588. The law was voted on by the previous council in September, and took away the ability of the mayor and police chief to forgive parking tickets that had been issued.
In addition, Councilwoman Joan Hodson said she wants to schedule time to talk with the police and fire departments about the new parking system put in place for street sweeping days.
“It’s only been in place for one month and I know there have been a few issues,” Hodson said. “If we can schedule some time to spend with both the chief of our fire department and of our police department, to see what issues they may see out there that we can’t."
Lloyd said the vote to make the change to the street sweeping council was done by the previous council. Ross said that to his knowledge, no one checked with the borough’s police or fire departments before making the change.
He said he didn’t necessarily care for the new system, but that residents might be able to get used to it in time.
“It’s extremely confusing, but if you go read the sign, it will tell you on the sign,” Ross said. “The signs do tell you exactly what to do.”
Ross said he’s noticed streets throughout the borough where the whole street is in compliance with the new parking arrangement on street sweeping days. It likely will still take some time—until this fall, or even next year—to see if the system is going to work in the borough, he said.
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JS
11:00 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Good to know we don't have to follow parking restrictions anymore, that certainly alleviates my worries. Well, except for the times when people park wherever they want and emergency vehicles can't get down my street. Fixing parking tickets is a little old school, don't you think. Either the law is there for a reason - so enforce it - or take it off the books. What's the point of enforcement when you know they'll be no punishment. What do the cops writing tickets think about this? Don't they feel they're just wasting their time?
Ed M
11:14 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Fixing parking tickets given in error is a good thing.
People in the borough don't follow the parking restrictions now! I see a lot of cars almost parked in intersections. I know parking is an issue in the borough but that doesn't excuse the poor enforcement.
JS
11:57 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Ed, fixing a parking ticket given in error is a good thing, I agree. This can be done without the rubber stamp that ignoring Ordinance 1588 allows for. It was reported that the mayor fixed something like $30,000 in tickets one year. If these many tickets are given out in error, we have some serious issues with our ticket issuing people.
I also agree with you about poor enforcement. There's also the fairness issue, though. I've gotten a few parking tickets in Dormont. I was illegaly parked, so I paid them. Am I a sucker for doing this when others don't? That's how I feel when I pay for breaking a rule but others don't have to.
JS
11:11 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Maybe the mayor and chief can tell us in advance when it's OK to break the law and save everybody some time. Save our officer's time writing tickets, our time to take them in, and their time to do the paperwork. I'm all for a more efficient government, and if ignoring laws gets us there, lets spell it out in advance. Are there certain stop signs we can coast through so that we're not inconvenienced? How about those pesky traffic lights? Sometimes it's just a pain to stop at them. I'd like the mayor to make us a list of when it's OK to break these laws too.
John Spoon
11:12 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
“It’s extremely confusing, but if you go read the sign, it will tell you on the sign,” Ross said. “The signs do tell you exactly what to do.”
Wait, whats confusing about "You cannot park here from Monday 6p - Tuesday 6p". Basically, it's confusing if you don't know how to read. Why are we still wasting our time on this?
Jamie Keaney
11:18 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
was the vote 7-0?
Erin Faulk
11:33 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Yes, the vote was 7-0. There are a couple of things happening here: Joan Hodson wants the opportunity to talk with the police and fire departments about the parking restrictions put in place with the new street sweeping system—something that wasn't done before the restrictions were put in place. Also, Mayor Lloyd told me that by having the ability to dismiss tickets, it allows people who got tickets to defend themselves. It's not meant to imply that it's okay to break the law—according to Lloyd, it's just meant to give people the chance to defend themselves if they feel they were wrongly ticketed.
JS
11:50 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
That chance to defend themselves is already built into the system. You can appeal to the magistrate, says so right on the ticket. No, this is about power and helping out friends and acquaintances. And also about - "this is the way we've always done it, so it must be right". Heard that right out of the mouths of several people involved in this.
Jamie Keaney
12:14 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Thanks, Erin.
Mike
3:05 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The new system for parking during street sweeping is more than confusing, it's downright dangerous.
I've seen several streets, including my own street, turned into one way streets because cars were parked on both sides of the street during the 24 hour street sweeping period.
How will emergency vehicles get up and down a street that is choked with parked cars.
Because of the 24 hour window I was anticipating a full day of street sweeping, up and down my street until it was spotless. Oddly enough, that didn't happen.
In all seriousness, this new parking system MUST be changed. It is dangerous and unnecessary.
Mike
3:08 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Erin - Can you let us know what Joan Hodson finds out? I'd love to be able to speak at a metting regarding the parking issue.
Erin Faulk
7:38 pm on Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Sure. As far as I know, a meeting date has not been set yet for council to talk to the police and fire departments. This was something Joan suggested but there wasn't a vote on it. I'll follow up later this week and find out if anything was scheduled.
RL
8:59 am on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
I