Sunday, April 4, 2010

McHenry bullies parkers

The City of McHenry is a big bully.

In this morning's Northwest Herald is an article about worries of the City of McHenry (Ill.) about collecting parking fines. They must be desperate for money.

On Monday night the McHenry City Council will consider jacking up the fine for parking violations (which ones? overnight on-street?) from $5.00 to $25.00, a 400% increase. The interest in this issue apparently stemmed from resident Mike Benedek's complaints about repeated overnight parking violations in his neighborhood, despite police ticketing.

Now don't get me wrong. Mike sounds like my kinda guy. Concerned citizen. Wants laws enforced. Expects to see habit-change through enforcement. Taking steps to get a problem corrected. I'm sure I'd like Mike. Maybe I'll even get to meet him one of these days.

We face a similar problem in Woodstock, although here the problem may be uneven parking enforcement. Some neighborhoods get papered with parking violation notices; others go relatively untouched.

What might McHenry (City) do? First consider its current schedule of fines. If the ticket is paid within 48 hours, the fine is $5. (That's too low.) If paid within 48-72 hours, the fine is $10. If paid after 72 hours, the fine is $50.

Here's the problem. The City is harshly penalizing the parking violator for not paying promptly, not for parking illegally. What if the resident is out-of-town? hospitalized? Is it constitutional to so sharply increase a fine for slow payment? Ethical?

This heavy-handed treatment by the City of McHenry is wrong. All its City Council has to do is increase the fine to $10.00 and direct the chief to order the officers to ticket every overnight parking violation that is not excused. (Cities often provide leeway, if a resident phones in a request, such as for out-of-town guests or driveway repairs. Officers should drive by to verify the request.)

Sticking it to slow-payers is not the answer, and residents should be up in arms over the exorbitant, usurious and extortion-rate surcharge for failing to make an almost-immediate payment of a fine.

How to treat the scofflaws? Simple. Prosecute. The court costs will more than cover expenses. And publicize the prosecution. And, if an increase to $10.00/violation doesn't solve the problem, go for $15.00. Doing it this way will not create a revolution fomented by the few occasional overnight parkers who make the mistake of violating such an insignificant law.

The article also mentions Crystal Lake, Algonquin and Woodstock. These cities can stand right alongside McHenry in the bully category, because they too substantially increases fines that are not paid on time. And all four of them get away with it, because residents are too complacent and do not pay close attention to what their elected representatives are doing.

Algonquin? An unpaid $25 fine goes up to $50, if paid after 10 days. (100% increase)
Crystal Lake? An unpaid $20 fine goes up to $50, if paid after 30 days. (150% increase)
Woodstock? An unpaid $10 fine goes up to $50, if paid after 30 days. (400% increase)

By the way, just what is the reason for an overnight on-street parking ban, anyway???

7 comments:

FatParalegal said...

A reason for banning overnight on-street parking:

When I lived in Harvard, there were a few single-family houses that would have relatives sleep over on a regular basis. Each relative had car. Too many cars to fit on the driveway. Hence, on-street overnight parking.

If you are ever in Harvard, check out the parking situation on 9th Street. If it is during the day, when most of the cars are gone, you will see all the auto fluid stains (oil, anti-freeze, transmission) from the cars that park there on a regular/daily basis.

The City of Harvard won't (can't?) regulate how many families live in a house meant for a single family. But they CAN regulate and enforce the parking situation.

mike said...

Gus writes "Here's the problem. The City is harshly penalizing the parking violator for not paying promptly, not for parking illegally. What if the resident is out-of-town? hospitalized? Is it constitutional to so sharply increase a fine for slow payment? Ethical?" Under the CURRENT fine system it seems unreasonable to hike the fines like that. However, the fine, as you say is too low. If you could run a red light or speed and the only consequence (financial) would be a $5 fine, how much adherence to the laws would we see. $25 for a parking violation? Somebody is going to think twice before they do it and if they get a ticket, they'll either contest it in court or pay it before the 30 days is up to avoid doubling it. The $25 fine seems in line with fines in other areas for similar violations. Have you even noticed what it costs to park LEGALLY in, say, Daleytown?

M.U.G. said...

"By the way, just what is the reason for an overnight on-street parking ban, anyway???"

I'll take a guess at that question.

$$$$$$, ca-ching, revenue, moola, etc..

Even in good times it's a no brainer money maker.

Gus said...

I parked on the street on my first night in Woodstock and received my "Welcome to Woodstock. Pay $5. Have a nice day." greetings. When I went to the Police Department (1996) to complain, I was told there were signs on every major road into Woodstock.

I drove out to see. There was not even one sign on IL 47, IL 120 or U.S. 14. I paid the $5, but I've always remembered it as an unfriendly way to greet a person with an out-of-state license plate.

More recently, Woodstock has refused to consider a warning notice for first-time, out-of-state plated vehicles.

And, yes, I was in the Loop last Wednesday (by train) and was surprised at the $22.00/day parking rate for garage parking.

I suspect that a quarter in a parking meter buys you just enough time to put in the next quarter!

It's the principle of increasing the fine for slow-pay to which I object.

Gus said...

M.U.G., years ago one cop told me that the ban on overnight parking is to prevent crime. You know, so a burglar won't park on the street in front of the house he is raiding.

Another told me it's important to keep the streets clear in case there is a high-speed chase.

ROFL.

JOHN said...

Every time read an article on this site I am more and more confused by this author. This guy is exactly like the Tea Party group. They don't know what to do but everything anybody else wants to try is wrong. You criticize government for action you criticize government for inaction. What do you want? Everybody to sit on their hands like you?

Gus said...

JOHN, right action... proper action... How action that will solve the problem in the least intrusive manner? A strange concept, I know...

But thanks for reading and for commenting.