The city of Santa Monica has withdrawn all parking tickets issued on Sept. 11, 2001. Anyone who received a parking ticket on that fateful day has been excused from paying.
And those who already sent their tickets in will have their money refunded to them, a city official said.
“It was a joint decision of the managers office and the police department,” said Judy Rambeau, a city spokesperson. “It was not a good day for people to be concerned with putting money in a meter, but mainly this is out of awareness that it was a difficult day for everybody.”
Many residents who received parking tickets on 9-11 called the city and the police department to complain. According to city officials, many residents thought ticketing on such a tragic day was unfair.
After rescinding the tickets, some residents e-mailed officials to say how appreciative they were.
“Yes, it was a tragic and distressing day, and your recognition and display of sensitivity at this time is why Santa Monica continues to be a city with vision and concern for its citizens,” said one resident. “Thank you.”
By noon on Sept. 11 the police department had written 487 parking citations before informing its traffic officers to stop issuing the tickets.
“There probably wouldn’t be very many tickets issued because by noon we weren’t giving them any more,” said Rambeau. “We made sure every shift got the word that we weren’t giving tickets out anymore that day.”
The exact value of the tickets being rescinded could not be determined by police officers because there are so many different values attached to parking violations. Police officials also could not say how many tickets on average are issued on a given day in Santa Monica.
Fabrega said the city revoked all parking tickets one other time — after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 28, 2002. Read the original PDF.