A move to double parking fines has Santa Monica reisdents on red alert.
By RIDIN’ HIGH Daily Planet Slave
The Santa Monica City Council will be discussing a measure at Tuesday’s meeting to double parking fines and multiply late payment fees, a city staff report said.
City officials said the move is intended to shore up funds for a $90 million downtown parking overhaul plan, yet to be financed by City Hall. The move has been credited to City Councilman Bobby Coniver.
If approved, parking tickets will be increased from $47 to $94, which has outraged some Santa Monica residents who’ve said theyalready are heavily penalized by citywide pa rking constraints. In addition, motorists who fail to pay their parking tickets on time will be charged up to $25,000 for every day they are late.
“I have experience with this thing,” Coniver said. “I know what it’s like to face a $25,000 a day fine. A parking plan like that will really motivate you to get you out of your car, you know?”
The city report said revenues from the increases would provide Santa Monica with an additional $50 million in the next five years to develop the city’s transportation plan.
However, some city insiders said in off-the-record interviews that the real purpose of the measure is to reduce the number of petroleum-based vehicles on the roads, since the law specifically prohibits parking ticket increases for electric cars.
“Don’t tell anyone I told you this but what we’re really looking at is a move to mandate that Santa Monica motorists all go electric by ’06,” said City Councilman Yoo Cantquoteme. “It’ll become law, trust me.”
City Hall public information officer Trudy Ramblinon had little information about the increases.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Ramblinon said. “But isn’t life just peachy in the city by the sea?”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 1, 2005. Read the original PDF.