After the gigantic announcement that DTSF parking was going to become ‘better’ with a New motto “Look for the Gold P” it looks as though the only ‘P’ we are getting will be running down our legs in the form of a ticket that has to be paid. (Proposed Changes to the Appeal process; Doc: parkingticketrepeal)
I’m no specialist on city ordinance law, but the proposed changes to appealing a ticket seem to have become harder (item #28) Not only now will they be charging you $25 to appeal (most likely a $5 ticket) if you fail in your appeal, tough cookie, no other options to the appeal exist. The city is literally trying to eliminate any recourse after the appeal hearing.
Of course, most people will just pay the $5 instead of fighting the ticket at a cost of $25, but let’s say you receive a $50 or $75 ticket, and you lose your appeal? According to the changes, and I may be wrong, you cannot take it to court.
Now, I am no constitutional scholar, but I think they are opening a pretty big can of worms on this one, and I hope the City Council asks some serious questions about these proposed changes. But if you want an explanation or preview of the changes, good luck there to, because during the Informational meeting today, where there will be a presentation on the changes, the DOCs don’t exist in SIRE yet.
So was this new ‘PALs’ concept just window dressing making it look like things will get better? My suggestion to anyone receiving a ticket that they think was underserving is just to tear it up and throw it away. Why? Well since the city is proposing a change that says you cannot take your appeal to court, that means they can’t take you to court either. So how do they propose collecting the fine from you if you refuse to pay the ticket? Good question.
Oh, the out-of-towners are gonna love this!
Maybe they will lick the parking ticket and stick it to the JL Beers window, like their stupid name tags all over town.
Metered parking will only be possible by swiping your new First Premier Bank Public Parking Meter Credit Card for payment?
Shouldn’t they be making it easier to be involved with downtown businesses and events instead of making it harder and more expensive?
I wouldn’t recommend anyone tear up a ticket. Whether it was deserved or not (and let’s be honest – 99% of parking tickets are deserved) if someone does that a few times they will likely come out to find their car missing as it was towed for non-payment of fines.
You might also want to point out that the updated ordinance is suggesting to increase the amount of time someone has to pay a fine from 7 days to 15 days – so that is a positive.
Did you bother to read Chapter 30 of the city ordinances? If so, you would notice parking tickets will now follow those rules, which if anything simplifies city procedures by streamlining all appeals into one common format. Read 30.040 – Appeals Permitted.
Had you bothered to actually read that chapter prior to your post, you would probably have noticed section 30.046 – SUBJECT TO JUDICIAL REVIEW. It specifically states “The final decision of the hearing examiner may be subject to judicial review as provided by law.” and gives the party 30 days to file such action as opposed to the 15 days the current system affords them. So even the appeals process has an appeals process.
So yes L3wis, someone can actually appeal further, just as they can with any administrative decision that doesn’t offer a direct appeals process. So basically you are crying wolf for no valid reason and you are once again misinterpreting city action before understanding the facts.
Man… the trolls sure are getting smarter around here.
I totally believe you, but why wasn’t this explained in the public meetings they had yesterday? They had TWO opportunities to explain that, but chose not to.
Secondly, $25 to appeal a $5 ticket is ridiculous. There should be NO fee to appeal.
I honestly don’t think the head honchos in the city care two figs, about getting more people downtown, especially the low income ones.
I’m glad my vehicle is registered from out of town because there were few times I made mistakes regarding parking downtown I never got any fine. Just so-called gentle “You have been in violation of parking rules but thank you for visiting Sioux Falls and may I encourage you to check out our city attractions” kind of tickets. I even kept them for laughs and to make fun of my friends who did get fined.