On November 11, 2011, I filed a Freedom of Information Act Request with the city of Wilmington.
I requested the following information:
1. The Number of parking tickets issued in Wilmington between January of 2010 and October of 2011
2. The number of parking tickets that were appealed during that time
3. The number of appeals that were successful
Based on the stories I've heard on WDEL's Rick Jensen show, read in the News Journal, and have received from various people, it sounds like the city is issuing a lot of illegitimate parking tickets, leading to more wasted time for city officials and more frustration for those who get the tickets.
I believe the goal should be to have as few tickets as possible appealed - this would be an efficient use of city employees time and will significantly cut down the amount of frustration currently being felt by many who live, work, and enjoy the city of Wilmington.
I "get" that the City is trying to make money on parking and enforce parking violations across the board. That's fine as long as the rules are clear and not ridiculous. And I think getting a ticket before you even get to a meter is more silly and off putting than ever.
ReplyDeleteWhat Wilmington has to realize is that parking is a "threshold" impression issue for people coming into the City. If its too expensive or too oppressively enforced, people will simply stop coming into the City at all, which will exacerbate, not help resolve, the City's ongoing business and reputation issues.
In order for businesses of all sizes to succeed, patrons have to be able to come to their establishments, and in a State without great public transportation, this means driving. Driving means cars, and this means parking. Parking then sets the tone for people's willingness to come into the City for business and pleasure purposes, and the City needs to be cognizant of that when setting policy.
What response did you get from your FOIA request? Did you try yor local counsilman/woman.
ReplyDeletewsh1266 - great comment - I couldn't agree more!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - the city says it needs more time to collect the data for the FOIA request because they don't normally keep track of appeals.
Really, do you have proof that they said they don't track the appeals? My ticket was originally issued in 2007, and I contested it and received a response that they received the contest request and that the trial would be scheduled "promptly". Then in 2010, I received the 3rd notice stating time to contest was up. I wrote the Mayor and sent a copy of their notice and got it dismissed, but not before I put on the "Wilmington's worst offender list". The systems designed like bill collector and clearly goes high on the fear factor. Original 2007 video, haven't made follow up.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/nL-TMGpr0qg
I got 3 tickets in a 2-month time frame between June & September 2014, out of which 2 got cancelled and one is still pending a court date (3 Months ++!!). All 3 tickets were issued for exactly the same address 400 W 11th St 19801 – which falls within my residential parking zone "Z"!
ReplyDeleteI plan to go for a Class action lawsuit by getting together enough of individuals as yourselves who have fallen victim to the City of Wilmington’s determination to issue illegal parking tickets. In the process I hope to find a way to approach the matter legally and go to the court to stop this menace without denting a huge hole in my pocket towards legal fees.
Please get in touch with me and lets make this happen!
Vishal.
vishalsinh.varma@gmail.com