Parking Fines

Baltimore is planning to hand over delinquent parking tickets to a Texas-based collections firm in an effort to recapture more than $100 million the city is owed in back fines and late penalties, city officials said yesterday. More than 107,000 vehicle owners with tickets that are at least six months overdue received notice from the city last week that they need to pay up or their cases will be turned over to the agency, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, for collection. For the first time, however, violators will be given the option of paying parking tickets on an installment plan and, as long as they continue to make those payments on time, will not incur additional late-payment penalties, city officials said.

As the storm called Sandy blew through Baltimore two weeks ago, an 18-hour driving ban imposed by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake kept city roads mostly clear for emergency workers - and for parking enforcement officers, judging by the nearly $7,000 in tickets issued in that span. Among the 169 tickets were 19 for parking in a passenger loading zone, 10 for obstructing or impeding pedestrians, eight for not having a residential parking permit, five for parking at a bus stop or transit zone and two for ignoring street-cleaning restrictions, city records show.

Maryland senior guard Duane Simpkins racked up $8,000 worth of unpaid campus parking fines in part because he repeatedly received $250 tickets for parking in spaces reserved for the disabled, athletic department sources said.To pay part of the fines, Simpkins accepted a loan that resulted in a three-game NCAA suspension. He is serving the final game of his suspension tonight at N.C. State.Simpkins borrowed $2,000 from his former Amateur Athletic Union coach, Donnie Gross. He had to make a down payment to register for spring classes and to be eligible to play for the remainder of the season.

Parking violators in Howard County might want to address those overdue fines, or they could be collecting their vehicles from the impound lot and paying towing, storage and late fees, too. The County Council is considering a bill that would authorize the Police Department to tow a vehicle for even one parking ticket that has gone unpaid for 90 days. Council Chairman Calvin Ball, who introduced the bill Oct. 3, said the measure addresses a challenging issue in many county neighborhoods.

The name of the acting city collector, Ottavio Grande, was misspelled in a story that appeared in yesterday's editions of The Evening Sun, which regrets the error.Notice to parking scofflaws: Your prayers have been answered.In a move to collect some $3 million in outstanding fines, the city has set a two-month amnesty period for penalties tacked onto parking tickets issued from 1986 through 1989."This is your last chance to pay those old parking tickets left in the drawer for years," City Council President Mary Pat Clarke said yesterday that as the Board of Estimates approved the amnesty, which begins on Sept.

Judges of the state's highest court pointedly grilled the lawyer for the University of Maryland yesterday as she argued that federal law bars the school administration from releasing records of campus parking fines assessed to student athletes.Three of the seven judges challenged Dawna Cobb's assertion that parking fine records are educational records protected by federal law, asking why they weren't considered criminal records, which would be public.One judge wondered if it is fair to other Marylanders that the university guards the secrecy of student parking fine records but tells the Motor Vehicle Administration about other unpaid violations.

A recent push by a city-hired collections agency to haul in roughly $132 million in overdue parking tickets has sparked complaints from some who say the fines - averaging $721 - are excessive. The agency, Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, has collected $11.6 million for Baltimore in fines and late penalties from parking scofflaws since late 2006. In its latest collections effort, which started in February, the Texas-based agency sent out 80,000 notices to people with long-unpaid tickets.

The City Council gave preliminary approval last night to legislation that would boost city parking fines by as much as 40 percent as a way to bring the cash-strapped city government more revenue. The final vote on the measure is scheduled Monday. City Councilman Robert W. Curran's bill would raise fines for violation of parking meter laws to $25 from $18, boost residential parking fines to $40 from $25, and raise other fines for parking violators. Curran said the increases could bring the city another $5 million a year.

Baltimore officials are investigating claims that a former city worker cheated scores of drivers by pocketing cash in bogus deals that were supposed to give discounts on parking fines. The parking fine collector -- whose name was not released -- issued paperwork to drivers who owed large parking fines so that they could renew their license plates with the state Motor Vehicle Administration, which is normally impossible without paying all fines, according to city officials. But the residents later complained they had been ripped off -- often by hundreds or thousands of dollars each -- when the city notified them that their fines still existed and had grown by $16 per month in penalties.

COLLEGE PARK -- The day after Maryland point guard Duane Simpkins publicly apologized for accepting an improper loan to pay campus parking fines, he received another ticket.Simpkins, a senior who sat out the final game of a three-game, NCAA-imposed suspension last night, received a $20 ticket Feb. 17 for parking in a space not assigned to him. According to parking records obtained by The Sun, he has received 17 tickets and incurred $290 in fines since he discussed this problem with coach Gary Williams in November.

Municipal parking meters have gotten a bum rap over the years. Since the first one was installed in Oklahoma City 76 years ago, their chief purpose has been to limit the amount of time any one vehicle can occupy a parking space. As any urban business owner knows, this is a vital task. Customers can't reach stores if parking spaces are never vacated. But alas — as any driver can tell you — the parking regulatory function of the meter has gradually been superseded over time by its moneymaking abilities.

In his Dec. 17 article, "Parking agents are no-shows," Peter Hermann informs his readers about a day in Baltimore City District Court, at the Patapsco Avenue location, when 75 parking tickets were dismissed because the parking agents did not appear in court. The mandate of the District Court of Maryland, a part of the Maryland Judiciary, is to adjudicate disputes, in a process providing equal and exact justice for all of the litigants; it does not and should not favor one litigant over another, even when one of them is a government entity.

Whit MacCuaig took off work to fight his $252 ticket for double-parking in front of his Gough Street rowhouse. He went to court Thursday dressed in a suit and armed with photographs and a letter from a city councilman pleading for leniency. Turns out, he didn't really have to go to court at all. District Judge Charles A. Chiapparelli found MacCuaig not guilty before he could fully rise from the gallery bench, a scene played out over and over again during the 9 a.m. docket in Room 6 at the John R. Hargrove courthouse on South Baltimore's Patapsco Avenue.

Few things get the blood boiling like double parking. You roll down the street and there is some vehicle with its tail lights flashing, blocking your way. You slam on the brakes and mutter to yourself, "Why doesn't that bozo park around the corner?" That presumes there is space around the corner, which is often not the case in crowded city neighborhoods. Or it overlooks the fact that the driver is unloading the kids, the groceries or grandma in front of his or her home, instances in which maneuvering to get the shortest distance to the front door matters.

Despite vehement opposition from operators of downtown hotels and parking garages, Baltimore City Council members stood firm Thursday in their support of a contentious package of new taxes, saying the money was needed to stem a torrent of red ink. "We're facing a $121 million deficit," said Councilwoman Helen L. Holton, head of the council's finance committee. "What do we do?" Holton and other committee members gently chided a group of business leaders who came to a public hearing to complain, reminding them repeatedly of the city's dismal financial state and all but declaring that, if taxes are not raised, disaster will follow.

Those with overdue Baltimore parking tickets could squeak out of paying hefty fines under a measure to be introduced by a City Council member at Monday night's meeting. Councilman Bill Henry has drafted a bill that would provide a five-day window for those with outstanding parking tickets to pay the original fine but be excused all late payments. The goal, said Henry, is to lure in a large group to pay parking tickets, bringing a spike in funds to help close the city's $121 million budget shortfall.

Nearly three years after the student newspaper at the University of Maryland, College Park sought records of parking fines of student athletes, the state's highest court yesterday told the school it must turn them over.In a unanimous 24-page opinion, the Court of Appeals said student basketball players' accumulated campus parking fines and correspondence between the university and the National Collegiate Athletic Association on a player's disciplinary violations are not what the federal government had in mind when it said education records must be kept private.

The Baltimore City Council is set to vote today on a proposal to create an amnesty for parking violators that would allow anyone to pay old parking tickets without any penalties or interest. The two-day grace period would kick in before Sept. 1, when the cash-strapped city will raise parking fines in an effort to generate $3.8 million more a year to help pay for city services. The fine increase, approved by the council May 27, would raise the fines for a parking meter violation from $18 to $21 and would include a variety of other increases for other offenses.

Direct the anger at parking scofflaws Many of us who live in the city are quite angry about those who park in our parking spaces with impunity ("Pricey tickets, bad reviews," April 20). We believe that these parking scofflaws should pay up in full, and the law is on our side. Parking laws exist to promote fairness. In residential areas, for example, motorists may occupy spaces for specific periods of time, which allows for equity, especially at times of peak demand. Parking is regulated because demand exceeds supply, and time restrictions help foster fairness.

A recent push by a city-hired collections agency to haul in roughly $132 million in overdue parking tickets has sparked complaints from some who say the fines - averaging $721 - are excessive. The agency, Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, has collected $11.6 million for Baltimore in fines and late penalties from parking scofflaws since late 2006. In its latest collections effort, which started in February, the Texas-based agency sent out 80,000 notices to people with long-unpaid tickets.