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PT BLOG


police department? If all drivers in California suddenly


got “religion” and decided to obey the parking rules, how is the Golden State going to pay off the bonds for the new courthouses? It’s obvious, of course, that the


criminal justice system has become a profit center and feels it can rely on the fact that it is failing in its primary mis- sion: enforcing the law and hence reducing crime. In the meantime, parking fines aren’t really fines at all but merely taxes


masquerading fines. If part of them are to be “user fees” to pay court costs, then so be it. They should pay for operational costs, not long-term bonds. If the citation rate goes down, operations costs can be easily reduced (close a courtroom, turn off the lights, fire a judge). Rely on income that isn’t guar-


anteed to pay long-term debts at your peril. Just ask Gov. Arnie how he is going to pay for all the programs and projects started in California over the past five years on tax receipts based on housing values, which skyrocketed in the first half of the decade, but which everyone knew were not going to stay that high. Can anyone say bankruptcy?


Imissed this one in Portsmouth Pocahontas Girl sent me a lot of


information fromSeacoastonline.com. I missed the parking battle of Portsmouth, NH, and its kicking and screaming journey into the 21st centu- ry. Knowing some of the players involved, I can understand how tem- pers can flare and threats get tossed around.We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail. Here’s the deal: The city of


Portsmouth decided to replace its parking meters with pay-and-display machines. Granite State residents are slow to change, and of course they got their dander up when test machines were installed. But they got used to them.And even liked them. So the City moms and pops decided to proceed with the purchase. Then all heck broke loose. Local


independent Yankees felt that the process was moving too fast and started attending City Council meet- ings and asking questions, some hard questions. Like all good politicians, the local council decided to punt and is holding more meetings to get all the questions out on the table. I’m guessing much of this


See us at the IPI booth #503 58 MAY 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


process already happened before the council voted to buy, but often these decisions go unnoticed by the popu- lace at large, or sometimes, by the one person who is going to raise hell, or has a vested interest, or just too much time on their hands.


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