Street cleaning scofflaws targeted
City Council backs higher parking fines
For many Bostonians, paying a $25 ticket for parking in the wrong place on street-cleaning days is a bargain, cheaper than a garage and easier than trolling for a new spot. But street-sweeping scofflaws, be warned: Your cost-benefit analysis is about to change.
The City Council voted 11-2 yesterday to increase the fine from $25 to $40 and to raise the one-time late fee from $8 to $12. Mayor Thomas M. Menino has 10 days to approve the measure, and yesterday he said he would. The ordinance will take effect as soon as the mayor signs it.
Councilor Michael P. Ross of Beacon Hill, the lead sponsor of the measure, said that the current $25 fine is too low to deter violators. When people don't move their cars for street-sweeping machines, he said, the machines can't reach the curbs.
''It's never politically popular to increase fines, but that's not why I was doing it," Ross said. ''I was doing it to solve a growing problem in our city: dirty streets."
In fiscal 2005, the city issued 1.6 million parking tickets, including 208,862 violations of street-sweeping parking restrictions, the fourth most common parking offense, an aide to Ross said. The city spends about $13 million a year on its street-sweeping program. The money from the fine increase would go to the city's general fund.
It may seem like an odd political move for the council to increase parking fines just five weeks before the city election, especially in a city where parking problems are legendary and where finding a legal space is a daily source of anxiety in some neighborhoods. But complaints about dirty streets may have trumped consternation over tickets, and some councilors appear to have seen a political advantage in supporting a crackdown on violators.
Several said they have been deluged with letters, calls, and e-mails from constituents complaining about litter accumulating alongside curbs, especially in downtown neighborhoods. A questioner at a mayoral debate last week said his street was so sandy it looked like beachfront property, prompting Menino to say he would go so far as to support a $100 fine for violators. Members of a South End neighborhood listserv, or Internet mailing list, were howling about their untidy streets last month.
''This is not a fun issue, it's not one of those issues we can all rally around and say, 'Isn't this wonderful?' " said Councilor Maureen E. Feeney of Dorchester. ''But it really is an issue that speaks to our fiduciary responsibility to the residents of this city."
The ticket hike is the second step Boston officials have taken this year to get tough on street-sweeping scofflaws. In April, the city raised the towing fee from $75 to $90. In an interview yesterday, the mayor also promised an ''aggressive educational campaign" over the winter to alert residents to the street-sweeping schedule and to emphasize the importance of cooperating with the city.
Somerville's fine for violating street-cleaning restrictions is $50. In Cambridge, the violation carries a penalty of $20, according to the city's website.
Ross originally proposed increasing the fine to $50, but after some councilors expressed concern about doubling the fine, Councilor James M. Kelly of South Boston proposed a compromise at $40. (The Registry of Motor Vehicles' additional late fee of $28, levied 105 days after an unpaid ticket's date of issuance, will not be affected by the city's change.)
Ross himself has had to pay thousands of dollars in ticket fines over the past two years, the Boston Herald reported this summer. Asked yesterday if the fine increase would change his own behavior, Ross said he has rarely violated the street-cleaning law because he is sensitiveto the issue.
Councilor at Large Maura A. Hennigan, who is challenging Menino for mayor, voted against the fine increase, saying that it should be neighborhood-specific rather than citywide, because some areas have more parking garages and higher incomes than others. Councilor Paul Scapicchio of East Boston also opposed the measure, saying North End, which he represents, is getting used to its new street-cleaning program.
One of Scapicchio's constituents was upset with the news. Richard Scire, 53, who was taking a break from cooking at Ricardo's Ristorante in the North End, said the city tickets constantly but never cleans the streets. 