Fewer tickets issued as parking fines rise
Hub drivers hustle to avoid citations
Jack Mongeau said he used to get five parking tickets a week in downtown Boston. But in recent years, he said, he has been extra careful, shuffling his car from one block to the next to avoid overstaying posted time limits, always feeding meters on time, and avoiding loading zones and fire hydrants. He has received only one ticket in the past two months.
"It's become a personal challenge," Mongeau said of obeying parking laws.
It appears he is not the only one. In a trend that seems to fly in the face of all that is believed to be true about Boston and the people who inhabit the city, the number of parking tickets being issued is plummeting.
City figures show that Boston's parking enforcement officers issued fewer tickets in the fiscal year ending June 30 than in any year since at least 2002. During that time, the number of citations has decreased by 240,000 to 1.53 million, a 14 percent drop.
"We're seeing a level of compliance we've never seen before," Transportation Commissioner Thomas J. Tinlin said.
The drop comes after sharp hikes in fines for illegal parking in 2003 and 2006 (the penalty for parking in a no-stopping zone jumped $40 to $75), and the cap on towing fees went from $12 in 2003 to $90 in 2005.
The city also launched an aggressive street-cleaning-zone enforcement blitz, towing thousands of cars that previously would have been given only tickets.
"People are just being a little smarter about the money in their pockets," Tinlin said.
He also said the city has increased the number of legal parking spaces by expanding residential-parking-permit areas, allowing motorists to park in municipal garages overnight, and asking the state to allow parking on some state-owned roadways in the city.
Tinlin said the city has tried to shift the department's focus from enforcement to deterrence. Enforcement officers are now regularly posted on major thoroughfares during rush hours so drivers see them and do not double-park.
"Honestly, you know, we have tried to switch the culture, internally and externally, that we're about moving traffic, not writing tickets," Tinlin said. "People think it's a joke when we say it, but we really do write a ticket as a last resort."
Some budget watchdogs think the drop in tickets does not necessarily mean that there are fewer violations, and that the city should take a hard look to make sure potential fines are not going uncollected. Parking ticket revenue increased from $57.1 million in 2002 to $63 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, due in large part to the increased fines. But had the city continued writing the same number of tickets, it could have taken in another $9.9 million in fiscal 2007, based on the higher average fine.
"Parking ticket revenue is important to the city," said Samuel R. Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a business-funded city watchdog group. "It is a way for the city, within reason, to diversify its revenues rather than to continue to rely totally on property taxes."
In the congested streets of downtown Boston last week, some motorists had difficulty believing that tickets are being issued less frequently. "I seriously doubt that," said Michael Cafarella, a downtown barber who watched as a parking enforcement officer slapped a ticket on a red
"I don't think that's possible," said Malden resident Fran Brown, sitting in his Acura, idling on a nearby street.
Nancy Longo, a parking enforcement officer, weaved through Downtown Crossing, Government Center, and the Financial District, tagging cars parked in spaces with expired meters ($25), cars parked in loading zones ($55), and delivery trucks unloading in no-stopping zones ($75). She issued 10 tickets in one hour totaling $470.
Saliba Shako, a stylist at Leeba Salon in the financial district who regularly drives to work, said he shuttles his car from one spot to another every few hours to avoid exceeding two-hour time limits, but still gets one or two parking tickets a week.
"I used to get them before, every day, until I got to know the tricks," he said.
He had yet to receive a ticket on Thursday about noon. But a few hours later, a fluorescent orange envelope was tucked under his windshield wiper.
"They got me," he said.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com. 
