Thursday, February 25, 2010
Oakland Exempts Wealthy from Parking Tickets
Politics / People Robert Gammon — Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:00 AM
The City of Oakland has exempted two wealthy neighborhoods from its parking ticket blitz since last summer, and instead has targeted low and middle-income neighborhoods, the Chron reports. The city apparently exempted the upscale Montclair and Broadway Terrace neighborhoods after residents there complained about Oakland’s decision to begin issuing tickets en masse last summer to boost revenues. But the decision has resulted in parking tickets being issued disproportionately in low and middle-income areas.
The most common tickets have been for parking cars partially on sidewalks on narrow streets. City residents have been parking this way for years to avoid being hit by other motorists, but Oakland officials last summer decided to crack down on the practice as a way to help balance the city’s budget. But residents in East Oakland, where streets are as narrow as they are in Montclair or Broadway Terrace, note that it’s unfair to target them, and not wealthier city residents.
It’s not clear whether City Administrator Dan Lindheim knew of the parking division’s decision to lay off Montclair and Broadway Terrace, because he didn't respond to the Chron's request for an interview. Parking enforcement officers who disagree with the city’s decision plan to hold a noon demonstration today at City Hall.
Comments (6)
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to jstsomeonelivinginoakland I think you are missing the point. If you read the second paragraph in this sentence it talks about how the streets are just as narrow in East Oakland as they are in Montclair and Broadway Terrace. So we have a situation where poor people are getting ticketed for it, and "wealthy people" are not. This is clearly a situation of classism.
I suggest you reread the article you clearly missed something.
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Lindeim always evades the real issue. He is such an a==hole. I watched some PSRs at the window the other and notice how sad looked cos they were watched by their uspervisor Claudia H. I think she has a wicked look in her too. Try schlinck of CEDA. She ought to be fired too. Lets see how paroking is dealing with their garages . . . . . someone better check their books!!!
I think most of you are missing this part that the article didn't mention. Some of those city sidewalks are in the residential areas of Montclair where there are no sidewalks at all and lanes are no more than 1 car wide. The people who LIVE in Montclair whose homes are fronted by these types of streets and who may not have a garage or carport HAVE to park this way in order to not get hit by cars who drive very fast up and down streets that, as I said before, are no more than 1 car wide.
So before you continue spewing on about the "how those wealthy" people are getting away with something that others are not, maybe you should actually go investigate the area and see for yourself what truly is going on AND THEN post an educated comment.
Class action lawsuit? It's basically grounds for class warfare in my opinion! I think all Oaklanders should hold a Parking Party in Montclair and along Broadway Terrace this weekend -- park in the streets, hang out, and generally make life miserable for the people who were too good to get parking tickets.
Class action suit anybody? This summer, I got a boot on my car for wrong way parking, and my roommate got a huge ticket for being parked in our driveway.
We live in West Oakland. I wonder how many other West Oaklanders and East Oaklanders had their due process rights violated this summer because rich people got off for violations the rest of us had to pay for.
This is grounds for a class action lawsuit. I want my money back. I should get my money back. And so should anybody who doesn't live in Montclair or Broadway Terrace and who's been ticketed for sidewalk parking or wrongway parking since July.
That's probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in payback. Somebody find an opportunistic lawyer and get this process rolling!
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