PARKING SCOFFLAWS

Scanning cameras find San Francisco parking scofflaws. Don't you love that word? There is something unseemly about this, regardless of the breaking of the law. As a guy who has been towed three times and pays parking tickets regularly, I can attest that this is not fun. Once I even beat the tow truck down and had to wait for an hour or so. Once I showed up as the tow truck guy was hooking it up and pleated--sorry about that. And, just for the record, I am no scofflaw, which means in San Fran parlance that one must have five tickets or more.

Get this: the city hauls in $85 mil each year from issuing parking tickets. According to the city, about 8,000 have accrued five or more tickets and are tagged as scofflaws. Sticking up for the scofflaws is a little like being against God or the Holy Spirit, afterall, the people are violating the law. They caught some guy with 13 unpaid tickets and booted his car. Now, I have seen the wretched boot, not on my car but on others and it tugs at my heart.

Catching the law breakers is not the end of the story. I've been down to the Department of Parking and Traffic to get my car. I can tell you there's not a lot of folks from Pacific Heights hanging out. While I am waiting to pay up, trust me, not a pretty sight. I saw two women crying, a couple of men cursing--the saddest had to be a young Hispanic guy who lacked $8 dollars to pay his fines. As he pleaded, I gave the bucks with a "forget it". You would have thought I presented a winning lottery ticket--had to have his truck to get to a job in Marin--a wife and three kids. I get it.

Before the city goes bragging about scarfing up the scofflaws, let's say that most are the working poor, not the Mercedes and Porsche types although there are a few: they got caught, pay their tickets and next case. Not so easy for most.

The infamous license plate scanner that catches the scofflaws is no discriminatory lout but for most, this is a serious and sad matter. We have a City with way too many cars. It is not a simple issue of minding the law. It is a problem that needs to be attacked with some innovative and creativity mentality and not a "gotcha" scofflaws.