New Haven Independent

Posted by: cedarhillresident | January 8, 2009 2:14 PM

I love It!

Posted by: Walt | January 8, 2009 2:20 PM

Good moves!!

We should still enact a penalty on Piscatelli's or Cuticello's efforts to collect taxes or fines when such collections are tried against folks who never owed those taxes, or those fines in the first place.

Personal fines against each of these predatory suers, and reimbursement to their victims for the unwarranted harassment they cause innocent area victims should be added.

Posted by a victim of Cuticello's careless supervision of tax collections, who also the uncle of a victim of other errant collection activities by City agencies.

...

How many other folks have been their victims?

Nothing wrong with aggressive collections of taxes or fines, but these guys are too careless and too unwilling to correct their own errors.

Posted by: City Hall Watch | January 8, 2009 2:57 PM

That's what it's all about -- drive the revenue, revenue, revenue. Don't spend too much time thinking about spending. That takes too much effort. Just jack those fines, fees and taxes, and then turn the monster loose to collect. Pretty soon, your tax bill will double when you don't pay - oh wait, mine already did and I did pay!

Posted by: Biagio | January 8, 2009 3:27 PM

Is Complus Data Innovations the owners of the van's that I see blocking traffic in the street while they boot a car?

Perhaps if the Traffic Cops followed them around, we can ticket them for double parking and then use the revenue from THOSE tickets to pay for what's probably a higher cost due to the additional letters the city is sending out.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | January 8, 2009 3:38 PM

City Hall Watch

Come on you don't see the sad humor in this? When I started to read it I laughed, just becauses they are delivery people they to have to pay their tickets like the rest of us. And the boot is working by the looks of it. And this program is working.
Sad part is as you stated we can go after this and we can go after that but we really need to restructure the city's way of spending in the end. Other sad thing is that when the city does this they seem to go after the lowest paid (which are the most needed) workers in the city instead of the high paid do nothings! So we will never win!

Posted by: Alex | January 8, 2009 3:59 PM

What everyone misses is that the city's parking enforcement, for years, has been so aggressive that it hurts business downtown competing with free parking in the burbs and malls. The vicious towing and booting only adds to a higher visability of this this policy. Parking should never be a necessary revenue stream. Also, those affected are usually those who can't afford to pay the taxes, fines, etc. There are better ways such as warning parkers, making better use of low cost parking - the College St garage has been utilized horribly over the years. as one example.

Posted by: walt bradley | January 8, 2009 5:08 PM

I'm looking forward to June when my lease is up an d i can move over the bridge to branford. I'm giving up on New Haven.

Posted by: Your Tax Dollars at Work | January 8, 2009 6:08 PM

1. Is there a way in which we can identify owners of vehicles who are legally residents of New Haven but have out-of-state license plates (or somehow manage to register their vehicles to a place where they are not on the New Haven Grand List)?

2 Why does the City not uniformly enforce the rules for "residential" parking zones? I know, I know: it's because Piscitelli doesn't have a large enough budget. However, appropriating a little more for enforcement here would "yield" a "profit" in parking penalties for the City --

3. Alex: the whole garage system is poorly administered. How about turning the function over to a for-profit contractor?

Posted by: Walt | January 8, 2009 6:32 PM

Alex

One of the reasons for regulation of on- street parking and enforcement of the regs is to assure that as many parking places as possible are available for customers, not filled by all -day parkers,

These policies were supported, and initiated, if memory is correct, by merchants through the Retail Division of the Chamber of Commerce.(which may no longer exist.

Worked pretty good.

Several retail business owners, working against their own interests, were found to be the main culprits, hogging spaces for their own personal cars, while still complaining about too-few parking places for their customers.

A few tickets taught them that they should switch to the more spacious long-term lots or garages.

If you stop enforcement, the retail store owners will again consider the spaces their personal property and make it even tougher for the customers to psark.

Can't win!!!

Posted by: East Rocker | January 8, 2009 8:33 PM

I would love it if Fedex and other delivery companies decided to teach City Hall a lesson and stopped doing deliveries and pickups in the city.

What ticket writer actually writes a ticket to a fedex truck?

Is this city that business unfriendly?

Posted by: bloggersareidiotsb | January 8, 2009 11:02 PM

how come we never hear bob magma weigh in on parking tickets.

maybe he never got one?

Posted by: City Hall Watch | January 9, 2009 9:51 AM

Eastrocker: The answer to your question is "yes" the city is that unfriendly to business. Only a nutcase would write a ticket to a delivery vehicle. Where are they going to park? In a lot? Garage? It's just another way for City Hall and this administration to creatively tax Fed Ex or UPS or other delivery vehicles. Remember the crane tax? It's shamefull and shameless. By the way, NYC does the same thing. It's just about revenue because they can never have enough.

Posted by: Steve | January 9, 2009 12:09 PM

hey East Rocker and City Hall Watch - would you be calling the officers and idiot, or the city unfriendly, if they allowed a FedEx truck to block traffic and make you late for an appointment? or, God forbid, block a fire truck on their way to put out a fire?

Posted by: robn | January 9, 2009 1:00 PM

Instead of ticketing delivery trucks...which we need to function as a city, why not try providing enough loading zones and then agressively ticketing the cars that park in them..the cars that force the fedex guy/gal to double park?

Or how about designating an early morning or late evening non-rush hour time slot for deliveries, allowing double parking?

Posted by: City Hall Watch | January 9, 2009 1:23 PM

Steve:

Short answer is yes I would because I've never seen a UPS or FEDEX truck block an entire street and I never run so late on that important an appointment, that even if my way was blocked, it would make me late.

Posted by: TrueBlueCT | January 9, 2009 5:22 PM

The City should definitely ticket the FedEx trucks, at least when they are routinely double-parked on Whitney Avenue during rush hour!

What on earth is that FedEx doing there on Whitney? Their trucks create a daily bottle-neck that is hazardous to both pedestrians and motorists.

The simple solution would be a move around the corner to Audobon Street, where they'd be just as convenient, -- but without the traffic hazard.

Posted by: East Rocker | January 9, 2009 7:45 PM

Even better would be if Fedex/UPS added a surcharge to the person they were delivering to for the amount of the ticket they received while delivering to that office.

Steve- Give me a break. How often do you see Fedex trucks jamming up multiple lanes of traffic? They are providing a service that most every business in New Haven utilizes. They are just doing their job. Its no different than if a cop pulls up and double parks to use a bathroom or grab a coffee real quick.

Its a shameful tactic by our town hall to increase revenue. Nothing more, nothing less

Posted by: Steve | January 10, 2009 9:23 AM

good for you. so basically you are saying that there is a subset of the population that does not have to abide by the rules. In this case delivery people.
Ticketing delivery trucks happens in every other city - but if it happens here in New Haven, then its wrong??
I fail to see that there is a problem with an expectation that EVERYONE has to obey the laws - and when they are found in violation of the law, that fair and consistent penalties are set forth.

Posted by: mark swiss | January 10, 2009 5:57 PM

What is the point of the boot?
Is a ticket tied to your registration not enough? Where are you going to hide? Why dose NYC not uses the boot?

Posted by: City Hall Watch | January 10, 2009 9:10 PM

True Blue:

The simple solution would be a move around the corner to Audobon Street, where they'd be just as convenient, -- but without the traffic hazard.

This may move the delivery vehicle from Whitney, but moving him around the corner to Audubon will completely block that street - it's only one lane wide.

Mark Swiss:

NYC boots and tows for unpaid tickets including delivery vehicles.

Steve:

Yes, other cities ticket and tow delivery vehicles. They do it for the same reason New Haven does -- for the money. There are many delivery vehicles - not just FEDEX and UPS. What about 18-wheelers - gonna ticket them too? Should they park in a garage? Lot? It's just not possible and it's not possible for FEDEX or UPS to park their trucks in a space either. Just because everybody tickets these deliver services for double parking doesn't make it right. It's just a mob mentality to lay on a ticket tax to people who can't control their liability to get one.

Posted by: Streever | January 12, 2009 9:45 AM

Why are all of you ignoring Walt's excellent & accurate answer?

If you live here, it's a 15 minute or less walk into downtown to shop/eat/drink. By parking on the street for hours & expecting to pay nothing, YOU are the one hurting local businesses: just like the many employees of said businesses downtown who park in front of their job.

I see waiters rushing out of Zinc on a regular basis to feed the meter. Sorry? We don't have 3 huge garages within a 2-4 minute walk of there? Where it would be cheaper to park, & not damage your business?

Walt is absolutely correct. These measures were APPROVED and INITIATED by merchants who were smart enough to know that it's not suburbanites spending 2 hours here who are getting all the tickets, but lazy locals who think it's logical to drive 1 mile in a city and park & then spend a their time whinging on an online complaints board.

When someone posts an accurate, factual account of why these laws first came into being, they are completely ignored, and said locals continue to write stupid, personal attacks toward each other.

Have fun!

Posted by: Walt | January 12, 2009 1:17 PM

Thank you, Streever!

Posted by: KD | January 12, 2009 1:53 PM

East Rocker, why should a cop be able to double park and "grab a coffee real quick" if I can't? Doesn't Steve's point apply to police also - perhaps to police above all others, since they are setting an example?

Posted by: Streever | January 12, 2009 4:44 PM

I feel so badly for those poor FedEx drivers and USPS workers who...

wait.

Wait!

I think I got it.

My post person parks on my street in a legal spot,
then walks up the street, dropping off letters

Wow! Maybe the fedex people could try that.

With a little cart too!

That would be something, huh?

Re-imagine their use of the city,
instead of expecting a deal or a break that the rest of us don't get.

If my post person can handle it, I wonder if a FedEx driver can? I bet they can.

Posted by: East Rocker | January 12, 2009 6:17 PM

KD- I agree with you. They should not be allowed to double park anymore than you or I are allowed to.. Even better are the ticket maids that double park and block traffic while they are writing tickets. for expired meters.

Posted by: TrueBlueCT | January 13, 2009 6:48 PM

Streever--

You suggested it would be cheaper to park in one of New Haven's downtown garages than it would be to feed the meters.

Sadly, that's just not true.

It costs $1.25/hour at the meter, whereas the garages charge upwards of $2.00/hour.

Why is New Haven parking so ass-backwards? I don't know. Most towns actively encourage retail shoppers to park in the town lot/garage. That way they can shop away, without ever having to fear a parking ticket...

Posted by: adam smith | August 7, 2009 12:02 AM

I got a note that the original fine of $20 had gone up to $60 and that if I didn't pay it in 30 days it would go up to $120. So does New Haven double the fine every 30 days now? If so if I don't pay it at the end of the year the $20 fine will be over $244,000