Over the past few years, Chattanooga has proven it does not care about the 65,000 unpaid parking tickets, or the $5.2 million owed to them.
I have a great idea that will save money, promote downtown as “the” place to be, and help the out-of-town visitors. Simply remove all paid parking in downtown, replace the parking meters with trash bins, and job shift the current meter attendants to parks and recreations. They can be the labor to collect the rubbish from the plentiful trash bins. Or, terminate the parking meter attendant positions and save even more.
We have seen reports of the top offenders, and yet see no action by the city. One offender was reported to owing nearly $30,000 to the city in parking ticket fees. And since it is being reported that a majority are from out-of-town, small claims court comes to mind, for both offenders.
Chattanooga City Council voted to increase fines for parking illegally from $10 to $50. Now that is going to help. They cannot collect on the money already owed, let alone this new fee. So does that mean in five years the amount owed for parking ticket fees will be $25 million?
Rene Anne Wood
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Let's get rid of parking meters in Chattanooga. I defy the city to show that revenue from the meters outweigh the annual costs, including salaries, maintenance of vehicles and the meters, and all administrative functions involved in processing tickets, and collecting (Hah)past due accounts.
Bill Hopkins