Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994 TAG: 9403310285
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke police Lt. Ramey Bower said there will be no clear-cut victors in the parking war.
Keeping outlaw parkers on the run is his prime objective.
And as long as he does that fairly, Bower said, he'll be satisfied.
The raw statistics show that Bower's men are meeting his requirements.
But some downtown business owners have questioned the equity of the policy, arguing that a blitzkrieg against downtown employees who violate parking rules is snaring potential customers as well.
``I don't think the city is that damned hard up for money,'' said John Nunn, owner of Trasco, an engineering supply firm in the 100 block of Kirk Avenue Southwest. ``We are going to have a dead downtown if they keep on.''
Nunn said he's told his customers that he'll pick up the tab if they receive a ticket while doing business with him.
``A parking ticket leaves a sour taste in their mouth,'' he said.
Bower, who heads the Police Department traffic division, says he just want to make sure that there are no sacred cows in the parking war. Prosecutors, businesspeople, journalists and lawyers alike ran up some of the largest numbers in 1993.
``We deal with empty cars,'' Bower said. ``Parking tickets are issued every day.''
And if the illegal parkers are willing to pay the price or stay on the move, there is very little more that Bower can do.
He recognizes that the city needs to look at its fines occasionally to make sure that the cost of illegal parking will be high enough to deter repeat violators.
``I think the fines now are significant enough to the occasional violator,'' he said.
Still, there are people who make a judgment that paying a $5 fine to park near their work is money well spent.
``We get overwhelmed sometimes,'' he said. ``There are sometimes more violations than there are people to deal with them.''
In that context, Bower doesn't believe that parking tickets are the cash cow that many people believe.
With three officers and a clerk in the billing office assigned to work them, the city's expenditures for parking enforcement easily top $100,000.
Last year, city officials collected about $239,929 of the $306,000 in tickets written before they were forced to summon drivers to court.
``Fines are punishment, not revenue,'' Bower said.
That punishment is what concerns Dunn, who charges the city's motives in parking enforcement are primarily financial.
``I think it is Jesse James all the way,'' he said. ``The city is cleaning up. I think our biggest obstacle to getting people downtown is the possibility of getting a parking ticket.
``My first thought is why in the hell would anyone want to come downtown. If the city doesn't want business downtown, then I located in the wrong place.''
Dunn said downtown merchants east of Jefferson Street may have to organize themselves if their concerns about parking are not answered. Although all downtown businesses pay a 10-cent-per-$100 surcharge on the real estate taxes to support Downtown Roanoke Inc., Dunn said he believes that organization is too preoccupied with promoting the City Market.
``We've got to organize to tell the city what we want,'' he said. ``The hell with what the city wants.''
Dunn's sentiments were reflected in several calls on a special parking hot line to the Roanoke Times & World-News throughout the week.
Janet Greene was among the most adamant. During the ice storm in January, she and her family braved the foul weather to shop at a downtown furniture store. Because of the ice, they couldn't park close to the curb in front of the store. They parked the best they could.
Inside the store, they spent $3,000. Outside a ticket was placed on their truck.
They were happy with their new purchase, but resented the bright pink reminder attached to their windshield by police.
``We're not going to come downtown anymore because of such stupidity,'' she said.
by CNB