Tuesday, March 10, 2009

YOU'LL GET THE BOOT!


Here is just one more reason you should put your quarter in the parking meter when parking in the commercial districts. The BOOT!

The hassle of getting a parking ticket alone is enough to ruin your whole day, and for what: to save a quarter? Amass enough of these and the BOOT patrol will now be after you.

What is quite common in other cities like New York City and Albany, the high-tech plate scanner has finally come to Kingston. What shocks me, is that for the longest time, the police department refused to get involved with parking violations. This left the burden of street maintenance to our limited daytime personnel.

Now, KPD is willing to engage the issue at the tail end of the crime: when you have collected enough violations to get them in the hunt.

Cheif Keller said in the paper: "The cameras, which were purchased using a $22,000 state grant, have been used for other matters such as detecting wanted criminals, recovering stolen cars, unregistered vehicles, or those driving with outstanding speeding tickets or other traffic infractions".

So the scope of criminal DATA collection is broader than just the parking tickets, but it's nice to have them looking for the "Cheapskates" too.

The Cheif mentioned that this would be an action that didnt stop with just one shift. That this would be 24/7. That's where they are going to get you. When you are parked infront of Snapper McGees on North Front St. and you head for the car at 3am. Oops! "Theres a boot on my wheel!" Well, I doubt you should have been driving anyway.

I had to laugh when I read: City Comptroller John Tuey said 400 license plates have been put into the program. I'm going to have to stop in the office and make sure I'm not on that list! I've had my encounters with the authorities down in NYC, so I dont need that adventure up here.

Tuey was not certain how much in the way of unpaid tickets were involved. Could I add that the unpaid amounts could be thought of as uncollected fees owed to the city that could be considered revenue. This does affect the budget and your taxes. Violators who DON"T pay their fines are costing you valuable services.

DiBella, Senor and the whole Council were in favor of the Boot Legislation and you know we are all thrilled when we hear of any buttoned up measures to bring violators into compliance, but the revenue is where we get the charge.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not looking to punish anyone unnecessarily. But this should be a wake-up to everyone who thinks parking at prime spaces without engaging the meter is fun-and-games. It's not. Long term parking has always been an issue regarding best use of limited resources. Our merchants need you to free up the curbside spaces for the customer.

Thanks for stepping up.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe the merchants in the CITY shouldn't park in front of there business all day and also in parking spaces that they aren't allowed.. Why aren't these merchants ticketed and booted.?Uptown on the corner of Fair and John is a perfect example. These merchants at this spot never move there vehicles and park all day long in the same spot with no tickets.

Anonymous said...

How far back are they looking, Mike ??

i have old, old ones from 7 - 8 yrs ago - does that make me have to look over my shoulder ?

Only about $ 100 worth, but ??

I too have had my run-ins in NYC & that gets costly.

Beware, uptown on the East Side they have a task force for no seat belts going on, & THEY ARE RELENTLESS!

Be Advised.

Anonymous said...

why is the nice new lot still free?i go buy on any weekday afternoon and see it is almost full.didn't it cost the taxpayers some cash to have it taken down?

Anonymous said...

Whats up with the stop light on wall & n.front?I go thru there alot during the course of a day and i think the stop signs are better,traffic flows pretty good and not any big back ups.

Anonymous said...

Just another reason to keep going to Ulster. This city needs to come up with something positive. Everything is negative. There is nothing positive anymore. Can you give any good news?

Just wondering, my Freeman bill is due, should I pay more that a month's worth?

Anonymous said...

tax payers also pay for scafflaw abandoned vehicles as well.the city should consider getting reimbursed for those services that it provides,either during a snow removal or from any other incident.a accident or breakdown.more offen than not the vehicle gets left for the city to deal with.i wounder how much it costs the city in police man hours to track down a abandonded vehicle owner, and then the process those folks have to endure every time to just be able to destroy it properly and legally.nonsence,make those people RESPONSIBILE TOO.it costs the city entirely to much in money and time.use the same plate scanner to enter the plate numbers and or vin id numbers of the vehicles that get left and when they get put on other vehicles with out reprecussion, youll have a mechanism at your disposal,and if you start enforcing a abondanded vehicle ordenance you'll recover more revenue and stop the abuses from the very people that think that its city residents should foot the bill yet in another situation.there should be a enforceable law to prevent this from happening

Anonymous said...

I guess lack of revenue is the "reason" DPW seems to be less able to perform these days, e.g. the last big snowstorm when the ice on sidestreets was left for 10 days after the storm creating the "enhanced" pothole mess we have now that makes it look like a concrete drill was taken to the roads in places.
Apparently the Mayor thinks so and wants everyone else to think so. But if they screw up picking up garbage, can't clear the roads of snow and ice, and can't at times provide a flagman to ensure their safety and traffic safety when they are filling potholes, there is something wrong with this picture.
Budget issues or no, if you can't do basic work like this and pay attention to safety you might as well fold up the entire enterprise. Not to mention the "literal crap" that went on last year in that dept.

Clark Richters said...

I haven't abandoned my car...Yet. :)

Anonymous said...

I saw a green Subaru disabled on Main Street yesterday.
PhewWwww!! I slept very well last night knowing we're protected from these evil scofflaws!!