Parking violators don’t pay up

That infuriates downtown Vancouver resident Roy Nelson, 69. He’s been attending Vancouver Parking Advisory Committee meetings all year, trying to get the city to take action against parking scofflaws.

Vancouver, Nelson said, should adopt a “boot-and-tow” program like other cities. That’s where a wheel-immobilizing device called a boot is locked onto the tires of vehicles owned by drivers who rack up unpaid tickets. If the driver doesn’t pay up after getting “booted,” the city tows and impounds the vehicle. For Nelson, who lives in Smith Tower and pays for parking, it’s about fairness to other drivers and business owners, and it’s about ensuring the city collects fines owed.

“It kind of gripes us,” he said. “Seattle wouldn’t mess around with it, so why does Vancouver let it go on? … There’s something haywire.”

Monday, City Manager Eric Holmes said such deliberate violation of the city’s parking codes was “unacceptable.”

However, that’s of no help when it comes to the Chevy Avalanche, which is registered in Oregon. The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles doesn’t take action against delinquent tickets, Oregon DMV spokesman David House said.

Now aware of the Chevy’s hundreds of unpaid parking tickets, the city Finance Department has authorized its contracted collections agency, Professional Credit Service, to seek a court judgment placing a lien on the owner’s property, city Treasurer Carrie Lewellen said Tuesday. However, without a change to city code, nothing prevents the motorist from continuing to flout parking laws, Lewellen acknowledged.

Internship project

In response to Nelson’s questions to the parking committee, the city this summer hired a student intern to research how other cities pursue parking ticket scofflaws. Olympia, for instance, started a boot-and-tow program about 10 years ago in which vehicles with eight or more unpaid citations are booted. The drivers are instructed to pay the fines within 48 hours or their car will be impounded. The city automatically impounds vehicles with 12 or more unpaid tickets 60 days’ delinquent.

Merrill said he’s given the staff’s findings to the Finance Office to see if a boot-and-tow program might be an effective way for the city to recover the delinquent ticket fines. He’s reserving judgment on whether the city needs such a program until he sees the cost-benefit analysis, he said. Perhaps by October the parking committee will be ready to make a recommendation to the city council, he said.

“This particular customer could just be an outlier,” he said, referring to the Chevy owner. “That’s one of the things we’re going to have to ask ourselves. Is it worth implementing a system over a single customer who doesn’t pay?”

Although parking committee chairwoman Leah Jackson said she “believes the committee is concerned” and it’s “moving forward in the process,” she declined to comment further.

“I will not give a personal opinion or speak for the committee,” Jackson said.

Mayor Tim Leavitt said nobody should get a free pass when it comes to paying parking tickets. He’s gotten at least 20 parking tickets and has paid them all, he said.

“Clearly, this individual is just completely disregarding our local laws, and we’ve got to figure out how to hold them accountable for what they’re doing,” Leavitt said. “I look forward to a recommendation from the parking advisory committee for the council to consider on how we can most effectively do just that.”