District residents who have an unpaid parking ticket or who fail to shovel snow from their sidewalks will be facing more aggressive efforts from the city to collect fines under two bills set to be voted on by the D.C. Council on Wednesday.
| Examiner Coverage |
|
|
The city’s current system of getting what it’s owed results in “lost revenue and it doesn’t deter conduct” and often ends up being a waste of paperwork, said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, who is sponsoring both pieces of legislation. Cheh said her intent was not simply to generate more revenue.
One bill would create an unit within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to collect delinquent fines from residents, a strategy that Cheh said could generate as much as $7.5 million in additional annual revenue for D.C. after the cost of the new debt collection unit is subtracted. The bill is expected to come to a final vote Wednesday.
The snow bill establishes a graduated fine system for residents and businesses, starting at $25 and $250, respectively, Cheh said. D.C. law already requires property owners to clear sidewalks within eight daylight hours after a storm ends. The bill is still subject to amendments, so a vote Wednesday could be delayed.
Under the current law, the city clears delinquent property owners’ sidewalks then sues to recoup costs.
| Council TV feed cut during ethics questions |
| The television feed of a news conference hosted by Council Chairman Kwame Brown was cut on Wednesday just as Brown was asked a question about the council’s ethical lapses and poor approval ratings. Brown’s chief of staff chalked it up to a miscommunication with the tech staff, saying the feed was cut after Brown concluded the legislative portion of the press conference. But residents watching online said the cutoff occurred after the second portion began and a reporter was in the middle of a question. When Brown learned of the situation, he asked for the feed to be turned back on. It was not restored. |
Facing a new fine has some residents complaining that the city has sometimes been slow to act and sidewalks adjacent to D.C. government buildings have gone unshoveled past the eight-hour deadline.
“You can’t have a double standard,” said Neil Glick, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 6. “We all help each other out on my block, but what about blocks where it’s all elderly people?”
The eight-hour window in D.C. is shorter than surrounding jurisdictions. Montgomery and Arlington counties give residents 24 hours after a storm to clean up. Prince George’s County has a 48-hour window.
The tougher fine enforcements come at a time when city food truck operators are saying they are being unfairly targeted for parking violations by the D.C. Department of Transportation.
But Council Chairman Kwame Brown on Tuesday denied any coordinated effort to generate more revenue from residents.
“We just have to make sure that as we crack down and we’re issuing collections, that we have to make sure the people writing the tickets aren’t just [thinking] they have a quota,” he said.
