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By Kate Perry--
January 28, 2004
TROY-
Drivers with more than three parking tickets in the
city better pay up now - or risk getting the boot.
The boot, a device attached to the wheel base
of a car rendering it undriveable, is now being used
in Troy to collect more than $200,000 owed to the city
by delinquent parkers. The boot can't be removed until
all outstanding parking fines are paid at the city treasurer's
office and can only be unlocked by city parking officials.
A $50 fee must also be paid to remove the boot.
Tuesday, the first day it was employed - in fact, within
the first hour it was used - the new system put the
squeeze on two local men who each owed more than $950
in parking fees.
Chad Shoemaker, whose last known address was in Averill
Park, was the first person to have his car booted. He
owed $1,270 in unpaid parking tickets, the fifth-largest
amount owed to the city. At the end of the day Tuesday,
he had not yet paid his fines.
Tyler Jacobsen, a Third Street resident moving to New
York City on Tuesday, had little choice but to pay his
$960 in fines immediately. He walked out of his apartment
with his first armload of belongings to find the ugly,
school bus yellow boot clamped to the wheel of his white
Ford Ranger.
Tuesday afternoon, the recent Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute graduate was forking over $1,010, the remainder
of his student loan money, to free his vehicle. Stooped
over the counter at City Hall, Jacobsen waited for the
transaction to be completed, recalling how he got into
the situation in the first place.
"By my apartment you are only allowed to park on the
street at certain times, and sometimes I would forget
to move my car and it would get towed," he said.
After paying for what he says was a $100 towing fee,
the college student couldn't cough up the money for
the $35 parking ticket. After two years, the tickets
just piled up. On Tuesday, the city came calling.
Jacobsen's parking violations may seem excessive, but
he was surpassed in both total dollars due and number
of tickets by many people.
Janet Edey of Queensbury owes the most money, $1,572
in fines, followed by Christian Akre of 17 State St.,
who owes $1,510, and George Hutchinson of 11 Myrtle
Ave. in Albany, who owes $1,422.
Starting Tuesday, Troy Parking Enforcement officers
went about their duties, citing vehicle owners who were
parked illegally, but they also kept a lookout for the
several hundred vehicles owned by people with three
or more tickets, who are being called "heavy hitters"
by Mayor Harry Tutunjian's office.
If you are a heavy hitter, your car may be booted at
any time, even if you are parked legally.
From April to June 2003, the city ran a parking ticket
amnesty to collect overdue fees, allowing vehicle owners
to pay the original cost of the ticket, but not the
late fees. A total of $18,899 was raised over the three
months, but the plan was criticized by some for losing
the city money in not collecting late penalties.
Tutunjian said Tuesday it was time to get tough on the
debtors.
"We tried to be nice by letting people come and repay
their debt to the city," he said. "Now we have over
$200,000 owed to us."
Tutunjian acknowledged that some of the debtors may
not live in the area or may avoid paying the tickets
in other ways, but because of a state law requiring
anyone with three or more outstanding parking tickets
to pay up before they can renew their vehicle registrations,
he thinks the city will eventually recoup most of the
money.
For now, the city will do what it can to collect the
booty on its own.
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