In Kittery, Maine, city officials are enforcing the city’s parking regulations with gusto. According to seacoastonline.com, drivers with five or more unpaid parking tickets will have their vehicles towed and will not be able to collect their vehicles until they have paid their fines. Kittery Police Chief James Soucy says many of the scofflaws are workers from the nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard who do not live locally, but park off the base to avoid traffic.
Kittery leaders aren’t just delivering punishment, they also have plans to improve parking options in the city.
Interim Town Manager Carol Granfield has been working with business owners and other town officials to figure out ways to utilize more parking in the area and inform visitors where that parking is located.
I like to see a city apply its laws and do so in a way that is just and sensible. Anybody with more than five unpaid parking tickets needs to experience consequences. If there were no parking on the base, I’d have some compassion for shipyard workers who have no choice but to park illegally in order to get to work, but I doubt that’s the case.
What I’d like to see even more is someone make an income off this scenario. Shipyard workers need offsite parking at reasonable daily, weekly or monthly parking – and maybe a shuttle. Would that be so difficult?
Read the article here.