Parking Authority seeks towing expansion – What do we get?
Tomorrow a small bill, that slipped out of Council’s Streets and Services committee with barely any notice, will get its first reading. Titled “Towing And Immobilizing Of Parked Or Abandoned Vehicles,” few knew what Bill 080406 was about until the people benefiting showed up to testify on its behalf:
From KYW1060:
The Parking Authority is promising smoother rush hours in Center City, if it gets final City Council approval to expand its towing operation.
The Authority currently can tow and impound a car only in an area that is bounded by Vine Street on the north and Spruce Street on the south. A council committee has now given a preliminary okay to expanding that border north to Spring Garden, south to Bainbridge, and also on Broad Street itself all the way up to Hunting Park Avenue.
Parking Authority Executive Director Vince Fennerty says to goal is to get illegally parked cars out of the way in rush hour . . . .
Fennerty says this will particularly help around the I-95 Vine Street ramps.
The Parking Authority?
This is the first time (that I’m aware of) that Council has had a crack at the Parking Authority since parents launched a campaign against them last fall. Now is not the time to expand the Parking Authority’s powers. If anything, City Council should restrict the PPA’s activities until it first proves it is a more responsible steward of its money and activities. It’s also an important opportunity to squeeze that agency about why it isn’t giving more to the schools.
I’m sympathetic to the need at rush hour to get onto the Vine Street expressway, though my problem tends to be people blocking the intersection rather than parked cars on Broad. But the towing zone itself also raises some questions:
• Will expanded towing duties add to the PPA payroll?
• If the Authority says it wants to clear the Vine Street expressway, why are they going all the way up to Hunting Park?
• And if folks are upset about Broad Street, why does it include North Philadelphia but stops at Bainbridge leaving alone South Philly’s notorious parking privileges?
Council needs to send a message to the Parking Authority that city privileges come with city responsibilities. Bill Green voted against the bill in committee and asked questions. Hopefully he won’t be the only one if the bill makes it to vote.
>>And if folks are upset
>>And if folks are upset about Broad Street, why does it include North Philadelphia but stops at Bainbridge leaving alone South Philly’s notorious parking privileges?
Really? You already know the answer to this: Keeping Center City fast and efficient for out-of-towners (suburban workers and tourists alike) and the high-wealth folks at Liberty 2 is the point. Those middle class folks who live and work in the rest of the city? We get what we deserve...
Link problem
Both hotlinks on this post don't work. "Page not found".
With the city in need of revenue, and the Parking Authority generating it, then squandering it, I wonder if the PPA will ever return to City control. Harrisburg is loathe to release a sacred cow.
As for South Philly being exempt from PPA territory, except for curb parking along Broad... I know the real reason why they're excluded. Dare I say it?
Check the links again?
They worked for me. The first one brought me to hallwatch, the second to KYW's website and the May 9th story, and the third to an earlier YPP post.
Hmm works now
I dumped cache and tried again. They work. Thanks.
Agree 100%
This is absolutely right. There's no way that the Parking Authority should get any more authority to do anything until more money is going to schools. Does anyone believe a word they say? Do they really worry about traffic? Not at all. It's a money pit and it's looking for new ways to suck in money and dole it out to bolster its political power.
No way should this pass under the present PPA.
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This Too Will Pass, for the guts in your cerebrum.
Here's the actual PPA bill
from Hallwatch. I guess that means they can tow off my residential street. If it's for an entire area, I can't imagine they won't hire more people.
Yea for North Philadelphia!
I'm way out of range. But I still don't want to give them any more power. Grumble!
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This Too Will Pass, for the guts in your cerebrum.
The only way the Parking
The only way the Parking Authority should get any more power if they lower the prices of the tickets and fines, and make it reasonable, because there really is no oversight on what they do.
I believe that any abandoned cars or trucks should be towed and atleast the Parking Authority is better than any private agency.
There should be an oversight board to insure that the money goes close to where it is. It is obvious that the PPA board and their directors may not be able to handle the influx of control.
Or maybe they could leave the taxi cabs alone, if they want to expand.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter".
Dr Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Prior to Perzel
At one point many moons ago, Parking Authority fines actually were fairly cheap--so cheap that they were considered a hidden "parking tax" by John Q. P. because it was lower than the cost of just about any surface lot or garage. So, there was no fiscal incentive to go into a lot and get off the street. If you got a fine, just mail in the ticket later.