The parking public loves stories like this one. In the city of Huntington WV the parking division thought it had a great idea. Buy some mini gas powered vehicles to replace the electric carts the enforcement folks had been using.
The board thought the two gas-powered vehicles would be more
cost-effective than the electric carts attendants used because they get
about 50 miles per gallon and don’t have to be taken off the streets at
least two hours a day to be recharged, said Johnette Nelson, the
parking board executive director.They also don’t require a new $1,200 battery every 18 months or so.
"Our profit margin increased about $5,000 during the month that
we used the trucks," she said. "That’s not including the additional
revenue that the city received."
However, the local gendarmes didn’t think the idea was quite so wonderful. It seems the vehicles are "off road" vehicles and not street legal. They can’t be licensed by the state and the police have issued tickets. They are now sitting in a garage while everyone tries to figure out what to do.
My suggestion — the Mayor should get the cops and the parking folks in a room and they should cut a deal so the vehicles can be used. It seems to me that trained enforcement officers could be able to drive them "on street" and go about their business. The law, it seems to me, was to keep Joe Sixpack from diving his three wheeler on the streets endangering life and limb. A little common sense could handle this. If the state wants its money, send them a check as if they were light use pickup trucks and let everyone get on with their lives.
JVH
Of course, this won’t happen. The bureaucracy rules.
