In Honolulu, residents of Village Park recently experienced an unpleasant surprise in the form of police sweeping the area and handing out 150 parking tickets, reports khon2.com. Parking is always tight in the neighborhood and complaints about illegal parking reached the police department, leading to the ticketing spree. The article reports that most of the tickets were given to cars parked on the sidewalk.
It sounds like people run out of places to park and many in the neighborhood have adopted a “park anywhere” policy. They were unhappy to be ticketed and feel they were treated unfairly. In an interesting twist, the initial complaint reached Councilmember Ron Menor’s office and he passed it on to the police, but took no responsibility for the ticketing sweep. Mayor Menor went so far as to condemn the police department’s response to the complaint.
“I had no idea,” he replied. “I think the actions taken by HPD were unfortunate and unacceptable.” Menor says he received a complaint from a resident, and standard procedure is forwarding the complaint to police.
“I’ve been assured by the major overseeing Village Park that they’re not going to do this again, that they will look into policies and procedures in which they will be dealing with and addressing parking concerns throughout not just my district, but the island,” he said.
What’s confusing to me, as an outsider, is why people who park illegally get angry and blame enforcement. Of course, a “ticketing sweep” is definitely not a good move from a public relations standpoint – consistent enforcement would be much more effective and acceptable to residents. What’s even more confusing is a mayor throwing his police department under the bus, so to speak, for upholding the law.
Read the rest of the article here.
