A small victory

[puggit]

www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-ticketfolo2may23,0,1200637.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines

The Newspaper said:

Parking-ticket payers pocket the difference as $1 deal stands--for now By Martin B. Cassidy Staff Writer Published May 23 2006 John Weiss smiled as he drew a $1 bill from a wad and passed it to a cashier to take care of a $50 fine for parking in a permit-only spot at the Greenwich train station. "I think it's great," the 36-year-old Cos Cob management consultant said outside the town Parking Services Department yesterday. Weiss was one of about half a dozen parking violators who turned the tables on the town after learning of a 54-year-old town ordinance that allows residents to make a $1 payment within 24 hours and not have to pay the more costly $15, $30, and $50 parking fines, town officials said. The Board of Selectmen could repeal the 1952 ordinance with a vote and are expected to do so soon, Town Attorney John Wayne Fox said yesterday. Despite the uncertainty, yesterday town parking enforcement officers continued to issue tickets as usual, Town Parking Services Director Alan Corry said. "The statute was an oversight over the years that no one heard of or utilized and we're hoping to resolve it as soon as possible," Corry said. Weiss noted that under the law, which requires the violator to appear at the Greenwich Police Department with their license within 24 hours, paying the ticket was cheaper than feeding the meter, which cost 25 cents per half-hour or hour, depending on the location. "I'm more than happy to pay the dollar," Weiss said. Corry said fine payers should not expect any slack from the town if they seek the $1 reprieve after 24 hours. "They have to comply with the ordinance," Corry said. Among the information on each printed ticket is the time it was issued. Michael Marzulla, 41, a business accounting executive, went to the police department on Havemeyer Place on Saturday after being issued a $15 ticket on Greenwich Avenue that morning. After being directed to the Parking Services Department at Town Hall on Field Point Road, the Byram resident left his ticket in an envelope along with a dollar payment and a note outside the Parking Services Department. Marzulla said as a resident he was concerned about the financial impact the ordinance could have on the town. "As someone who got the ticket, I'm ecstatic," Marzulla said. "But as a Greenwich taxpayer, I would think we need to get the law fixed because in those days a dollar was worth a whole lot more." Fox yesterday said repealing the statute would require only the approval of the Board of Selectmen. Earlier, he had said it would need the approval of both that board and the Represenative Town Meeting. After several days of research prompted by an inquiry from a town resident, the town's Law Department last week concluded the ordinance was still in force, and that motorists could utilize it. While the law designates police to collect the $1 payments, violators are being directed to the Parking Services Department during its regular 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. business hours to pay the $1 fee, Chief James Walters said. After business hours, officers will initial the citation with the date and time it was presented to police so that the violator can take it to the Parking Services Division for their break when it re-opens, Walters said. "We're not going to accept any money here," Walters said. "Once the Law Department advised us the statute is still in effect, we decided that was the best way." Pam Simons, 56, said she regretted the loophole becoming public too late for her to avoid paying a $15 ticket she received Thursday and was taking care of yesterday. Simons, a Riverside resident, said she has received about $85 to $100 in tickets while living in town since 1991. "It's almost amusing that such an old law would cause this," Simons said. "I would have definitely come right in and paid." First Selectman Jim Lash declined to comment yesterday. Selectman Peter Crumbine said the Board of Selectmen has yet to schedule a meeting to repeal the law.