The Providence City Council is considering a proposal to raise parking fines in the capital city. Most of the fines – overtime parking and parking too close to a corner, for example – cost the violator $10 or $15. Some, like parking in a tow zone, carry a $50 penalty.
Providence Police officials point out that such fines have not been raised in well over a decade and that they simply do not represent a stiff enough penalty to serve as a deterrent to motorists. One proposal being discussed would raise fines by 150 percent – from $10 to $50 to $25 to $50.
It has also been suggested that a tier system be put in place, so that more heavily congested areas would call for higher fines. It is a system now used in many other cities, including Boston.
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Because the city has gone more than a decade without adjusting its parking fines, the idea of adjusting them now carries some merit.
We like the idea of a tier system.
For example, the problem of residents around Brown University on the East Side or Providence College on Smith Hill not being able to park because students illegally park around their homes, is a far different problem than the existing parking problem downtown.
Increasing the penalties for overtime parking and other traffic indiscretions addresses only one small piece of a larger puzzle. That is, the difficulties of parking downtown and the impact on doing business in the capital city. Parking tickets, to be sure, are a deterrent to doing business in the city. And higher penalties will mean a higher level of deterrent.
Providence is attractive to employees, in large part, because it is a manageable and affordable city in which to work.
Any adjustment in parking penalties should come about as a part of a larger plan to improve parking opportunities in downtown Providence. We have heard about plans for new parking garages, at least one to serve Johnson & Wales University students, another, a municipal garage behind the Garrahy Judicial Complex. But we don’t see ground being broken – we don’t hear much about financing for such projects being obtained. The city needs to become more aggressive in its approach to parking. And the state needs to help. The two need to work together in partnership to address what has become a very serious problem.
More public garages are a priority. If the city and the state can join forces to move rivers and build a mega-mall, they certainly can acquire land – or reuse existing property — on which to lay asphalt to park cars. Perhaps the city should be working with existing property and business owners to sub-lease vacant or under-utilized lots, even if it is a temporary arrangement.
It may be that the idea of raising parking fines is long overdue. But doing so may create more problems than it solves – especially downtown. Developing new places to park would solve problems, not create any.
