The Boot Originally uploaded by randomsheet
Coming soon to the streets of Seattle: the boot. Starting July 5th, the city will begin enforcing its ticket scofflaw ordinance with hardware. The most double-whammy part of boot enforcement? You’re also on the hook for returning the device to the city or you will face further fines. In the meantime, you have another week and change to take advantage of Seattle’s ticket amnesty period when collections fees and interest will be waived on any outstanding tickets. And even your less impressive ones. Details on the new rules, the amnesty and how to check your outstanding ticket status, below.
If you have any unpaid parking tickets, the City strongly suggests you take care of them immediately.
Vehicles that have four or more unpaid parking tickets are defined as Scofflaws, per City ordinance #123447. For all Scofflaws, starting July 5:
- Your vehicle will be immobilized (“booted”) on a City street.
- Once booted, to get the vehicle released you will have 48 hours to pay all parking tickets, default penalties, interest, collections agency fees, and a boot fee.
- If you do not pay within 48 hours of being booted, the vehicle will be towed and impounded. To release the vehicle from impound, you will need to pay all fees and fines, plus tow fees, per Seattle Municipal Code.
- If your vehicle is not claimed from impound within 15 days, it will be sold at auction to help pay your debts.
Pay now to avoid boot and tow fees and save yourself the hassle of being booted and/or impounded. Parking tickets may cost less from May 2011 through June 2011 as part of the Court’s Collections Reduction Program
Check the Seattle Municipal Court – Public Information Web Site to see if your vehicle has unpaid parking tickets
Seattle to give parking scofflaws the boot starting July 5
Pay outstanding parking tickets now and save money;
collection fees and interest waived through June 30 if tickets are paid in fullSEATTLE – Beginning July 5, 2011, scofflaw vehicles – those with four or more overdue, unpaid parking tickets – found in public-right-of-way may get the boot, a wheel-locking device, whether they are parked illegally or legally.
To avoid the boot and save money, motorists are urged to take advantage of the Seattle Municipal Court’s “collections reduction event,” which waives all collections fees and interest on parking and traffic infractions if tickets are paid in full. This event ends June 30, 2011.
Once a vehicle has been booted, all unpaid scofflaw-eligible parking tickets, collection fees and interest on that vehicle, as well as the $145 boot fee, must be paid to get the vehicle released. After the payment has been made, or time payment entered into, the vehicle will be removed from the scofflaw list. The boot fee is paid to the city’s boot vendor, PayLock.
If all unpaid parking tickets and associated fees are not paid within 48 hours, excluding weekends, then the booted vehicle may be towed and impounded.
After impounding, if the scofflaw-eligible parking tickets and associated fees (including tow and boot fees) are not paid in full or a time payment plan is not established with Alliance One, the Municipal Court’s collection agency, within 15 days, then the vehicle may be auctioned.
Net program revenues are projected at $1.1 million in 2011 and $1.8 million in 2012. The revenues generated from scofflaw enforcement are expected to start out strong and then drop off as the scofflaws backlog declines. The city is owed $25.8 million for the scofflaw citations; another $3.7 million is due to the city’s collections agency, although not all of that will be collectible through the boot program.
SPD parking enforcement officers (PEOs) will patrol city streets with two license plate recognition technology equipped vehicles. When a scofflaw vehicle is identified, PEOs will apply a notice to the vehicle (which includes boot-removal information), and lock the vehicle’s wheel with a boot.
Motorists have three payment options if their vehicles have been booted:
- Pay via telephone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Pay in person during business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) on the first floor of the Seattle Municipal Court, 600 Fifth Ave.
- Enter into a time payment agreement with Alliance One, the Municipal Court’s collection agency.
Motorists are responsible for returning the boots, which should be placed in the vehicle’s trunk for safety purposes, to one of three boot drop-off areas:
- Park 90/5, 730 S. Stacy St., Building “C”
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.- Southeast Neighborhood Service Center, 3815 S. Othello St., Suite 105
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.- University Neighborhood Service Center, 4534 University Way N.E.
Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.If motorists do not return the boot within two calendar days of release, a fine of $25 per day will be levied. If motorists intentionally damage or fail to return a boot, a replacement fee of $500 can be levied.
As of May 15, 2011, 23,000 vehicles are listed as eligible for booting. While some of the license plates on the list are inactive, vehicles with four or more overdue, unpaid tickets that have since been sold to a new owner will not be on the list, provided the new owner has noted the sale with the Washington state department of licensing, as required by state law. The number of vehicles on the city’s scofflaw list is always changing as parking tickets are regularly issued or paid in full.
There are an estimated 500,000 parking spaces in public right-of-way and about one-fifth of these spaces are regulated (i.e., paid, time, loading, permit, or other restrictions). In 2010, the city’s General Fund realized approximately $27.8 million in paid parking meter revenue and $21.4 million in parking fines. SPD issued 600,543 parking tickets in 2010.
In adopting the 2011 budget, the City Council passed Ordinance 123447, which created the parking scofflaw program. Accompanying the legislation was a Statement of Legislative Intent (125-2-A-3), which called for a business plan to be developed by an interdepartmental team, composed of staff from the Department of Finance and Administrative Services, Seattle Municipal Court, SPD, SDOT, the City Budget Office, the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, and the City Council. The business plan was presented to the City Council’s Public Safety and Education Committee today. The business plan is available online at:http://www.seattle.gov/scofflaw/
http://www.aetv.com/parking-wars/
It’s about time that “scofflaws” (polite word for “deadbeats”) are held accountable for their selfish behaviors. Some people think they can ignore certain laws and escape the financial penalties by simply not paying their fines. Sorry, Charlie, no more.
Oh yes. There’s no way that people with multiple tickets are having financial issues during this really swell economic upswing we’re all experiencing. They’re totally all deadbeat anarchists who hate everything america stands for.
And something that hasn’t really been pointed out yet in articles I’ve read about this issue- the city of Seattle is actually being nice in using the boot. Prior to the boot, they could just tow your ass if you were on the hotlist. You didn’t get the warning of the boot, just got towed and you had to figure it out.
“Sorry, Charlie, no more.”
People like you are why 1/5 of East Germans were volunteer Stasi informants. There’s always a minority but sizable segment of society that worships at the altar of the Church of the State. Snitches who regale and delight at the muscles of authority being flexed.
If this were East Berlin 1974 you’d be rushing down, as fast as your chubby little legs could carry you, to the local State Security garrison to report your neighbor ad been tuning-into a ZRF broadcast. “The laws are there for a reason – malcontents must be held accountable for their selfish behavior in working to undermine the paradise of the farmers and workers.”
Hey Idiot,
Why not just be a good contributing member of society rather than blame your sorry circumstances on people you claim to be snitches?
We can skip over your stupid and irresponsible comparison East Germany.
Your response confirms your mindset. To you, “contributing to society” means “obedience” and “reverence of authority.” You are – part and parcel – identical in mind and mannerism to the little snitches hiding away with their little notepads and binoculars in Leipzig. They dutifully report for their quarterly duty in the KdA (Combat Groups of the Working Class), then go home to their gray little lives, scribbling down notes on their neighbors (all on an unpaid, volunteer basis) to hand-over to der Ministerium für Staatssicherheit.
To me – a human – “contributing to society” means helping others. To you – a sheep – “contributing to society” means meekly obeying the rules institutions of power command you to obey.
It’s really very sick and distressing to me that this mindset exists still, and in every-growing numbers.
Yeah, because turning in a scofflaw is the same as sending your neighbor off to the gas chamber… f’ing moron.
East Germany didn’t have gas chambers. You’re thinking of the wrong decade, brah.
East Germany had little tattle-tales and snitches. They snitched and finked and the objects of their finking would get little fines, demerits, nasty letters or files in Stasi headquarters. You’d have loved it. The little snitches and finks also thought they were contributing to society, just like you do. Now go and make an anonymous tip to the Code Enforcer because two of your neighbour’s dandelions are 1/4″ over the sidewalk median. I know you can hardly wait to get that “Citizen Commendation!” signed by Big Mike for your expert work in snitching and tattle-telling.
P.S. – in my vocabulary “scofflaw” is a badge of pride. “Snitch”, “tattle tale”, “fink”, “informant”, “whiner” are demerits. I’m sure you probably do wow a few of your friends that you are meek and obedient, cowering in sycophantic reverent fear in the face of the awesome might of the City of Seattle (Peace Be To Its Holy Name!) and the holy book that is the Seattle City Municipal Code Revised & Consolidated. But not freethinkers. Sorry, brah.
Oh god, just shut up.
So, free thinking means you can’t pay your parking tickets (or be responsible enough to not get them in the first place)?
You’re taking your example to a length that makes your whole argument seem silly. In a city with cars, especially with more cars than room to park, how would you propose parking needs be addressed? I’m honestly curious.
Your stupidity trancends any decade.
Something tells me that Mr. “I-Hate-Snitches” is probably one of those masked people who have been throwing bricks through bank windows recently.
With the “boot” law in place, it will not be necessary for anyone to be a “snitch.” The process will happen automatically to anyone with 4 or more unpaid tickets. Yes!
Mr. “I-Hate-Snitches”: You are delusional if you think that adhering to your immoral no-snitch code is “helping people.” When someone parks illegally, such as using a disabled spot without a permit, it almost always results in a negative impact for someone else. And, when a citizen takes the time to report this problem, and the scofflaw is held accountable, then the citizen is the one “helping people,” not you.
An even more egregious example is when a more serious crime (murder, assault, rape, etc.) is committed, and someone like you refuses to cooperate with the police by providing information which could bring the perp to justice. By “not-snitching” in situations like this, how are you “helping people”? Mmmm..wonder what the victim and his/her family thinks about your ridiculous code?
Just pay your tickets and you have nothing to worry about. You park illegally and then can’t pay your tickets? You probably shouldn’t be driving.