City Of Wilmington Lowering Parking Citation Fees
City Of Wilmington Lowering Parking Citation Fees
According to DelawarePublic.org, Wilmington’s Mayor Purzycki said his office is overhauling the city’s parking enforcement program.
The restructuring includes a few changes. Those changes include: lowering parking ticket prices from $40 to $25, changing residential parking permits and improving signage and communications with the public.
With the various complaints from residents about the city’s confusing and difficult parking enforcement protocol, the change will hopefully help. The mayor mentioned that administration spending too much time trying to resolve parking citation issues with residents and it was causing a lot of headaches. He added that the changes will start to roll out in January 2023.
It is believed that the discussion around changes started after a group of residents filed a federal lawsuit last year against the city calling its towing practices unconstitutional.
Two Wilmington residents sued the city and its towing contractors for seizing and scrapping cars worth thousands of dollars over unpaid parking tickets. According to WHYY, Ameera Shaheed was ticketed six times for illegally parking her car in a span of nine days. As a result, her car was towed and impounded even as she appealed the tickets as unlawful.
The impound lot then held her car until she could pay the city $320. After 30 days of not paying the money, Shaheed says the city’s towing contractor sold her car for scrap and kept the entire value of her car for themselves.
When asked if that suit was a factor in the city’s revamping of its parking enforcement, Purzycki said no. “We’re not concerned at all about the lawsuit,” he said.
The most recent update available via public record on Shaheed v. City of Wilmington, is available at https://dockets.justia.com/docket/delaware/dedce/1:2021cv01333/76576
Purzycki said the city currently issues around 50,000 tickets annually and he expects the changes to cut that number in half. In an economy like today’s where inflation is on the horizon and food and gas prices are becoming less affordable for some folks, the City Of Wilmington lowering parking citation fees should help in the event they are received.