urbanSTL

Woman sentenced for ‘Largest public assistance fraud in Missouri history’.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/wom ... 44825.html

Hard to say how much revenue the City was losing out on due to inaction from the treasurers office. Good of the local media to force change. The same theory of enforcement being a deterrent is true for reckless driving, whenever SLMPD wants to get back on the job.

https://www.firstalert4.com/2026/06/05/ ... wed-fines/

It's not really, in the article they say ~$780k across the last 3 months, which is a negligible amount compared to the entire budget. Reality is that most of these people cannot afford the fines, hence why a strong majority did not fully pay off the fines and why many have joined the ticket repayment program to pay it off slowly over time.

It's just another regressive revenue stream.

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Penalizing improper ownership of vehicles isn't regressive and $780k isn't negligible to the treasurers budget or any budget for that matter. 3 months of an undetermined amount of time but likely 5+ years. That doesn't include the cars that went without receiving a ticket or the issues at the tow lot. 

addxb2 wrote:Penalizing improper ownership of vehicles isn't regressive and $780k isn't negligible to the treasurers budget or any budget for that matter. 3 months of an undetermined amount of time but likely 5+ years. That doesn't include the cars that went without receiving a ticket or the issues at the tow lot. 

Yes, it is negligible. Yes, a revenue steam that derives its income from mostly lower income people who cannot pay the fines is by definition regressive.

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No it's not. Annualized its millions of dollars. I have never worked in a setting where that amount of money is negligible. 

The point you're trying to make regarding low income people is exactly why the City has to maintain a consistent enforcement program. They haven't and now hundreds of people, many I assume are low-income, have taken advantage to save $1.50 and ignore the multiple tickets. I'd support a one-time forgiveness now that the City has restarted enforcement. 

It's dangerous for everyone, especially low-income communities, to reward irresponsible car ownership.

780k is enough to pay the salaries of several city workers it's not nothing. Plus parking enforcement should not only be for the people who decide out of the goodness of their heart to actually pay tickets. I know people who have never paid a parking ticket in their life, they act like it's just an optional thing and until now it has been. Probably why so many people park like jackasses. Enforcement does improve behavior in this case.

Now if we could find a way to get cops to stop parking like jackasses (challenge level: impossible)