Parking Violations Could Generate $100 Million for San Francisco

"For the first time in city history, San Francisco officials expect to make more than $100 million next fiscal year from fines issued to people who park illegally."

"That's the plan, at least, if the Municipal Transportation Agency's governing board signs off on the budget-balancing proposal to add $10 to all parking fines now set at $90 or less."

"Reaction to the plan was mixed."

"Myrna Lim, a former city planning commissioner rumored to be contemplating a run for the Board of Supervisors in the fall, decried the fine increase. 'What you're doing is unconscionable. ... You're just punishing the poor,' she said."

"But Katherine Roberts, an advocate for public transit, said the board shouldn't be concerned about raising parking fines. 'You're talking about something that is already illegal,' Roberts said. Drivers, she said, have an alternative to getting parking tickets: 'Don't break the law.'"

"San Francisco now gets about $90 million a year from parking fines. Tacking on another $10 per violation would raise about $13 million or so more a year. Parking at an expired meter, for example, would ballon to $60 downtown and $50 in a neighborhood commercial district - among the highest in the nation."