Parking violators pay the price

A new patrol is cracking down on people who are parking illegally in spaces marked for handicapped drivers. It's an expensive lesson: $250 a ticket.

By JON WILSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- The message is clear:

Stay out of parking spaces reserved for handicapped drivers unless you have the blue placard that lets you go there.

In its first two months, St. Petersburg's new disabled parking enforcement cadre has handed out 381 tickets for illegal parking in the blue-bordered handicapped spots.

At $250 a pop, that represents more than $95,000 in fines if all the tickets are upheld by the court and paid. And that doesn't even count the $8 surcharge on each citation.

The 12 new disabled parking specialists hit the streets in April after they completed a 40-hour police department course.

Their effort has drawn praise for the most part, though some enforcers have reported resistance.

A sign designating a handicapped space was taken down, for example; and a ticketed driver tore up the citation in front of an enforcer.

"Some people get upset with them. Others thank them," said police officer Bob Ortiz, who is in charge of the program.

In addition to the parking citations, the enforcers also write fire lane violations -- 30 during April and May, Ortiz said.

But the point of their four-hour volunteer shifts is to police the handicapped spaces, which includes not letting motorists block the adjacent striped access space to allow wheelchair maneuvering.

Disabled drivers get blue placards to hang from their rearview mirrors.

The placards are keyed to the owner's driver license number.

Without such authorization, drivers can be ticketed.

Even if they pull into a space to run a quick errand.

"Sixty seconds is too long," Ortiz said.

Abusing handicapped parking spaces is nothing new. It goes on everywhere, officials say.

"Nationwide, it's a big problem. So we decided to tackle it here," Ortiz said.

St. Petersburg, including a number of other cities in Pinellas County, also raised the fine for illegal parkers from $100 to $250.

"We're still working on Largo," said St. Petersburg City Council member Bob Kersteen, who has helped push for enforcement of handicapped parking laws and access for the disabled.

Some of the money collected from fines goes to projects pushed by St. Petersburg's Committee to Advocate for Persons with Impairments, known as CAPI. It advises the mayor and the City Council on issues affecting handicapped people.

The projects include such items as curb cuts and other devices to make public places more accessible to disabled people.

Disabled parking specialists wear uniform green pants and white shirts. They carry no weapons and drive their own vehicles, which carry temporary signs advertising their official role. They get 29 cents per mile reimbursement.

Joe Lamb has been disabled since 1970 when a back operation left him partly paralyzed. He walks with a cane most of the time now.

Like most of the other parking enforcers, he has a disability, a placard and years of experience watching non-disabled drivers abuse the system.

"This is what we know," Lamb said.

"Trouble is, we've been getting some disabled people who forget to hang their placards. . . . We're not out here to get the handicapped people, we're out here to get the people who violate," Lamb said.

Ortiz said he is pleased with results so far.

"The people are very dedicated," he said. "They know there's a problem out there and they want to send a message."

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