Here is a letter to the USA Today from Fargo, North Dakota, a smallish town, metro of about 200,000 thousand, size of Regina or Saskatoon give or take, where one would not think these things would be problems.
More parking fines dilute goodwill
Brian Magee - Fargo, N.D.
More parking fines dilute goodwill Cities increasing parking fines to boost revenue — and moves like it — alienate the public from their governments. Government should not be seen as an enemy. When it is, the result is bitterness and lack of respect ("Parking fines easy cash for cities," News, Wednesday).
Government's central functions should be paid for by everyone, on a sliding scale, giving each person a stake in what government does. When the basic budget is funded increasingly through fines, fees or targeted taxes, such as those on alcohol or cigarettes, we attach a negative connotation to government. Then the government becomes
not an ally, but an adversary.
Fines should be an annoyance and a small deterrent, not a revenue source. It's not only bad policy, it's also bad psychology.
Please alert Lowell Green to this Post; this is one of his long time [and accurate] rants.
WFDS
Have to say, its the fear of a giant fine that keeps me out of those oh, so tempting and most of the time EMPTY handicapped parking spaces....If you really want to influence behavior by fining bad behavior, then you need to remember that people are willing to spend a lot of money on stupid stuff, (like porn, or cigarettes, or even some cell phone plans!) so that the fines keep going up based upon how big a stick it takes to alter behavior. If there is a regular, predicable income from fines meant to curb certain behaviors, then the fines are too low. If the fines are working, the income from those fines should be dropping.
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