From time to time I hear people say, "If only the police would write more parking tickets, the city would not have any financial problems."
Even though parking tickets can now cost over $20, only about three or four dollars of the fine amount comes back to the city.
The overwhelming majority of the revenue from parking fines goes to the State of Minnesota and the court system. Governor Pawlenty raised the amount of money collected from parking tickets several years ago by $4; St. Louis County Attorney Allen Mitchell raised the law library fee assessed to parking tickets by $2.
As a result of these increases, Duluth officials have felt pressure not to raise our portion of the parking ticket allotment.
Some Minnesota cities have successfully raised significant amounts of money using administrative fines to skirt the issue of having to share the fine amount with the state, court system and other government entities. There have been attempts by the some member of the legislature to completely legitimize administrative fines, but they have been unsuccessful.
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The Attorney General and State Auditor have taken the stance that administrative citations are not legal given current laws. Several cities have continued to use administrative citations despite warnings from the state and are hoping to settle the issue once and for all in court.
If Duluth were to begin using administrative fines for select violations it would raise a lot of revenue. But there are still legal issues and other internal hurdles that must be straightened out before we can move forward with administrative fines.
(bold)In other news,(end bold) our citizen patrol throughout the city is as active as ever. The Lincoln Park Citizen's Patrol has grown from 10 volunteers earlier this year to over 50 as of September! They have been very helpful in helping us identify problem properties and have undoubtedly impacted the crime reduction efforts in Lincoln Park.
It's unfortunate that the media blew an August incident way out of proportion, perpetuating some people's beliefs that Lincoln Park is not a safe place to live. In reality, a review of serious crimes for 2007 indicates that Lincoln Park has had a decline over years past. Just a few years ago there were several blocks that were trouble for neighbors and police alike. But through strong partnerships with neighbors and other entities, many of the trouble areas of Lincoln Park have greatly improved. We will continue to work with all of our partners to keep this trend going.
This past week, we partnered with Neighborhood Housing Services to recognize the citizen volunteers who are taking an active role in helping us keep our neighborhoods safe. The meeting was Oct. 25 at the Holy Family Church in Lincoln Park.
I'm sure we didn't recognize everyone. Maybe you can help. If you know any volunteers, please take time to thank those who have taken an active role in making Duluth a better place for all of us.
Duluth Chief of Police Gordon Ramsay can be contacted at 730-5020 or by e-mail at gramsay @ci.duluth.mn.us.
