The Easthampton City Council voted to raise fines for parking violations during its regularly scheduled meeting on April 17.
Photo credit: Easthampton Media
EASTHAMPTON — The Easthampton City Council made some notable amendments to the city’s parking rules during its regularly scheduled meeting on April 17.
In a unanimous vote, the council raised the fine for violating the handicap parking ordinance from $50 to $250.
“This is, at its root, a human rights issue,” said At-Large City Councilor Brad Riley. “We need people in Easthampton who need access to these parking spaces to be able to use them, and the people who are violating this are violating someone’s civil and human rights.”
The vote comes after At-Large City Councilor Owen Zaret said that law enforcement and the council’s Public Safety Committee felt that the $50 fine was too low.
“It’s not considered an adequate deterrent,” Zaret said. “We need to make the fines have a little bit of teeth in order to deter people from inappropriately using those spaces.”
One resident during the meeting asked how the council how the new measure will be enforced. City Council President Homar Gomez said the police will be the entity that enforces the fine. Riley, meanwhile said he would work with the city’s Commission on Disability to figure out ways to mitigate these types of violations.
The council also approved an ordinance that raises non-handicap parking fines from $20 to $50 after the Public Safety committee once again found that the $20 was not enough of a deterrent from people parking illegally.
“If you are getting a ticket for illegal parking in Easthampton, it’s because you’re parking somewhere you shouldn’t be parking to begin with,” Zaret said.
The $50 fine would apply to people who are parking somewhere they should not, like a crosswalk, a sidewalk or an intersection, for example.
Gomez claimed during the meeting that the reason for this raise is to mitigate safety issues, like someone causing an accident because their parking is blocking a crosswalk or parking on a corner so people who are driving cannot see pedestrians walking.
“That’s the main reason we’re doing it, the safety of the people,” Gomez said.
Although the majority of the council supported the ordinance, Precinct 5 City Councilor Tamara Smith felt that raising the fine from $20 to $50 was too steep, arguing that it would be wrong to especially victimize people who may accidentally park in the wrong place because they are not familiar with Easthampton.
“While I’m okay with an increase in the price, I think going from $20 to $50 in one move is really a lot,” Smith said.
Mayor Nicole LaChapelle spoke in favor of raising the fine during the public hearing portion of the meeting, saying that while people generally appreciate how parking is free in Easthampton, police are finding a lot of people willing to pay $20 to park illegally.
“I think it’s a safety issue,” LaChapelle said.
Using the inflation calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Precinct 3 City Councilor Thomas Peake mentioned how the buying power of $20 in 1972, which is when the parking fine was implemented, is $152 today. Peake added that a $50 fine would be one-third of the inflation-adjusted-fine that was initially levied in the 1970s.
“When time passes, wages go up, buying power goes up, ff fees don’t keep up with that, then they eventually become somewhat trivial,” Peake said.
The council eventually voted to pass the increase with Smith being the lone dissenting vote.
The council also voted to institute a fine of $25 for people who are parking legally, but had a meter violation over time.
The changes to these fines will go into effect when fiscal year 2025 starts on July 1.
