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Posted on 03/23/2007 8:04:40 PM PDT by Founding Father
3/22/2007
Florida: City to Seize Homes Over a $5 Parking Ticket Brooksville, Florida proposes to foreclose homes and seize cars over less than $20 in parking tickets.
The city council in Brooksville, Florida voted this week to advance a proposal granting city officials the authority to place liens and foreclose on the homes of motorists accused of failing to pay a single $5 parking ticket. Non-homeowners face having their vehicles seized if accused of not paying three parking offenses.
According to the proposed ordinance, a vehicle owner must pay a parking fine within 72 hours if a meter maid claims his automobile was improperly parked, incurring tickets worth between $5 and $250. Failure to pay this amount results in the assessment of a fifty-percent "late fee." After seven days, the city will place a lien on the car owner's home for the amount of the ticket plus late fees, attorney fees and an extra $15 fine. The fees quickly turn a $5 ticket into a debt worth several hundred dollars, growing at a one-percent per month interest rate. The ordinance does not require the city to provide notice to the homeowner at any point so that after ninety days elapse, the city will foreclose. If the motorist does not own a home, it will seize his vehicle after the failure to pay three parking tickets.
Any motorist who believes a parking ticket may have been improperly issued must first pay a $250 "appeal fee" within seven days to have the case heard by a contract employee of the city. This employee will determine whether the city should keep the appeal fee, plus the cost of the ticket and late fees, or find the motorist not guilty. Council members postponed a decision on whether to reduce this appeal fee until final adoption of the measure which is expected in the first week of April.
It isn't too much hassle if the real goal is the property and they have a developer on deck waiting for it.
All depends on what is motivating them.
It may seem so, but in fact, the citizens of that town can do two things. First they can do a petition drive to put a revocation of the law on the next ballot. Second, they can vote out the varmints who came up with the ordinance. Past that, should they fall prey to the law, they can file both state and federal civil rights violations suits. They're not out of ammo yet.
Homeowner's Association on Steroids!
How quaint.
Is that from a fairy tale?
Ever received a notice that you're delinquent on a parking ticket that you never knew about? Wind, rain and kids having fun have been known to remove a ticket. Weeks later, you get notice that you haven't paid for a ticket that wasn't there when you get back to your car.
And the potential for abuse is huge. A "meter maid" can write a ticket for a legally parked car and destroy the original. Suddenly, you have to pay $250. to contest a copy of a ticket that was supposedly issued two months ago. No chance to take photos of the car with the ticket and the signs etc.
It's a scam to make money; there's no other reason for draconian measures for unpaid $5. tickets.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
"The Second Amendment is the 'RESET' button for the Constitution".
If anything calls for a clip-fed solution to a problem, this would well qualify.
I'll resume posting after my hopefully temporary banning.
I'm afraid that it is becoming increasingly so. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution as a way to appease the Anti-Federalists. The dissolution of the Bill of Rignts began in earnest with the Civil War. Although most history books assert that the war was to end slavery or was some esoteric struggle over "States Rights" it was in fact a war to establish the supremacy of Federalism. The south didn't lose the Civil War, the Anti-Federalists did. It isn't surprising that the primacy of the government over the individual is the consequence.
You gave some very valid points. Very True...
After nine years here I've finally met a person who understands. Nice to meet you.
Sounds like you are describing the latest scam out of New Orleans. They are sending out notices of parking violations that allegedly took place pre-Katrina. $40 if you immediately pay, $120 if you wait around a few weeks, then go to court and add costs, etc. One little problem, people who have never been to New Orleans are getting these notices. Someone has been able to tap in to a license plate database for the info to run the scam.
Its not a matter of whether a ticket should be issued. Its a matter of an unfair, excessive fine.
You read the constitution lately?
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Pay the 5 bucks.
We've allowed the government to steal property without due process from those merely accused of using drugs. This is the predictable result -- government power always expands to find new targets.
Excellant reply.
Excellant reply.
You support seizing cars and houses over a $5 debt?
If you want to appeal, you have to pay $250 just for the option, and a city employee decides if your appeal is valid?
This whole thing is a racket.
I couldn't agree more. Just one more example of the fact that no one really owns their real estate anymore. All that you worked to earn can be taken away at the whim of a sniveling bureaucrat. This is beyond a racket, but I don't have the words to express my contempt for this scheme... or for the attitude that it's just "one more cost of doing business."
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