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Noon Rally Today at Oakland City Hall Against Racist, Classist Parking Enforcement
Three Oakland parking enforcement whistleblowers have come forward to reveal that the city has been issuing "courtesy notices" to some of its wealthiest residents in the Montclair and Broadway Terrace neighborhoods while everyone else has been getting actual parking tickets with fines up to $100. This is the result of a July 24th, 2009, directive by Ronald Abernathy, a senior parking enforcement supervisor. The cash-strapped city has been targeting its lower income neighborhoods to make up for budget shortfalls while sparing those who could most afford it. The whistleblowers' union, SEIU Local 1021, is holding a rally at City Hall today at noon.
From the Chron:
Oakland parking officers were ordered to avoid enforcing neighborhood parking violations in two of the city's wealthier neighborhoods but told to continue enforcing the same violations in the rest of the city, according to a city memo obtained by The Chronicle.
The July order is corroborated by interviews with three parking officers, who said they and their colleagues had complained about what they deemed a discriminatory practice since it began last summer - to no avail.
"It's not fair," said Shirnell Smith, 44, a parking officer for 22 years who has lived in Oakland for 24 years. Smith and the union representing parking officers said the policy has resulted in tickets being issued disproportionately to poor, black and Latino people.
The accusations cast a new light on one of Oakland's most contentious issues during the past year. Desperate for new revenue in a faltering economy, the City Council in June increased parking fines, meter rates, hours of enforcement and enforcement in neighborhoods.
read more:
Oakland parking officers were ordered to avoid enforcing neighborhood parking violations in two of the city's wealthier neighborhoods but told to continue enforcing the same violations in the rest of the city, according to a city memo obtained by The Chronicle.
The July order is corroborated by interviews with three parking officers, who said they and their colleagues had complained about what they deemed a discriminatory practice since it began last summer - to no avail.
"It's not fair," said Shirnell Smith, 44, a parking officer for 22 years who has lived in Oakland for 24 years. Smith and the union representing parking officers said the policy has resulted in tickets being issued disproportionately to poor, black and Latino people.
The accusations cast a new light on one of Oakland's most contentious issues during the past year. Desperate for new revenue in a faltering economy, the City Council in June increased parking fines, meter rates, hours of enforcement and enforcement in neighborhoods.
read more:
For more information:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...
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Thousands of cars are stolen and then recovered, or impounded, and given to tow yards such as A&B towing in east Oakland. These tow yards get hefty fines from every victim, and are widely reported to strip cars of valuables such as CDs and tires after they are delivered to the lot (with substantial anecdotal evidence). The police and city hall cooperate in this business, by failing to even call people when their stolen car is recovered, waiting 7 days to send an announcement that the vehicle is at a tow lot. By this time, a victim will have above $500 in base towing and storage fees. The police department line to get a vehicle release form often takes 3-4 hours and is staffed by individuals with horrible sense of empathy or customer service. Perhaps >half of these vehicles are owned by immigrants and poor people who own older Toyotas and Nissans that are easy to steal, (plus vehicles taken at traffic stops by undocumenteds).
When a city will not discipline its police force over the police murders and cover-ups of innocent victims like Jerry Amaro and Gary King, Jr. - how can we expect any deceny with something like parking. The city government, through its behavior, condones and encourages the abuse and murder of citizens by the police force. The new chief of police even put Ed Paulson (the accused violator in the Jerry Amaro death) back on active duty even though he is under investigation by the FBI and there are many other questions. We, of course, only get half or one quarter of the true story of abuse - if we only knew, we would be disgusted to the core.
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