Nov 5, 2008 10:45 pm US/Eastern
I-Team Tracks Boston's Biggest Parking Scofflaws
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Millions of dollars are owed to the city of Boston because of unpaid parking tickets and fees, WBZ's I-Team has learned.
"We're on Cambridge Street right now and I'm checking all the meters," said parking officer Debbie Marra. "We just walk our route and come across the violations."
The bright orange tickets left on cars are a sign of bad parking behavior on city streets and show that there are plenty of people breaking the parking rules and not paying the fines.
"You have a lot of outstanding parking tickets?" WBZ's Kathy Curran asked Joseph Djevalikian.
"Outstanding? Are you kidding?" he said.
According to city records the plate on Joseph Djevalikian's car is tied to a $512 bill.
But when the I-Team traced the plates of the city's worst parking offenders they found some drivers owe much more. Some owe thousands of dollars to the taxpayers of Boston and have more than 100 tickets tied to their cars.
"How would you categorize them?" Curran asked Boston Transportation Commissioner Tom Timlin.
"Scofflaws. You don't get 180 tickets and not realize it," Timlin said.
The total in overdue, unpaid tickets and fees owed to the city of Boston is more than $52 million.
"Do you think this sends the message, yes, you can get away with it?" Curran asked Timlin.
"I think it sends the message you're racking up a big bill and sooner or later you're going to have to pay it," he said.
The biggest bill belongs to Dan Dowcett, a Boston lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases and works downtown. Dowcett is disabled and has a handicap plate.
"Not only downtown do we have a certain amount of handicap parking, we also let people in the disabled community who have a plate or placard to park at a parking meter all day," Timlin said.
But Dowcett was hit with 180 tickets. He owes $12,259 dollars for parking illegally. He had no answer when the I-Team asked him why.
The top 30 parking scofflaws owe the city of Boston a total of about $149,000, which would cover the cost of fuel to operate the entire fleet of buses for the Boston public school system for more than a week. It would buy 1,863 $80 textbooks or equipment and uniforms for 600 high school football players.
"There is a component where you're never going to collect what is owed for a violation," Timlin said.
The city never caught up with Tyler Montgomery but the I-Team found him riding a scooter while living on the South Shore. He has 71 outstanding tickets at a price of almost $4,500.
"Seventy-one tickets, $4,500. That's a lot of tickets. Can you tell us why you didn't pay them?" Curran asked Montgomery.
"Actually it was a severe shock when you did call us, Kathy," Montgomery said. "If it weren't for you we probably wouldn't have been aware of them at all."
"You had to know you had 71 tickets," Curran said to Montgomery.
"We knew we had some tickets," he said. "I thought I paid all the tickets on the vehicle."
Montgomery says the city was sending the overdue notices to an old address. He said he knows he owes because of our investigation and he's paying up.
"Obviously we're all at fault for getting tickets in the first place, but I have to believe there's some sort of database problem," he said.
Montgomery and the rest of the top 30 managed to escape the city's boot for years.
"You would think after 100 to 180 tickets you would have caught up with them," Curran said to Timlin.
"We find folks don't appreciate the lengths we'll go to hold them accountable," he said. "It's pay me now or pay me later."
Massachusetts residents with outstanding parking tickets can't renew their license or registration unless they pay up. Because of the I-Team's investigation, transportation officials are looking at some different ways to get the money that's owed, including watching for parking patterns of the scofflaws and sending crews out to boot the cars.
The city says it has a 92 percent collection rate. At the end of the year they expect to collect $47 million of the $52 million owed. Some people refuse to pay at the registry and don't renew their licenses, some move out of state, others may be deceased.
BOSTON'S TOP 30 PARKING VIOLATORS (As of November 5, 2008)
- MA HP6633 – Owes 183 tickets for $12,460
- MA 3257WW – Owes 100 tickets for $6,046
- FL T419A – Owes 118 tickets for $6,480
- MA 81WN00 – Owes 123 tickets for $5,969
- MA 35JN89 – Owes $0. Booted twice in 2008. Paid $5,482 in June, $1,576 in October.
- MA 34MD41 – Owes 60 tickets for $5,215
- MA 25AD63 – Owes 64 tickets for $5,102
- MA 95WL35 – Owes 63 tickets for $5,585
- MA TA22425 - Owes $0 - paid on 8/19/08 - owed 90 tickets for $5,015
- MA 2111SF – Owes 77 tickets for $5,444
- MA RS38GV – Owes 77 tickets for $4,508
- MA 1120TA – Owes 97 tickets for $4,788
- MA 63VY10 – Owes 41 tickets for $4,483
- MA RS394P – Owes 57 tickets for $3,761 - paid 10 tickets on 10/28/08
- MA 13NG00 – Owes 65 tickets for $4,946
- MA 7522YL – Owes 56 tickets for $4,774
- MA 73FX13 – Owes 65 tickets for $4,346
- MA 53ZD25 – Owes 83 tickets for $4,850
- MA 7907PX – Owes 88 tickets for $5,193
- MA HP635T – Owes 96 tickets for $5,230
- MA 74SC06 – Owes 96 tickets for $4,577
- MA 3852HZ – Owes 71 tickets for $2,165 - paid tickets on 10/31, but this is remaining in fees
- MA 9915LV – Owes 57 tickets for $4,691
- NH 1329238 – Owes 50 tickets for $4,637
- MA 62WG60 – Owes 87 tickets for $4,662
- MA HP2817 – Owes 86 tickets for $5,153
- MA 7006ZG – Owes 58 tickets for $4,703
- MA 49MZ47 – Owes 78 tickets for $4,707
- MA 4201PR – Owes 119 tickets for $4,867
- NH 1812653 – Owes 47 tickets for $4,324
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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