The Neverending List

Through a Right To Know request dated 8/24/12 asking for "List of vehicle registration plate numbers, vehicle make model and color, with unpaid parking tickets from January 1997 through December 2011.  Please include the number of outstanding tickets per vehicle and the amount of the original fine." I am uploading the 1,717 page document and it is available here.
I had been denied the list of names of scofflaws, but license plate numbers are public information. I just didn't ask for the right information. 

Denied!

Want to know who had over $800,000 in unpaid parking tickets? So do I. I filed a Right To Know and received this letter in my mailbox today. Outstanding Parking Tickets RTK Among other things, the Drivers Privacy Protection Act was one reason my Right To Know request was denied.

The parking amnesty program resulted in payment on 111 tickets for an income of $1300.

I am learning quickly that the unreasonable, the uncooperative, and those who are above the law are the ones who seem to be ahead here in Mt. Lebanon.

The problem begins with all of us.

This letter to the editor comes from reader and frequent commenter, Charlotte Stephenson.

Elaine,

Since I originally composed this letter to the editor a few days ago, there have been numerous comments posted that may make this seem a bit redundant. Nonetheless, I am willing to post it anyway. Here is goes:

We really do have a problem in Mt. Lebanon and the problem begins with all of us. It’s true that we should feel angry and upset over the way our elected officials choose to spend our money without demonstrating an understanding of the impact of their decisions.

Money for turf may satisfy some families here, but the cost will impair others because the money will come from the taxpayers and the ongoing cost of this project does not appear to be fully understood. How can we be paying for turf when we don’t have enough money for our entire road repair or other infrastructure needs? The uncollected sum of $800,000.00 in parking violations among other chunks of dough that have fallen through the cracks according to Dave Egler demonstrate completely irresponsible fiscal management by someone and yet we do not really know much loss there has been or exactly how it happened. We have seen that the decision to overspend on a high school renovation project has already cost more to the taxpayers due to a recent change order and a fundraising feasibility study and at the same time we are cutting service to our students. Oh, and did or didn’t the YSA live up to their end of the bargain? The school district claims they have, but the IRS tell us differently. So if the payments weren’t made, who has been paying for all of the field maintenance? You know who has! How about the perpetual audits, we all know that a change in players from time to time is a good idea, but why hasn’t that happened?

What about the basic Sunshine Law? When I became frustrated for not getting information about the School District’s decision to conduct a feasibility study relative to the donor as we were promised by Board President Josephine Posti, I eventually filed a RTK. I am including the documentation here, but what is disturbing to me is the obviously blatant effort being made to keep our residents out of the loop as the directors and administration conduct business that we pay for.  Go ahead and read it, see what you think.

The situations discussed on this blog are concerning and frustrating, but venting our frustrations is not going to make any difference because anyone who has approached these authorities with their logical concerns has seen first hand that the sitting elected majorities (not everyone) are entrenched, inflexible and frankly incapable of changing their minds on these and other highly controversial issues. It’s politics at best, or worst around here depending on where one sits in the fiscally conservative department. So, what can we do?

If people really want to make a difference, it’s time to start recruiting potential candidates for the next election cycle for the open Commissioner and School Board seats. (Make sure they understand that a sitting official will stop at nothing to impair their campaign including authoring a slanderous letter under a fictitious name for illegal distribution throughout the community). Form an election committee and start soliciting donations NOW. Finally, keep a list of the egregious actions we continue to observe of those who will be running next time. The only way anything will change will be when new and motivated candidates who really want to serve the community and not their own agendas are sworn into office. Be sure to add some time in to motivate voters to actually go to the polls!

This community is learning the hard way why being an informed active voter makes a difference. If anyone can appeal to the Commissioners as to why spending a huge amount of money for artificial turf is irresponsible, good luck. It's about special interest politics plain and simple. The decisions the School Board made to spend too much on the high school, among other items and those that the Commissioners are making on turf will have far-reaching impact for a long time to come. These people may feel they are serving the next generation, but what they are really doing is ensuring that the next generation won't be able to afford to live here, one poor financial decision at a time. Everyone should be careful what he or she wishes for!

Finally, where have our other local representatives and senators been? Quite honestly, Elvis has left our building. How many times have any of them reached out to those of you who have made your concerns known? When I was featured as “A Newsmaker You Should Know” regarding the petition effort, I received a note and copy of the article from Matt Smith, but he never offered to talk further and see what he could do to help. Tim Murphy’s office has been an impenetrable fortress. They always ask for my donation and vote when the time comes, but there is obviously little interest in trying to deal with our local situation. Sure, local votes and local money matters, but beyond that these issues appear too hot to handle. It’s time for change all the way around, so who is willing to get started? We must remember, if we always do what we always did we'll always get what we always got!

-Charlotte Stephenson

Matt Smith signs on to House Bill 737, Unpaid Parking Tickets Bill

A reader sent me this information today.

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for your honest blogging.  I’ve been reading it since Day One.  I  have been following the parking ticket issues closely.  I read where someone on your blog wrote:    

            Anonymous said...

While I think it's good that Dave and Dave and Bill and Bill and other are bring these things to light. Have you ever considered that the reason they don’t listen is because of the way you express yourselves? In the last 3 PA posts you have attacked the municipality, the fomer PA board, the Auditor, the solicitor, the employees. After reading the way they are treated I would ignore you too. Maybe if you were nicer they would listen. Maybe not.

June 11, 2012 12:16 PM

I’ve also read things on your blog about how people don’t do anything about the wrongs that are happening, so I decided to hunt for ways to expose the people whose unpaid parking tickets have caused this mess. The people who are responsible for not collecting the ticket money are not doing their jobs.  Therefore, I started to research parking tickets and found how millions and millions of dollars are not paid to towns and cities all over the Commonwealth and even the Nation.  If you break the law, you should have to pay the consequences.  I found House Bill 737 and saw that this Bill has been sitting in the Transportation Committee for 16 months.  Why would it be sitting there for 16 months? So I made calls to all the legislators, including Matt Smith at 412-571-2169.  He called me back today and thanked me for calling him about the Bill I found.  He called the Transportation committee where this bill is hung up at and “signed on to it” and is “pushing” for this bill to be discussed in committee.  He asked me to get the word out and said I could put it on the blog.  He said to post “Leadership” Mike Turzai’s office, at 717-772-9943 so that this Bill can get going.

If we are nice, we get ignored and the aggressive people get their fields turfed with our money while streets are not getting fixed, unless we float bonds. I hope your readers call Mike Turzai’s office.