DAILY DOSE: City worried that PPA app could hurt city school funding with fewer fines

Posted 5/5/15

A common sight on the Avenue: a car parked at an expired meter. If there's one thing people don't like in Philadelphia, it's parking tickets. In Chestnut Hill, this is especially true. A proposed …

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DAILY DOSE: City worried that PPA app could hurt city school funding with fewer fines

Posted

A common sight on the Avenue: a car parked at an expired meter. A common sight on the Avenue: a car parked at an expired meter.

If there's one thing people don't like in Philadelphia, it's parking tickets. In Chestnut Hill, this is especially true.

A proposed mobile payment app by the Philadelphia Parking Authority that could save street parkers tons of money in parking fines and frustration is being delayed according to a report by CBSPhilly this morning because Mayor Michael Nutter's administration is worried a dip in fines could hurt city school's.

Andrew Stober,an official in the mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities told City Council that the school district collects $9.7 million in parking fees each year. The city does not want to see that money disappear.

From the CBSPhilly piece:

“At a time when we are struggling to make sure that we have the resources that we need, we need to make sure we’re not digging ourselves deeper into a hole,” he said.  “We look forward to trying to find a way to both bring this new technology here, and not have impacts for the school district.”

PPA head Vincent Fenerty said the city's concern was not warranted. Again from the CBSPhilly piece:

“I think it’s preposterous,” he said.  “We’re driving technology to make it easier for citizens to pay.  I respect the Nutter administration, but I think they’re wrong on this one.  I’m confident that this will make up for any revenue that is lost by the non-issue of tickets.”

The app would allow street parkers time to shop, dine or keep appointments without worrying about the time left on their meters. Users of the app would simply have those parking fees withdrawn from their accounts automatically. This would go a long way to ease the number one complaints by people who are fined for parking on Germantown Avenue and it's side streets in Chestnut Hill.

For now, though, it looks like we'll have to wait.

(The Local, last week, requested figures from the PPA on how much revenue it collects in Chestnut Hill but we were told those totals are not tracked by any report.)

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