We learn that the projected budget deficit in Portland this year has turned out to be a surprising $93 million dollars. Apparently a gift from our former form of city government, since the new form has not been in power long enough to run up such a tab?

Draconian budget cuts seem to be the order of the day. But what if simply enforcing a few rules by somebody in a parking enforcement scooter could help the city raise a really significant amount of money?

Our overtaxed and understaffed city police have not had the time to devote to such minor crimes, but there are penalties associated with them, and simply citing the offenders from a parking patrol scooter could really raise some money, so widespread are the offenses.

What are we talking about? Well, for one thing – and we’ve mentioned this before – nearly every block seems to have one or more vehicles parked facing the wrong way on a two-way street. Yes, this is commonly illegal across the country, because in order to park on the wrong side of the street – facing oncoming traffic – means you drove across oncoming traffic to park there, and will do so again when you leave. This is particularly unnerving to oncoming drivers at night, when headlights appear in the lane you are in.

You can get a ticket in Portland by doing that, although at present here that only is likely to happen if you call the police and request enforcement on your block of a chronic problem.

So consider the modest expenditure of a parking patrol officer spending the day citing those violating this law – a few tooling around the city’s neighborhoods could raise quite a bit of money, along with awareness of the law in this matter.

Also against the law, and enforceable by a parking patrol, is parking blocking a driveway. Some folks park across their own driveway, but ANY parking across a driveway is illegal and can be ticketed.

And then there’s parking all the way up to a corner, blocking pedestrian access to cross the street. We see this mainly in neighborhoods where there are a lot of apartment houses with no provided parking. It is tempting to try to park in this extra space, but it is illegal, and the city needs the money!

And here’s another big moneymaker that a parking enforcement officer can write a ticket for: Lacking current registration on a vehicle. You would think that there might not be enough violators of this law in Portland to make it worthwhile, but start looking at the license plates. An astonishing number of vehicles in Portland lack current stickers. It seems that many drivers think the rule relaxation on this during the recent pandemic is still in effect, but it is not!

Furthermore, when the city cites a vehicle on the streets for lacking current registration, it could copy the state on the citation, and the state can also raise some revenue by pursuing the violation, since it is the state that provides the registration.

All of this adds up. It won’t solve the deficit, but enforcing these rules with parking enforcement scooters could make a significant dent in it! And it would make the streets a bit safer for us all.

So there are a few of our own thoughts about addressing this amazingly huge deficit. How about yours? There is a listening session set for Inner Southeast Portland by the City Council on Saturday, May 10, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Lane Middle School, 7200 S.E. 60^th Avenue.

Quoting from the press announcement, “Come join an in-person or virtual community conversation about the tough choices our leaders will have to make in developing next year’s budget, and share with them the things that mean the most to you. All ages welcome; ASL interpretation provided; Pizza provided, while supplies last; doors open a half hour before in-person events start. Space is limited. Your RSVP is appreciated.”

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