Just Ten Dollars?!! What If It Had Been All 4 Wheels?

Considered the same violation as not filling the meter

On Friday morning, a city parking enforcer issued two tickets to this Subaru parked in the 300 block of Warren Street -- a ten-dollar PARKING METER violation and a ten-dollar IMPROPER PARKING violation.

Here in Hudson, vehicles found either partially parked on a sidewalk or completely blocking a sidewalk fall under the category of improper parking, costing a car owner just ten dollars.  It's one thing to fail to fill a parking meter intentionally or by accident, but knowingly parking on a sidewalk -- even with just two wheels -- certainly shouldn't also be forgiven for just ten bucks, should it?  What's the message the city is sending to pedestrians and to our precious sidewalks and curbstones?  "Intentional improper sidewalk, curb and pedestrian abuse is okay! It's no big deal, because it happens all the time!"

No one would ever consider the act of not putting enough quarters in a meter improper, would they?  Where's the balance?  Where's the adequate punishment to fit the violation?  Where's the deterrence?  Where is the self-sufficient Hudson Parking Department that the parking consultant told us over a year ago that we NEED TO CREATE?