Last week my daughter said she's been noticing large vans full of hispanics that have handicapped placards. And today, I read this:
Disabled placards proliferate
As more qualify for privilege, more seem to abuse system -- cities collect less at meters when drivers park for free
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, March 26, 2007
A disabled placard allows a driver to park without charge... Eufrencina Lactaoen is questioned about her disabled plac... Bay Area residents with parking privilege. Chronicle Graphic
View Text Chart
The number of disabled parking placards in California has more than doubled during the past decade, with 1 issued for every 16 residents.
San Francisco officials recently cited the placards as one reason the city doesn't collect more money from its parking meters. People who use them don't have to feed meters.
The proliferation in placards has occurred for several reasons, including an aging population and a liberal definition of the disabilities that qualify for the special parking privilege, said Mike Miller, a spokesman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Experts say there's another reason: temptation.
The placards allow people to park for free at parking meters and in time-restricted spots without the fear of getting a ticket. That's enough to lure some people to break the law and use them illegitimately.
Parking officials in Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and other cities across California have noticed that the use of disabled placards increases as parking costs rise.
On one side of one block in downtown Oakland -- 17th Street near Broadway, where off-street lots cost $10 per day -- seven of the nine metered spaces were taken by cars with disabled placards one recent morning. The ratio was similar on adjacent streets.
"You know that there are some people who are just looking for a free place to park," said Francine Larkrith-Thompson, Oakland's parking manager. "Everyone is up in arms about it."
She and other officials said they have no problem accommodating people with disabilities who need to be close to their destinations.
"It's the people abusing the system who we have a problem with," said James Lee, assistant director of the enforcement division for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
Larkrith-Thompson said she's hearing from disgruntled shopkeepers and restaurateurs miffed that parking spaces in front of their businesses are occupied all day by cars with disabled placards.
Advocates for people with disabilities also are concerned that there are people misusing the placard program.
"It's a real problem," said Jan Garrett, executive director of the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley.
She said the general public gets riled up by so many motorists parking for free. And, she said, people who truly must park near their destinations sometimes have trouble finding a space. She also cautioned people not to make assumptions about who has a disability because ailments such as heart and lung disease, which may impair mobility, aren't always readily apparent.
One of the most notorious placard abuse cases in California occurred seven years ago when 19 current and former UCLA football players were caught with improperly obtained disabled placards. Each pleaded no contest to the crime and was sentenced to two years' probation, a $1,485 fine, and 200 hours of community service. At the time, state officials pledged to crack down on misuse.
But as the number of placards grows, so, apparently, does abuse.
www.sfgate.com |
