In the first week of February, Bloomington’s elected city clerk, Nicole Bolden, stood at the mic in city council chambers, to give the council an update—which included some numbers on parking ticket appeals.
The roughly 8,000 appeals that were made in 2023 were the most since she started working in the clerk’s office in 2009, Bolden told the council. The exact number of parking ticket appeals in 2023 was 7,718.
Bolden was hired in 2009 to handle parking ticket appeals. She was first elected Bloomington city clerk in 2015. Bolden is at the start of her third 4-year term.
It made sense for the city clerk to give the update, because under Bloomington city code, parking ticket appeals are made to the city clerk.
The record number of appeals stems in part from a record number of citations, based on records provided by Bolden, which go back to 2011.
In 2023, parking enforcement officers issued 56,671 citations, which was 6,000 more than the next highest year, which was in 2014, with 50,031 citations.
At least part of the reason for the increased frequency of citations is the fact that as of the end of 2022, the parking services division was finally fully staffed.
The 7,718 appeals of 50,031 citations amount to 13.6 percent of tickets. In the four years before that (2019 through 2022), 13.2 percent of tickets were appealed, which means 2023 squares up roughly with the last half decade, measured by percentage of tickets appealed.
But the roughly 13.5-percent appeal rate for the last five years is about 4 points higher than the 8 years before that. From 2011 through 2018, 9.5 percent of tickets were appealed.
The increase in the appeal rate could be analyzed as an effect of the increase in the fine schedule, which was effective starting Jan. 1, 2019. In Bloomington an expired meter fine is currently $30. If it’s not paid within 14 days, the fine doubles to $60. That fine schedule went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, when Bloomington’s city council authorized an increase from the previous lower structure of $20, which doubled to $40, if not paid within 14 days.
When a Bloomington parking ticket is appealed, the historical success rate is better than half. From 2011 through 2023, the ticket has been dismissed in about 60 percent of appeals. In 2023, the ticket was dismissed in about 67 percent of the appeals.
[tab-delimited file with data compiled by The B Square from the clerk’s records]
Do we have data about what percentage of parking tickets are issued at meters? I’ve long suspected that The City has basically given up on issuing tickets elsewhere (cars parked against traffic, blocking fire hydrants, blocking sidewalks, parked in no parking areas, delivery vehicles parked in no-passing zones, etc) and I’d love to see if this is true.
I will attest to the fact that the City of Bloomington Parking Enforcement has in no way given up on issuing parking tickets for areas that are not metered. My business and businesses I hire have received 100’s of parking citations and 100% of those are not metered parking spaces. The citations are issued on all sides of Bloomington within the city limits and in the residential areas. I have seen tickets for blocking hydrants, parking with out the correct parking permit, partially in no parking zone, completely in no parking zone, blocking sidewalk, and parking on unapproved surface.
I too get frustrated with people parking and blocking a road so they can pick up a friend from class at IU.
I believe the reason it seems more violators are getting away with illegal parking is the increase of Uber, Roadie, DoorDash, and similar services as they are permitted to park in the city street or adjacent to the street to complete their delivery and they are all driving regular vehicles not delivery vehicles.
I share your frustration and have developed a route for traveling N, S, E, W in city limits that limits me running into the delivery workers.
The #1 thing is don’t use Walnut or College when going North or South in town.
By the cities own admission up to 10% of meters don’t work at any given time. I know this is true because several times I have put money in meters to see no time added. No wonder they have a lot of appeals.
Wait a minute. Do the math. 56,000 tickets. 365 days in the year. That means parking enforcement is writing 150 tickets a day. Keep in mind it’s not like every car hasn’t paid. That means you have to be on the parking beat hot and heavy looking for these dangerous criminals. This brings up some questions. How many parking cops do we have ? How much are their salaries ? How much does parking enforcement bring in ? Who has the contract to supply these meters ? Do they donate to any political party ? This is starting to smell like a legacy car hating agenda from the Hamilton regime. No, surely not. That just sounds like a conspiracy theory which means you can’t talk about it without being labeled a nut job. Lol, we all know there is some truth to some parts of that. The meter company donating to Hamilton’s political campaign is a bit of a reach but the amount of money it takes to collect parking fees needs to be looked into. Just saying, maybe I’m wrong.
All of the information is public and available through the city. Meter violations are not the only violations written. There are neighborhood violations, curb and sidewalk parking, permit violation and others. Check title 15 in the city code.
Sound like a good article for B Square to publish in this ongoing Parking enforcement fiasco. Hear that B Square, the truth lies in the numbers. Title 15
Speaking of parking: Is there somewhere on the city’s website where one can see what is actually being down with the money brought in from the parking meters? I know when they were being installed the powers that be said it would be used for this, that, and the other. Since then the only thing that I have seen once in awhile is how much money is being brought in from them, but nothing as to what is actually done with that money. Sounds like a good article for bsquare to check into.
Dr. Donald Shoup, who studies parking, recommends three basic principles for parking policy: (1) charging fair market prices for curb parking, (2) returning parking revenue to neighborhoods for community investment, and (3) removing the requirements for off-street parking for new development.
When the parking commission adopted a new policy a couple of years ago, they did a good job on 1 and 3, but didn’t really mention 2. It would be really nice if parking money could be reinvested into the streets and neighborhoods where the money came from.
Based on the cost of the parking garages + enforcement, I would seriously doubt that the parking revenue comes out ahead.
The best thing to do is not illegally park. If the meter does not work, make note of it and write on a note on your windshield. I have gotten out of two tickets because of a malfunction meter.
This is not the best advice to give. Generally speaking, if the meter is not working, please call the phone number on the meter pole rather than leaving a note on your windshield.
Will that get to the parking enforcement officers quickly enough to avoid getting a ticket?