Marking Tires With Chalk To Enforce Parking Rules Is Unconstitutional, Court Rules

[mountaineer]

Marking Tires With Chalk To Enforce Parking Rules Is Unconstitutional, Court Rules
By ED WHITE Associated Press
April 23, 2019 at 10:56 am

DETROIT (AP) — Marking tires to enforce parking rules is like entering property without a search warrant, a federal court said Monday as it declared the practice unconstitutional in Michigan and three other states.

Alison Taylor had received more than a dozen $15 tickets for exceeding the two-hour parking limit in Saginaw. The city marks tires with chalk to keep track of how long a vehicle is parked. Her lawyer argued that a parking patrol officer violated the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court agreed. The purpose of marking tires was to “raise revenue,” not to protect the public against a safety risk, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

“The city does not demonstrate, in law or logic, that the need to deter drivers from exceeding the time permitted for parking — before they have even done so — is sufficient to justify a warrantless search under the community caretaker rationale,” the court said.

The decision sets a new standard for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, the states covered by the 6th Circuit. ... More via WBZ

[goatprairie]

A chalk mark is cruder than electronic record-keeping, but the principle is the same. I'm not exactly  a champion of parking tickets, but municipalities have a right to have some sort of system to keep track of car parking.
If chalking tires is unconstitutional, then so is the whole system of keeping track of vehicles by time-dated cameras or other methods.

[Cyber Liberty]

How did parking tix become a Federal case?

[Elderberry]

The case will return to federal court in Bay City. Ellison wants Ludington to certify the lawsuit as a class-action, with refunds for people who got tickets. He said Saginaw has been collecting up to $200,000 a year with parking tickets from tire marking.

[goatprairie]

If the case is the city is extracting too much money from it's citizens, that's a different matter from trying to keep people from hogging parking spots by limiting their time.
I just don't see a case prohibiting municipalities from establishing fines for parking violations. Having your tires chalked is hardly an infringement on your rights.

[txradioguy]

How did parking tix become a Federal case?

Since someone decided that they shouldn't be punished for breaking the law.

I can remember tire chalking by Meter Maids...ahem...I mean Parking Enforcement...was a common occurrence downtown where I lived in the 70's.

[mountaineer]

Cities advised to stop marking tires in parking enforcement
Published 12:17 pm EDT, Tuesday, April 23, 2019

SAGINAW, Mich. (AP) — A lawyer with the Michigan Municipal League says it's "hard to believe" that marking tires to enforce parking rules violates the U.S. Constitution, but he's telling communities to stop the practice after a court decision.  ...

He says communities without parking meters might need to chalk the ground instead of a vehicle or come up with another way to keep track of how long a car is parked.  Full story

[mountaineer]

City chucks chalk, not tickets
After federal court says chalked tires unconstitutional, Alpena shifts gears
Apr 23, 2019
Steve Schulwitz
thealpenanews.com


ALPENA — The Alpena Downtown Development Authority has suspended its practice of chalking tires to monitor people who park in timed parking areas downtown, but violators can still be issued citations.  ...

However, the practice of recording license plates and checking the time a vehicle has been parked will continue for the time being, as that method isn’t addressed in the court’s ruling.

“We have alerted our parking attendant and we have stopped chalking until we get more information and guidance,” Gentry said. “We will continue taking license plate numbers down, which has always been common practice, and check them that way.” ... Rest of story

[Cyber Liberty]

Since someone decided that they shouldn't be punished for breaking the law.

I can remember tire chalking by Meter Maids...ahem...I mean Parking Enforcement...was a common occurrence downtown where I lived in the 70's.

Me too.  How this is some sort of Federal Civil Rights matter is way beyond me. 

You know, the Feds bitch about the overloaded court system and needs more money....

[verga]

IN NYS it was common practice in certain towns to chalk the tires of the patrons of several bars. A former boss of mine got an overdue and well deserved DUI from this practice. 

[Elderberry]

Years ago the police started coming to my house as Someone had reported that I hadn't moved my truck in 24 hours. I would get a warning and I'd forget about it. Then it happened again and again, and then was every day. I'd photo my truck on my phone everytime I moved it. I then got me a notebook and had it by the door so I could document everytime the cops came. Then one day they came 3 times. A different squad car each time. By then I had a pretty good Idea who it was. I wan't even in her subdivision that ended at the house right next to mine. Her neighbor across the street from her had baby sat our kids for years so I asked her to put out the word, I knew what she was doing and to cut it out. No more cops coming to the door.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Marking Tires With Chalk To Enforce Parking Rules Is Unconstitutional, Court Rules
By ED WHITE Associated Press
April 23, 2019 at 10:56 am

DETROIT (AP) — Marking tires to enforce parking rules is like entering property without a search warrant, a federal court said Monday as it declared the practice unconstitutional in Michigan and three other states.

Alison Taylor had received more than a dozen $15 tickets for exceeding the two-hour parking limit in Saginaw. The city marks tires with chalk to keep track of how long a vehicle is parked. Her lawyer argued that a parking patrol officer violated the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court agreed. The purpose of marking tires was to “raise revenue,” not to protect the public against a safety risk, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

“The city does not demonstrate, in law or logic, that the need to deter drivers from exceeding the time permitted for parking — before they have even done so — is sufficient to justify a warrantless search under the community caretaker rationale,” the court said.

The decision sets a new standard for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, the states covered by the 6th Circuit. ... More via WBZ

It is rarely to raise revenue.  It is like setting up parking meters.

Mostly it is due to there being more cars than parking spaces, causing a need to not let people like this idiot woman to sit on a spot and not let others have a chance to park.

[Smokin Joe]

It is rarely to raise revenue.  It is like setting up parking meters.

Mostly it is due to there being more cars than parking spaces, causing a need to not let people like this idiot woman to sit on a spot and not let others have a chance to park.

No, it's to raise revenue. I have lived in towns where they chalked tires in front of resident's houses, sometimes with numerous parking spaces to spare adjoining that single family dwelling residential property, and they were in it for the money. Let it go too long, the vehicle would be impounded (more $$) and sold if not reclaimed....(Even more $$$)

[Cyber Liberty]

No, it's to raise revenue. I have lived in towns where they chalked tires in front of resident's houses, sometimes with numerous parking spaces to spare adjoining that single family dwelling residential property, and they were in it for the money. Let it go too long, the vehicle would be impounded (more $$) and sold if not reclaimed....(Even more $$$)

Sounds like a good place to park a $100 beater car. 

[IsailedawayfromFR]

No, it's to raise revenue. I have lived in towns where they chalked tires in front of resident's houses, sometimes with numerous parking spaces to spare adjoining that single family dwelling residential property, and they were in it for the money. Let it go too long, the vehicle would be impounded (more $$) and sold if not reclaimed....(Even more $$$)

That is not my experience.

I grew up in the city and last lived urban within the loop of Houston.  Parking spaces are a premium.  And there are many abandoned cars that owners simply leave on the streets.

I prefer the chalk markers which offer a free parking spot over meters which do not.

[Cyber Liberty]

That is not my experience.

I grew up in the city and last lived urban within the loop of Houston.  Parking spaces are a premium.  And there are many abandoned cars that owners simply leave on the streets.

I prefer the chalk markers which offer a free parking spot over meters which do not.

Last year I was at my retirement party at a restaurant in Tempe.  After two hours people started getting up to go feed their meters.  When Mrs. Liberty and I didn't bother, somebody asked, "Do you want a ticket?  They patrol here constantly (college town)."  I said, "Naw.  Handicapped plates park for free."  No ticket. 

(I'm glad I researched this before the party.)

[goatprairie]

Last year I was at my retirement party at a restaurant in Tempe.  After two hours people started getting up to go feed their meters.  When Mrs. Liberty and I didn't bother, somebody asked, "Do you want a ticket?  They patrol here constantly (college town)."  I said, "Naw.  Handicapped plates park for free."  No ticket. 

(I'm glad I researched this before the party.)

I remember one evening more than forty years ago stopping in a parking lot next to a drug store where I wanted to get some cold medicine or something.
The parking lot was actually owned by the state college in the city, and the campus was just across the street from the drug store.
It was about seven in the evening, and there wasn't another car in the lot. There was a sign indicating fines for parking without having a college parking decal, but I parked there anyway thinking there couldn't be any college cops around at that time.
WRONG!!!!   As soon as I left my car and headed for the front door of the drug store, a college cop car roared into the lot.
A college cop got out and proceeded to put a five dollar ticket on my windshield.
I never paid it.
So sixteen years later when I went back to the same college to finish my "education,"  I expected to be greeted at the registrar's office with a message that I had to pay the parking fine first and with possible additional fines added.
They never said anything about the parking violation.
I then  wonder if other people can go back to cities/places where they got parking or other minor violations, and the violation has been thrown out or deleted somehow?

[Jazzhead]

It is rarely to raise revenue.  It is like setting up parking meters.

Mostly it is due to there being more cars than parking spaces, causing a need to not let people like this idiot woman to sit on a spot and not let others have a chance to park.

That's right.   The purpose of time limits for street parking is force turnover of spaces so more members of the public can use them.   Sure,  such enforcement raises revenue,  but I'd rather pay a $15 ticket due to a chalked tire than a $300 impoundment fee for towing the car away.   

[Smokin Joe]

That is not my experience.

I grew up in the city and last lived urban within the loop of Houston.  Parking spaces are a premium.  And there are many abandoned cars that owners simply leave on the streets.

I prefer the chalk markers which offer a free parking spot over meters which do not.

I know someone with a corner lot, enough room on the street to park eight vehicles adjacent to their property. No parking shortage. The city plowed three of their vehicles in and then proceeded to ticket them when he hadn't dug all three out in 48 hours (he was sick). They were parked next to his property, on a street he's on the hook for 30K in specials to have rebuilt last year.
Two of the three vehicles had their engine heaters plugged in because of the cold. (Definitely not abandoned vehicles).

Nope, it may vary where you are, but in this neck of the woods, it's revenue (and a job for someone's idiot cousin). .

[Smokin Joe]

That is not my experience.

I grew up in the city and last lived urban within the loop of Houston.  Parking spaces are a premium.  And there are many abandoned cars that owners simply leave on the streets.

I prefer the chalk markers which offer a free parking spot over meters which do not.

Go ahead, put parking meters in single family dwelling residential neighborhoods. Try and find the damned things tomorrow (look in the closest, deepest body of water).

[Elderberry]

Just don't get caught.


Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

[Smokin Joe]

Just don't get caught.


Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

Nice, quiet method, there, but could have been better with someone to catch the meter head and lay it down.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I wonder if a cop would be okay with me chalking his tires?

[verga]

I wonder if a cop would be okay with me chalking his tires?

One way to find out