Hide Transcript Show Transcript

WEBVTT THINKS THINGS HAVE GONE OUTOF HAND.MECCA: RUSSELL GOT HIS CAR TAKENUP FOR HIS PARKING JOB AT HISHOME ON A NORTHWEST 70TH STREET.>> A TICKET FOR $100 WITHOUT ANYWARNING FOR BEING PARTTECHNICALLY OFF THE PAVED AREA.MECCA: BUT A WARNING ISN'T ANOPTION.PAYING T FINE OR GOING TOCOURT IS.THE VIOLATION?PARKING ON UNPAVED RESIDENTIALYARD.>> I THINK IT UNJUST MISUSEOF THE CITY'S CODE.MECCA: F FOUND SEVERAL OTHERSNEXT-DOOR COMPLAINING ABOUT THESAME THING LIKE TEE BROWN.SHE GOT THE SAME TICKET FORPARTIALLY PARKING ON UNPAVEDYARD IN HER FENCED IN BACKYARD.>> IF SOMEONE SEND HEY, YOU HAVETO MOVE YOUR CAR, I WOULD HAVEMOVED IT.MECCA: OKLAHOMA CITY OFFICIALSSAY THEY HAVE WORKED 7570PARKING COMPLAINTS SO FAR THISYEAR." YARD PARKING IS ONE OF THE TOPCONCERNS RESIDENTS REPORT TO THEACTION CENTER.NOT ONLY IS YARD PARKING ANEYESORE, BUT IT CAN QUICKLY

Advertisement Northwest OKC resident says ticketing policy goes too far Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Residents of a northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood say the city has taken its ticketing policy too far. Some people were ticketed recently because their vehicles were touching the yard while they were parked in their driveways. One person’s ticket for the violation said they were fined for parking on an unpaved residential yard. Neighbors said they didn’t know the ordinance and that a warning should have been the first step to correct the issue. Russell Fox got a ticket on his car last week for his parking job at his home on Northwest 17th Street. “I found a ticket from the city for $100 without any warning for being parked technically off the paved area,” he said. Fox’s only options at this point are to pay the fine or go to court. “I think that it is a mis-issue … unjust issue of the city’s codes,” Fox said. He found people on the Nextdoor app who complained about being ticketed for the same violation. Tee Brown got a similar ticket for partially parking on an unpaved yard in her fenced-in backyard. “If someone would have come and talked to me and said, ‘You need to move your car,’ then I would have moved it,” she said. Oklahoma City officials said they have worked 7,570 yard-parking complaints so far this fiscal year. During the 2015 fiscal year, they worked more than 11,000 yard-parking complaints. The fine for parking on an unpaved residential yard was raised from $10 to $100 in 2010 because the low amount didn’t prevent yard parking. Officers don’t issue warning because they can’t track them, officials said. Oklahoma City officials released the following statement about yard parking: Yard parking one of the top concerns that residents report to the Action Center. Not only is yard parking an eyesore, but it can quickly become a neighborhood epidemic, lowering home values. Yard parking also damages water and sewage lines, impairs drainage and can pose a fire hazard.