By Tony Bizjak
tbizjak@sacbee.com
Think your parking ticket is unfair ?
As of today, the city of Sacramento allows drivers to go online, type in their citation number, and view a photo of their vehicle taken by the parking enforcement officer.
The photos will show if the parking meter next to the car or the "pay and display" sticker in the vehicle window have expired. If the driver agrees he or she has parked illegally, the program allows the driver to pay automatically online.
All city parking enforcement officers now carry cameras and photograph every violation, city officials said.
"It allows the person getting the citation to quickly view what our evidence is and hopefully decide to pay for it," city transportation official Linda Tucker said. "I think it is going to help us all work more efficiently."
Tucker said the system is a response to budget cuts that reduced the city revenue division office hours to five each day, and cut customer service phone program to three hours every afternoon.
The program is on the city website at www.sacpark.org
The city issues about 225,000 parking citations annually, Tucker said. About 12 percent are contested. The new system may dissuade some people from challenging their tickets, she said.
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