Yesterday the SFGate reported that the City Of Oakland had stepped up its enforcement of parking rules in residential areas and increased fees in commercial areas. On the surface that seems like a good thing, but in practice it’s a bit trickier than it sounds. Huge swaths of Oakland – not so much the flatlands, but many of its tonier neighborhoods – are full of streets barely wide enough for one lane with a parking strip. As such, social norms have evolved throughout the city where it’s OK to park facing the wrong way, right up to the lip of a neighbor’s driveway and even sometimes on the sidewalk. (I’m not really that sympathetic to the latter, though I can see its necessity on some nearby streets.) On my street, there is parking on either side but not enough room for two facing cars to pass each other without one pulling over. I’ve lived here two years with nary a complaint or a second look from my neighbors. (Well, except once from a KRAZY neighbor, but that’s another story…)
Now, virtually unannounced, the City has sent its parking enforcers into residential neighborhoods to pass out parking tickets enforcing the law 100%, plus a mystery $10 recession panic surcharge. OK, I can understand the City needs to raise some fees. These are hard times, revenue is falling and the City has a ridiculous budget shortfall: $70mm over on a $500mm total budget, a mighty hunk that needs to be cut. But somebody should have thought through the Game Theory on this a bit.
Let’s say every car gets ’surprised’ once. The ticketed owner pays the ticket and the City gets itself a little bonus. But the cost of resentment, especially in a city with notoriously poor schools, might be too much. This is a bad time to make people feel angry about their town and government if the goal is to elevate public perceptions, the first psychological step in raising property values and eventually revenue. If people feel oppressed or underprotected, they will move away.
The connection between the perception of Oakland’s relative quality of life and its schools is especially compelling. My neighborhood is full of toddlers but curiously free of children over the age of 8 – and no teenagers whatsoever. Is this because people move away to avoid Oakland’s public schools? I believe there may be a connection. Please, Oakland, let’s not give folks any more reason to move & sell their property at when values are low, compressing revenue even further. Just let us park our damn cars where we’ve always parked.