PITTSBURGH — 11 Investigates continues to uncover big problems with parking tickets in Pittsburgh.
Multiple drivers have been ticketed even after paying to park. Some tickets have been dismissed and others have not.
Since Chief Investigator Rick Earle broke the initial stories, even more people have reached out about issues they’re seeing.
Most recently, 11 Investigates heard from a man named David who says his wife got a ticket for parking on a purple curb when she wasn’t even parked there.
Earle: So your wife, just so I’m clear, that’s her van right there. She pulls into the space behind the purple curb?
David: Yep, her reverse lights are still on in the picture.
Earle: Does she pay at the kiosk?
David: She pays on the mobile app.
Channel 11 saw her receipt. She paid to park on Murray Avenue just behind the purple curb that’s reserved for delivery drivers. A month later, she got a $40 dollar ticket in the mail for parking at the purple curb.
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David: There’s no actual picture of her parked in this spot, in the purple zone.
Earle: So, I’m trying to figure this out. So she gets a ticket for parking on a purple curb when she wasn’t parked on a purple curb?
David: Exactly.
During the past several months, 11 investigates has told you about multiple drivers who have been ticketed by the new mobile camera mounted on parking authority vehicles, even after they paid to park, or weren’t parked where the camera said they were.
After receiving the ticket, David immediately contested it online.
The authority agreed to cut the ticket in half to $20 dollars.
Earle: It’s almost like an admission of guilt. Oh, well, we may be wrong, so we’ll cut it in half, but if they’re wrong, they should eliminate the entire $40, not just half.
David: Exactly.
David said the parking authority then told him if he wanted to pursue it further, he could go to court.
David: I told them I don’t have time to come in to appeal it to the courts or the magistrate and they said, “I’m sorry, it’s already reviewed.”
Earle: That was it, you had no other recourse?
David: No other recourse.
David went ahead and paid the $20 fine.
The parking authority told Channel 11 that because of the confusion, all purple curb citations will now be reviewed manually by the authority before being sent over to parking court.
Earle did talk to councilman Bobby Wilson, who’s on the parking authority board. He has promised to look into David’s case as well as the others.
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