Recently I received a parking citation for which I paid without
fail upon receiving it, but was very unhappy to do so. Along with
the check for my citation I mailed a letter of concern to the City
of Hollister and the Parking Citation office in Santa Ana. I
clearly stated my concerns without ever asking to review or dismiss
my ticket. Just simply a letter of concern, hoping to get a
response from someone.
Recently I received a parking citation for which I paid without fail upon receiving it, but was very unhappy to do so. Along with the check for my citation I mailed a letter of concern to the City of Hollister and the Parking Citation office in Santa Ana. I clearly stated my concerns without ever asking to review or dismiss my ticket. Just simply a letter of concern, hoping to get a response from someone.
What I got back was a letter from the Santa Ana Citation Service Center stating they reviewed my appeal and was to inform me that I still needed to pay the ticket as my evidence provided was not sufficient to dismiss the citation. What a slap in the face. I paid the ticket, and they clearly dismissed me and my concerns. If their bottom line is money for their tickets, than why don’t they consider a guaranteed income from issuing permitted parking passes?
Like many business owners in our downtown core area, we experience difficulties with parking. I understand the reasoning behind controlled parking, but I do not understand why the City of Hollister can not see that permit parking allotted to business owners would be more beneficial to the city than random parking tickets given to the owners, who clearly need to park within their store or business locations. I have had to park sometimes two to three blocks from my store carrying heavy merchandise or walking late at night in areas that are not well lit.
It is also difficult to close my store and move my car if I’m in position to have to park within the two-hour parking locations. My business is located in a building which has 23 parking spaces allocated to the public which is off the main street. Many customers don’t even know of the spots or clearly don’t want to walk around buildings to get where they need to go. On any given day now that the parking is monitored, only three to five parking spots are taken and they are not always customers who park there. It’s utterly ridiculous to see parking spaces within a business location wasted when there could be money to be made by the city.
I as business owner am willing to pay for an annual parking pass, just for safety’s sake. It seems to me that the city would recognize the potential guaranteed revenue for permitted parking passes. If anything, think about the safety of the people who actually pay for the city worker who gives out there random citations. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and remember who contributes to a large part of this cities revenue.
Geri Hernandez, Hollister
