CITY STOPS HANDING PARKING VIOLATIONS TO HANDICAPPED

By Juan Montoya
It was the week that the Parking Division of the City of Brownsville would just as soon forget.
Starting a week ago today (Monday), a sergeant in the division (Jesse?) decided that his inspectors would issue parking meter citations for not feeding the meter and also to enforce the arbitrary one-hour limit on disabled spaces.
It wasn't long before the criticisms started raining down at the city municipal court from disgruntled relatives of handicapped people who reminded the clerks in no uncertain terms that Texas law prohibited charging disabled people to par or for cities to enforce time limits on disable spaces to them.
This Sgt. Jesse told the parking enforcement officers that City code ordinance Division 6 - Parking Meter Sec. 98-379, states who is exempt from parking free on meter spaces. Unfortunately, the list does not comply with Texas law and does not include disable people with handicapped permits.
So the enforcement officers started out giving them tickets.
Well, a closer reading of the ordinance than the myopic Sgt. Jesse would have revealed that the reason it does not include them is because that ordinance was meant for individuals or agencies who parked on city metered spaces while conducting official duties or business for the city only.
It was obviously not directed at handicapped people parking for shopping or eating at a restaurant like most disabled do while downtown.
But try telling him that.
Instead of doing their homework and checking state law and without giving any warning to the disabled people that they could no no longer can park there free they just started issuing them citations and all hell broke loose at the municipal court with a barrage of complains such as this one:
"My father is 90 years old and he stills drives a vehicle everyday. He has a handicap permit and he parked on a parking meter last Thursday. He almost had a heart attack when he came back to his car and saw a citation on his windshield. He saw one of the meter maids and officer #7 who rudely told him he would no longer park for free. He told my dad that boss Sgt. Jesse gave him orders to cite every disabled person who had meter expired. I'm glad to hear that my dad could again park free on meter spaces. That is the least you can do for an old man who served our country in WII."
The good sergeant could not very well refute the charge that he was violating state law and finally relented, issuing orders that enforcement officers stop issuing the citations. We wonder how long it will take the division to remove the one-hour time-limit signs spread all around the downtown area in violation of state law that removes any limits on parking for the handicapped?