The Virginia Municipal League (VML) announced Fredericksburg VA and autoChalk are being presented with the 2008 Achievement Award on October 21 2008.
The VML is comprised of over 200 cities and towns in Virginia. According to a statement from judges of the VML contest, autoChalk won because the program -- and the escalating fines that accompany it – “successfully met the multiple and sometimes competing goals of expanding parking enforcement."
Judges praised autoChalk for holding down long-term enforcement costs by eliminating the need to hire more parking enforcement officials, and finding a more efficient way to encourage parking turnover in the business district’s two-hour street parking spaces.
City police enforce parking and measure autoChalk’s success in a variety of ways. Fredericksburg uses graduated ticketing starting with a warning then ratcheting up fines as hardcore abusers repeatedly get tickets. Each warning or ticket is accompanied by helpful tips on where to park to avoid getting tickets.
Police and administration have said at council meetings that the city gets a lot fewer complaints about parking tickets than it did before the new system took effect. Even with warnings (i.e. no fines) on the first tickets, and no extra staff, revenue is up significantly at better than 60% year over year.
[With excerpts from The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg VA, August 2008]
