Local Government Policy: Pennsylvania Traffic - Coursework Example

Local Government Policy- Pennsylvania Traffic Introduction development in the United s of America is a decentralized issue. Collection and use of funds in each region is governed by the local governments. This gives the governments autonomy to carry out fund allocation and management that sees the Self-development of the specific areas. A borough is a town smaller than a city though has its own municipal level operation. The operation ensures self-governance through sound resource collection and allocation (Chrostwaite, 2008). This paper seeks to establish the government of three places in the United States commonwealth of Pennsylvania with specific reference to a borough (Old Forge), a town (Waverly) and a city (Scranton). It will analyze the council jurisdiction of resources with specific emphasis on parking. Associated with the parking is the whole lot of resources collected through taxes and offering of patrolling permits. It will also include the use of sound site management through handling of handicaps who are also equal users of the parking lots. Special attention will be given to problems with commuters or students from colleges, offering of tickets, meters and regulation of all the issues associated with municipal rules and regulations. An opinionated view will be given based on the best way to handle parking after an analysis of the three areas. Old Forge Borough Parking Regulations The leadership of Old Forge Borough is made up of a burgess (mayor) and a local council government since the late 1800s. According to the United States Statistic as of 2010, the country area had a population of around 8,000 people (Press & Gaquin, 2010). The area also has a rich history in the area of sports dating back to 1950s when the area dominated in the area of sports. The area is known for its ancient history of pizza making and recreation opportunities. The information above is important in that it is the determinant of all the economic and non-economic activities that go on there. Vehicles that come to the borough are all assigned special parking places and these attract fines if rules are breached (Lippman, 2009). First, to minimize traffic in the town, it has been made unlawful by the borough council for any heavy vehicle to enter the town. These heavy vehicles include large trucks, trailer or a similar sized vehicle in the name of a trailer to enter the town (Livingston, 2005). The superintendent of the roads in the borough has the permission to allow these vehicles in upon proof that they are carrying local deliveries and have no deliberate plan to stay longer. This is meant to maximize space and provide enough parking spaces in the town. The parking regulation also prohibits parking of any kind of vehicle on any side of the road in and around the borough or on one side of the road. Parking in old forge town does not equally happen throughout the day and has got specific hours that are allowed for parking (Elvik, 2009). The road superintendent has all the permission to disallow parking in tow zones and therefore all the vehicles not associated with this area are not allowed in these zones. Parking enforcement officers are also allowed specific zones to park their own vehicles. Their work is to monitor the parking operation of the borough and see to it that no parking rule is breached. Similarly, they have a duty to (but not limited to) regulation of the parking of vehicles in the town, issuance of parking tickets and making reports to the council about the law breakers in the borough. Fines are also applied to all those vehicle owners who default the rules. The fines range from instant fines to short jail terms in the state doing service equivalent to the fine that they were not able to pay (Chrostwaite, 2008). The restrictions above are amended by the road superintendent so that there can be sound operation to all the users of the borough. It is also important to note that all the users of the roads are supposed to take personal responsibilities to take care of these rules and avoid jeopardizing the smooth running of the town (Elvik, 2009). In old forge, there is sufficient space that was made by the borough planners to allow off-street loading and parking (Samuel, 1999). Off-street parking was included in the plans and is a way of providing parking space outside the town in residential areas, outskirt shopping centers, office buildings, movie theatres and temporary places that are used for special occasions like the Christmas period. Commuters usually travel in groupings. The way to regulate them has been made possible by the borough council positioning several enforcement officers in these parking zones so that they are above to control any form of stampede that occurs (Elvik, 2009). Every learning institution must have a parking lot as a necessity to take care of the students and visitors to their premises. To avoid further decongestion in the streets, people with spaces in the home residents are allowed to have parking lots in which taxes are levied by the council to them. They collect parking levies from the users of these premises and then pay taxes to the local council. No person equally in the area who is a registered peddler or hawker is also allowed to unnecessarily stay on any part of the street for longer than is necessary as this adds to the population of vehicles on the streets. Every business zone or residential area is supposed to have a well designated parking area in Old Forge. These parking areas are also inclusive of special parking areas for people with handicaps and are usually maintained as such (Lanier & Davis, 2012). Old Forge is an area that has a well-established mode of parking and is usually a jam-free zone (Chrostwaite, 2008). This is an advantageous issue as people are able to get to where they are moving to on time. The idea in which each business or residential zone has a parking area is also equally important. It allows all the residents and customers to businesses to be well attended to. The road superintendents are all situated in special zones to make sure that all the rules are adhered to on the roads. This is advantageous as it allows all the people to observe sanity on the roads. The weakness of this system is that most of the parking is off street so the few spaces available may not be enough for someone who comes to town and would want to do the s hopping there. He may be force to look for other alternatives to get back to town to do the shopping which may be uneconomical (Lanier & Davis, 2012). Waverly Town Parking Policies Waverly has a well-structured system of managing the parking system and control of the motor vehicles in town. The parking of cars is operated on the basis of pay-and–park (Samuel, 1999). This is the most common system but there are some car parks that allow customers to purchase season long tickets or permits to access them. The Waverly car parks are maintained by the Waverly Council that regulates all the laws that sees to it that smooth running is adhered to. Just like Old Forge borough, parking in this town is both on-street and off-street. On street parking is under the management of Guilford Borough Council and as stated, the parking bays are under the care of Waverly Council (Council, 2012). The car park charges are dependent on the type of vehicle and the proximity within which one is to the central area of the town. The charges hold for six days of the week from Monday to Saturday 0800hrs to 1900hrs. Sundays attract no charges from the council. The distribution of the charges depends on whether the payment is an annual subscription or daily payment (Lanier & Davis, 2012). Apart from a few streets, all the streets have parking areas for the disabled. These parking areas are a very small percentage of the parking spaces available and are therefore reserved throughout for the use by the disabled. The charges are revised from time to time and the latest charges are dated February 1st 2012. The parking charges range from $ 0.8 for an hour to a maximum of $ 18 for eleven hours on the upper South Street to a low of $ 0.6 to $ 5.5 on Chestnut Avenue (Elvik, 2009). These rates are different because of the difference in how one is in close proximity to the town center. There are also few free parking spaces for special business areas like the library and large shops (Clarke & Kohler, 2010). There are three types of car park permits that are available for application. They include a contract permit which allows you a designated area of parking from Monday to Saturday. The second is the season ticket which allows one to pay for parking space for the whole year and is allowed though there is no guarantee that there will be a parking space for such a person anytime (Lanier & Davis, 2012). The third is a resident car park permit that allows one to park the car in the evenings from Monday to Saturday and does not also assure the bearer a space in town at any one time. Those who wish to have a car park permit usually apply for one by filling an application form through the council website. The permit is granted upon verification of the type of permit applied for and monetary compliance to the terms. Motor cycle bays and cycle stands are also made kin twelve different locations but the owners of these do not need to purchase a pay or display a ticket to be able to park. There is a special type of parking permit called the blue badge permit. This is a type of permit that allows one to park at any bay whether reserved or not. They are also allowed to park in the disabled people’s bay for a maximum of three hours (Samuel, 1999). These are elite people who are able to afford the cost of the blue badge permit. Fines are imposed on people who break any of the normal rules that are imposed by the council. The fines can be paid through their website by electronic means or on the sport by cash. There are however disputes that occur between the pedestrians, commuters and the private vehicle owners as well as the college students in the town (Livingston, 2005). Most disabled people are owners of the blue badge parking and are therefore allowed to park at any point in the parking bays as long as it does not belong to another holder of the badge. There are several strengths of this system in Waverly as it takes care of almost all types of situations in people. However, lack of taxes on Sunday might cause a lot of jam in town given that most people would like to be there for a free parking day (Samuel, 1999). Scranton City Regulations An article that appeared in ‘The Times Tribune’ on November 24th 2012 appeared to have an impact on the parking management of Scranton City The article alleged that the parking meter employees were to be shifted to other places worked to the disadvantage of the council. The parking meter collection centers were becoming more uneconomical to the council and there was a proposition to scrap them (Lockwood, 2012). The work of the meter readers is to be able to identify the vehicles that are in breach of the parking rules through absconding of the payment. The respective parking numbers are fed into the meter readers and they are able to identify the vehicles eligible and not eligible for parking. If one is in default, he is either made to pay or is reported to the city council law enforcement officers for immediate action. The action may include a penalty, a jail term or both depending on the magnitude of the offence. The parking program was to be allocated to a new firm, The Standard Parking Company which was to carry out the tasks that the council employees were carrying out. This brings the whole issue to the fact the council has a well-coordinated data collection system that includes use of collection machinery to collect all taxes from the parking lot (Jim, 2012). Scranton does not allow parking in any place at the Alley court. Commercial vehicles are however allowed to pack or unpack at any point on the street as long as they do not obstruct the movement of other vehicles. Parking is also prohibited in all private driveways where private vehicles are to be allowed en route only. Overtime parking refers to parking of vehicles beyond the stipulated times and also for much longer than the stipulated times (Affairs, 1994). This is prohibited and it is the authority of the council employees to enforce that. The city council will also impose a penalty on anyone that parks his or her car at a distance of two feet from other vehicles. This meant that all parking areas are to be regulated in that they are very essentially safe as far as the possibility of an accident occurring is concerned. The council has designated areas for people who are handicapped. Use of these areas is highly prohibited to the common drivers and would attract an imposition of a penalty if infringed. These areas are expressly reserved for people who are handicapped and are therefore limited in their ability to compete for space with the normal people (Samuel, 1999). They are given this opportunity to have a place reserved for them so that they can enjoy the services of the city just like any other person. Parking permits are issued by the council administrator and are therefore obtainable at the council offices only. The town also has park officers. They are parking attendants whose role is to direct the movement of all the vehicles especially when it is a rush hour time when everybody is headed to some place (Press & Gaquin, 2010). This reduces the jam. The park officers have express authority to bend the laws and make them work according to their perceived safety measures. The enforcement of street regulations is the work of Scranton Parking Authority and is therefore mandated to handle issues dealing with multitudes like commuters and students from schools and colleges (Samuel, 1999). They ensure that road signs that are accurate are in place so that all the road users are able to access the information. This includes information about parking and the available parking zones. They also take the responsibility to advice the users of the parking bays about the possible penalties that would be meted if the rules are broken. Dealing With Parking on My Opinion Parking laws change from time to time. They also vary from place to place. As can be seen from the three cases, there are slight differences in the jurisdiction of the parking policies. The best ways to deal with parking are those that take care of the utmost value of all the citizens and the vehicle owners as well. It should include a safe place for vehicles to park (Livingston, 2005). This place should also have a group of authoritative leaders who are to make sure that there is following of all the laws and procedures. The motorcycles are also supposed to have their place where there are good measures to ensure their safety. This is in contrast to the rules that are applicable in the three boroughs where bicycles and motorcycles are parked at owner’s risk. There should also be places for the handicaps. Fortunately all the three places took care of this. The commercial vehicles can share the parking lots with the public vehicles but with a limited length of time since it would be uneconomical to make a reservation for them (Livingston, 2005). Conclusion Much as rules differ, there are universal rules which are applicable and sound to several situations. This paper has evaluated the parking rules in three places in the state of Pennsylvania. These places are old forge, Scranton and Waverly. In doing so, it has evaluated the regulations that concern the concerned stakeholders who are the vehicle owners, the commuters, the handicapped and the regulators of these policies. It has also tried to evaluate the best possible methods to regulate parking in a given area. References Affairs., D. O. (1994). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Directory of Municipal Authorities. Pensylvania: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community Affairs. Chrostwaite, T. F. (2008). Digest of the Laws of Boroughs in Pennsylvani. Columbia: BiblioLife. Clarke, A., & Kohler, S. P. (2010). Property Law, Commentary and Materials. Cambridge: Cambridge University. Council, W. B. (2012, 2 1). Parking. Retrieved 12 10, 2012, from Waverly Borough Council: http://www.waverley.gov.uk/info/200072/parking Elvik, R. (2009). The Handbook of Road Safety Measures. Washington: Emerald Group Publishing. Lanier, A. R., & Davis, J. C. (2012). Living in the USA. Washington: Intercultural Press. Lippman, M. (2009). Contemporary Criminal Law, Concepts, Cases, and Controversies. New York: SAGE. Livingston, M. (2005). Newcomers Handbook® for Moving to and Living in the USA. New York: First Books,. Lockwood, J. (2012, 11 24). Scrantons Parking Meter Employees to be Shifted again. Retrieved 12 10, 2012, from The Times Tribune: https://www.google.co.ke/#hl=en&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=borough+scranton+parking+rules&oq=borough+scranton+parking+rules&gs_l=hp.3...25786.51356.2.52696.25.19.6.0.0.0.518.6611.2-6j9j3j1.19.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.9OQjcJai5SA&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r Press, B., & Gaquin, D. A. (2010). County and City Extra 2011, Annual Metro, City, and County Data Book. Pensylvaina: Bernan Press. Samuel, G. (1999). Sourcebook on Obligations & Remedies. New York: Routledge. Read More