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Our investigation found $28 million worth of parking tickets issued over the last three years are currently unpaid, according to city data.
For perspective, the unpaid tickets alone are more than enough to fund the Houston’s parking department, which has 85 full-time employees, and the City’s Department of Neighborhoods, which has 39 full-time employees, for a year.
Erika Stephenson said she visits Memorial Hermann park weekly and takes her chances with the meter.
“I’m going to say no, truthfully, I don’t pay the meter,” stephenson said.”I don’t stay for more than two hours and then after that I’m gone, so I don’t see a need for paying for a meter, but if I need to, I can.”
There are nearly 900 parking meters across the City of Houston, according to city data, and a third of all tickets from the last three years where for an expired meter.
Tickets are issued throughout the city, from Memorial Park, Buffalo Bayou, and the Discovery Green areas to midtown, Washington Avenue, and Downtown.
“Do I, as a pedestrian, would like to not have to pay them? Yes. But simultaneously occurring, our roads need to be paid for, things need to be maintained,” Douville said.
The City of Houston declined an on-camera interview but told 13 Investigates in a statement that it “continues to look for ways to maximize compliance through procedural enhancements such as a more rigorous booting policy.”
“Drivers with unpaid parking tickets in Houston will receive at least three notices from the City before the fine balance is transferred to a collection agency. After acquiring three unresolved citations or one unresolved ADA citation, a boot will be placed on the vehicle and removed only after all fines are paid. The City of Houston has invested in technology to identify vehicles that are non-compliant with the City’s parking regulations, as well as third-party collections contracts to pursue delinquent fines,” ParkHouston Deputy Director Maria Irshad said in a statement.