State

Texas

City/County

Port Arthur

Position

City Council

Party

Democrat

At Issue: Front Yard Parking or Property rights?

A number of you have recently recieved citations for parking in your own front yard. If you don't have a "suitable surface" on which to park your car, the city will issue you a ticket. While I'm all for a cleaner,more eye-pleasing city, to create an ordinance that prohibits a property owner from parking in front,on the grass of their yard, is an unwarranted intrusion upon the property owners's rights.

Many citizens do not have sufficient parking on the street ,or on their property. A large number of homes were built when families only had one car, and maybe a garage for that car. Today, the average family has at least 2 cars or more, and insufficient garage space or parking for those cars. 

Older neighborhoods, with narrow streets, ditches and no shoulders force- ed many car owners to park in the yard, alley or in the ditch. The ditch isn't a option (unless you like getting stuck); most alleys are inaccesable, even if you do have a rear garage. And parking on a narrow street, you chance getting yor car scratched, hit or significantly damaged.

So what's left? Use your front yard;but the City says that's a no-no. So you 're faced with the choice of getting a ticket or a damaged car.

When council added this ordinance, I believed it was not well thought out, capable of being malicious and burdensome to citizens if misused. I asked for a no-ticket period to educate the residents on what we were trying to do. My concerns were justified because very little was done to warn the citizens, and city inspectors are not using common sense in writing tickets.

Here's a solution; you have the right to contest what you believe is an undeserved ticket. Take your ticket to municipal court (@ the police station), and tell the clerk at the window that you want to see the judge. She will issue you a court date, and when the judge ask "how do you wish to plead", tell him you plead "not guilty", and want a jury trial. Be prepared to back up your case with pictures and other evidence proving that you had no place else to park, or that as the property owner, you have a right to utilize the property you own and pay taxes on (a copy of your tax payment from the county tax office or from their internet site, www.jcad.org, will suffice), or that you need time to place a 'suitable surface' upon which to park in the yard.

If you plan to make a 'suitable surface', to avoid tracking mud,or creating a nusiance, ask that the ticket be set aside for a period of time to allow you to comply with city ordinance.

Be aware that the city will present evidence (mostly photos) showing you to be out of compliance with city ordinance. You will have to prove you have no reasonable alternative, or that you plan to comply, if given time.

It might even prove beneficial to show the court that the city is selectively enforcing the ordinance; drive throughout the city, and take photos of out of compliance sites. This is not to cause someone else trouble, but to show that the city is not applying the law equally to everyone.

We all want a cleaner, more attractive city, but not at the expense of personal property rights and laws that 'beat up' instead of help people.

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