ILLEGAL HANDICAPPED PARKING PLAGUES SC, OFFICIALS DO NOTHING
I’ve always said that doctors hand out handicapped parking placards like Michael Jackson hands out candy at his Neverland Ranch, and the Charleston Post and Courier has finally decided to back me up here.
According to their Watchdog Report, “a growing number of hospital workers, downtown merchants and others are using parking placards for the handicapped to cheat the city out of thousands of dollars in parking meter revenue. Worse, these scammers are taking spaces that could be used by people with real disabilities, a Post and Courier Watchdog investigation found.”
According to me, “I told you so.”
Doctors sign off on placard applications for vague disabilities, such as “high stress.” Young people use their older relatives’ placards on shopping trips downtown, or in one case, for a prime spot next to a West Ashley fitness center.
Motorists with blue or red placards for the disabled can park all day in metered and public garage spaces for free, so the abuse is most prevalent in downtown areas where parking spaces are at a premium, especially around the downtown Charleston medical complex, King Street, the College of Charleston and the City Market. [...]
Those with placards for the handicapped can park at metered spaces for free. (State law says so.) So not only do these commuters get prime parking spots, they can save a pile of money. Spaces in private parking lots, often just a few feet from the metered spaces, can cost $100 a month or more. [...]
One Friday evening, a young woman with a blond ponytail finished her workout at Pivotal Fitness in West Ashley and walked out to her Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep was in a parking spot for the disabled, and a blue placard hung from the mirror.
The young woman then drove across the parking lot about 100 yards and parked in another parking space for the disabled next to the Publix grocery store. She shopped a few minutes and walked briskly back to her Jeep, then drove off, removing the placard in the process. According to state records, the placard belongs to a man in his 70s. [Tony Bartelme & Ron Menchaca - Charleston Post and Courier]
This is just the first of a four-part series the paper is doing on this problem. And that quote is just an expert, so you should definitely read the whole thing.
And just for the record, as someone who actually needs these spaces, after seeing numerous examples of the above-written incidents, I am considering condoning a way of efficiently helping these folks earn legitimate handicapped decals. The old fashioned mafioso/Tonya Harding way, if you know what I mean.
In the meantime, I’m sure our trusty legislature or our wonderful governor will tackle this issue with the due diligence it deserves because they’re good like that.
(h/t FITSNews)
This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Around the state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
